Usage of while in sentence. Although producer....

[manassingh]

Although producer prices rose at an unexpectedly steep rate in September, analysts said that the increase resulted mostly from temporary factors and not necessarily foreshadowing that there would be a resurgence of inflation.


A. factors and not necessarily foreshadowing that there would be
B. factors and not necessarily that it foreshadowed
C. factors and did not necessarily foreshadow
D. factors, while not necessarily a foreshadowing of
E. factors, while it did not necessarily foreshadow that there would be


Can experts please explain what is wrong with D ? Basically i would like to understand the usage of while in this sentence and what makes it wrong. I selected D in the exam but it is the wrong answer. The OA is C

A and B are wrong because we usage of and not is wrong.

Many thanks in advance.

[RonPurewal]

Although producer prices rose at an unexpectedly steep rate in September, analysts said that the increase resulted mostly from temporary factors and not necessarily foreshadowing that there would be a resurgence of inflation.


A. factors and not necessarily foreshadowing that there would be
B. factors and not necessarily that it foreshadowed
C. factors and did not necessarily foreshadow
D. factors, while not necessarily a foreshadowing of
E. factors, while it did not necessarily foreshadow that there would be


Can experts please explain what is wrong with D ? Basically i would like to understand the usage of while in this sentence and what makes it wrong. I selected D in the exam but it is the wrong answer. The OA is C

A and B are wrong because we usage of and not is wrong.

Many thanks in advance.

the main issue with that choice is that the structures that should be parallel are not parallel.

specifically, we have two claims made by the analysts about the increase:
1) resulted mostly from temporary factors
and
2) did not necessarily foreshadow...
since these are two claims that are being presented in exactly the same context (they are both claims about the described increase) and with the same priority, they should be parallel. in choice (c) they're parallel; in choice (d) they're not.

--

if you have a super-general usage question, such as "how is 'while' used in general?" then this is not the ideal place to ask that question -- you are much better off with just googling the topic.
when i typed "english usage while" into google, i got the following page, among others:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/While

[jp.jprasanna]

Although producer prices rose at an unexpectedly steep rate in September, analysts said that the increase resulted mostly from temporary factors and not necessarily foreshadowing that there would be a resurgence of inflation.


A. factors and not necessarily foreshadowing that there would be
B. factors and not necessarily that it foreshadowed
C. factors and did not necessarily foreshadow
D. factors, while not necessarily a foreshadowing of
E. factors, while it did not necessarily foreshadow that there would be


Can experts please explain what is wrong with D ? Basically i would like to understand the usage of while in this sentence and what makes it wrong. I selected D in the exam but it is the wrong answer. The OA is C

A and B are wrong because we usage of and not is wrong.

Many thanks in advance.

the main issue with that choice is that the structures that should be parallel are not parallel.

specifically, we have two claims made by the analysts about the increase:
1) resulted mostly from temporary factors
and
2) did not necessarily foreshadow...
since these are two claims that are being presented in exactly the same context (they are both claims about the described increase) and with the same priority, they should be parallel. in choice (c) they're parallel; in choice (d) they're not.

--

if you have a super-general usage question, such as "how is 'while' used in general?" then this is not the ideal place to ask that question -- you are much better off with just googling the topic.
when i typed "english usage while" into google, i got the following page, among others:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/While

Dear Ron - Could you please let me know what's wrong with A and B?

Also is the "it" in B ambiguous? I thought the "it" clearly refers to the increase.

[RonPurewal]

Dear Ron - Could you please let me know what's wrong with A and B?

(a) "... and (not necessarily) foreshadowing" is not parallel to anything.

(b) this sentence doesn't make sense.
if you write analysts said that x and not necessarily that y, then the meaning is ...
... analysts definitely said x
... we're not certain whether analysts said y
that's not the meaning here. the intended meaning is that the analysts actually said all of this stuff: that the increase resulted from xxxxxxxx, but that it doesn't have to mean xxxxxxx.

by contrast, here's a legitimate sentence that could use the above construction:
Laura said that she was angry at me but not that she wanted to leave me
--> Laura said that she was angry. She didn't say that she wanted to leave me (but also didn't say that she would stay, either).
Laura said that she was angry at me but did not want to leave me
--> Laura said two things: (a) she was angry, (b) she nevertheless did not want to leave the relationship.

Also is the "it" in B ambiguous? I thought the "it" clearly refers to the increase.

the pronoun is fine.

[eybrj2]

Hi, Ron.

I have a question regarding C.

I picked B although I doubted it because I thought that "that" was needed before "did not".

Isn't it possible to see C in a way that analyst said that X and did not foreshadow without "that"? ( even though it doesn't make sense;;)

[RonPurewal]

( even though it doesn't make sense;;)

if it's obvious nonsense, you can ignore it.

[aps_asks]

Hi Ron ,

Can u please elaborate on the incorrect choices D ) and E) ??

One thing is for sure ( as you told ) that the analysts made two claims . And the other claim is not parallel in choices D) and E ).

Other than the above thing , what else do you feel is not correct ?

Please let me know your comments.

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron ,

Can u please elaborate on the incorrect choices D ) and E) ??

choice (d) is explained above in copious detail.

in both of these choices, there's also the issue of "while". the two claims work together --
1/ the observed effects are temporary
2/ they don't signal a longer-lasting change (like "a resurgence of inflation")
-- so they should be connected with "and".

you wouldn't want "while" in a situation like this one unless there were actually a contrast. e.g.,
the analysts said that, while the effects appeared to be temporary, they could have longer-lasting consequences
here, there's a contrast -- the effects appeared temporary, but they might *not* be temporary -- so "while" is appropriate.

--

also, note that the parallelism (or, more accurately, the lack of parallelism) in choice (e) is an issue.
the second parallel element in choice (e) is...
... it did not necessarily foreshadow that
the only thing to which this can be parallel is the other clause, i.e., "analysts said..."

that doesn't make sense; "analysts said" shouldn't be parallel to anything. instead, the parallel structure should indicate that analysts said A and B, where "A" and "B" are the two (parallel) things that they actually said.

[sachin.w]

I eliminated D and E on the basis of the requirement that you cannot have 2 subordinating conjunctions in a sentence.

With D and E , you have although and while coming in a sentence and that makes the sentence grammatically incorrect.

Please correct me if my reasoning is incorrect.

[tim]

where did you encounter such a rule?

[sachin.w]

I guess that was a cooked-up rule which I was following :)

[tim]

be careful about "rules" you can't verify the source of..

[sunruiapply]

Hi, Ron
in choice E, you think that the only parallel structure for "it did not necessarily foreshadow..." is "analysists said..."
I have a doubt, why can't we think of "the increase resulted..." as a parallel structure for "it did not necessarily foreshadow"?

for example
they contend that the committee was biased and it should be disbanded.

in this sentence, "it should be disbanded" can be parallel with both "they contend" and "the committee was biased".
so there is ambiguity. it's a not correct sentence

apply the example to the choice E, we could say that one part can be parallel to two parts, leading to an ambiguity.
but we can't say one part is only parallel to another part, leading to a nonsense.

and apply the example to your explanation with choice B
"Laura said that she was angry at me but did not want to leave me."
I think there is an ambiguity. since "did not want to leave me" can be parallel to "was angry" and "said".

i'm really confused. hope for your reply.

[RonPurewal]

Hi, Ron
...
I have a doubt, why can't we think of "the increase resulted..." as a parallel structure for "it did not necessarily foreshadow"?

on second thought, i suppose choice (e) could be processed that way, too.
at the end of the day it doesn't matter, though, because the use of while in that choice is still nonsense.

(that's explained here:
post66786.html#p66786)

[sunruiapply]

Thanks for your reply~~Ron