gas & electric company

[ashish.jere]

Unlike most other mergers in the utility industry, which have been driven by the need to save money and extend companies’ service areas, the merger of the nation’s leading gas and electric company is intended to create a huge marketing network for the utilities in question with states opening their utility markets to competition.


(A) and electric company is intended to create a huge marketing network for the utilities in question with states opening

(B) and electric companies are intended to create a huge network for marketing the utilities in question as states open

(C) and electric companies are intended to create a huge network that will be marketing the utilities in question, with states opening

(D) company and electric company are intending to create a huge marketing network for the utilities in question, with states opening

(E) company and leading electric company is intended to create a huge network for marketing the utilities in question as states open

[mangipudi]

Its between A and E. All other choices incorrectly use 'The merge are '.

in A. 'with states opening their utility markets to competition.' appears to modify question.

I'll go with E.

[RonPurewal]

Unlike most other mergers in the utility industry, which have been driven by the need to save money and extend companies’ service areas, the merger of the nation’s leading gas and electric company is intended to create a huge marketing network for the utilities in question with states opening their utility markets to competition.


(A) and electric company is intended to create a huge marketing network for the utilities in question with states opening

(B) and electric companies are intended to create a huge network for marketing the utilities in question as states open

(C) and electric companies are intended to create a huge network that will be marketing the utilities in question, with states opening

(D) company and electric company are intending to create a huge marketing network for the utilities in question, with states opening

(E) company and leading electric company is intended to create a huge network for marketing the utilities in question as states open

as mangipudi said, the subject of "is/are intended" is the word "merger". since "merger" is singular, the correct verb is the singular "is intended".

that leaves only (a) and (e).

there are a couple of things wrong with (a):
* "leading gas and electric company" is wrong; if you read this literally (which is the only way that you should ever read it), then it implies rather clearly (and wrongly) that we're talking about one company, which handles both gas and electric.
(we know this is wrong because the problem is about a merger. one company can't have a merger by itself.)
there are two ways to fix this. first, there's the way it's fixed in (e), which is a bit clumsy/wordy but is the most precise fix. second, you could write "leading gas and electric companies", which is more compact but sacrifices a bit of meaning (i.e., in that construction you can't tell whether there are just 2 companies, as you can in (e)).
* "with states opening..." is incorrect. when you have an -ING WITHOUT COMMA modifier, like this one, it's a RESTRICTIVE ("essential") modifier. this means that we're only talking about those states that are "opening their utility markets to competition", the implication being that only some states are doing so. the intended meaning is better conveyed by "as states open..."

(e) doesn't have this problem.

[ashish.jere]

thanks for the explanation,ron.

Unlike most other mergers in the utility industry, which have been driven by the need to save money and extend companies’ service areas, the merger of the nation’s leading gas and electric company is intended to create a huge marketing network for the utilities in question with states opening their utility markets to competition.


(A) and electric company is intended to create a huge marketing network for the utilities in question with states opening

(B) and electric companies are intended to create a huge network for marketing the utilities in question as states open

(C) and electric companies are intended to create a huge network that will be marketing the utilities in question, with states opening

(D) company and electric company are intending to create a huge marketing network for the utilities in question, with states opening

(E) company and leading electric company is intended to create a huge network for marketing the utilities in question as states open

as mangipudi said, the subject of "is/are intended" is the word "merger". since "merger" is singular, the correct verb is the singular "is intended".

that leaves only (a) and (e).

there are a couple of things wrong with (a):
* "leading gas and electric company" is wrong; if you read this literally (which is the only way that you should ever read it), then it implies rather clearly (and wrongly) that we're talking about one company, which handles both gas and electric.
(we know this is wrong because the problem is about a merger. one company can't have a merger by itself.)
there are two ways to fix this. first, there's the way it's fixed in (e), which is a bit clumsy/wordy but is the most precise fix. second, you could write "leading gas and electric companies", which is more compact but sacrifices a bit of meaning (i.e., in that construction you can't tell whether there are just 2 companies, as you can in (e)).
* "with states opening..." is incorrect. when you have an -ING WITHOUT COMMA modifier, like this one, it's a RESTRICTIVE ("essential") modifier. this means that we're only talking about those states that are "opening their utility markets to competition", the implication being that only some states are doing so. the intended meaning is better conveyed by "as states open..."

(e) doesn't have this problem.

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome

[redable]

hi Ron,

I have a question about the difference between "a huge network for marketing..." in(E) and "a huge marketing network for..." in (A)(D)

Thanks in advance~ :)

[RonPurewal]

hi Ron,

I have a question about the difference between "a huge network for marketing..." in(E) and "a huge marketing network for..." in (A)(D)

Thanks in advance~ :)

i don't think that's really a meaningful difference.

[julia.han]

hi Ron,

I have a question about the difference between "a huge network for marketing..." in(E) and "a huge marketing network for..." in (A)(D)

Thanks in advance~ :)

i don't think that's really a meaningful difference.

Hi Ron,

My question is ,in choice E, whether "the merger... is intended to create a huge network for marketing the utilities... " is not idiomatic? guess "to market the utilities" might be better. Am I right?

Thanks in advance.


P.S. I've read different versions of explanations on GMAT verbal problems and yours are always the best.

[danielpatinkin]

hi Ron,

I have a question about the difference between "a huge network for marketing..." in(E) and "a huge marketing network for..." in (A)(D)

Thanks in advance~ :)

i don't think that's really a meaningful difference.

Hi Ron,

My question is ,in choice E, whether "the merger... is intended to create a huge network for marketing the utilities... " is not idiomatic? guess "to market the utilities" might be better. Am I right?

Thanks in advance.


P.S. I've read different versions of explanations on GMAT verbal problems and yours are always the best.

Greetings!

The phrase "a huge network for marketing" is idiomatically correct. "...for marketing" is an adjectival phrase that properly modifies "a huge network." If we were to change this to ""the merger... is intended to create a huge network to market the utilities" then "to market" seems to be an adverbial phrase describing what the merger is intended to do. I do not think that "to market" is better than for marketing. I actually find "to market" to be slightly awkward.

Keep up the good work!

Dan P

[gaurav_a_rathi]

Hi, Ron.
You wrote in your first post above:
* "with states opening..." is incorrect. when you have an -ING WITHOUT COMMA modifier, like this one, it's a RESTRICTIVE ("essential") modifier. this means that we're only talking about those states that are "opening their utility markets to competition", the implication being that only some states are doing so. the intended meaning is better conveyed by "as states open..."
My query: How do you recognize that the intended meaning of the phrase "with states opening" is to say that some states alone are opening their utility markets for competition(without the use of the word "some" in the main sentence)? I seriously don't understand how do you say that it is an essential modifier? How to recognize these(essential modifiers)? Nothing well explained in the SC guide!

Also, would it be possible to get a ronnish explanation on when to use "with"?

Other expert's view is welcome too! please!!
Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

before writing any more on this problem, i would like to request proof that it is indeed from the GMAT PREP SOFTWARE. does anyone have a screenshot of this problem?
if a screenshot is not posted within, say, the next month, we might have to lock the thread.

--

gaurav, the word "with" has too many different uses to attempt to summarize in a single thread.
one way to get an idea of the scope of "with", though, is to look it up in several dictionaries and read through all of the example sentences.

the word "with" is also common enough to appear several times in virtually every article you'll ever read. so, you can also just go to random articles (from journals, magazines, etc. that are posted online) and search out each instance of the word "with" in those articles. make sure that (a) you understand its usage, and (b) you can make your own example sentences that use it in similar ways.

[flbibi]

thanks for the explanation,ron.

* "with states opening..." is incorrect. when you have an -ING WITHOUT COMMA modifier, like this one, it's a RESTRICTIVE ("essential") modifier. this means that we're only talking about those states that are "opening their utility markets to competition", the implication being that only some states are doing so. the intended meaning is better conveyed by "as states open..."

(e) doesn't have this problem.

Hi, Ron!
I really enjoy your explanation!
I understand your point on the usage of essential modifiers, but is it possible that the structure here is "with sb/sth doing sth"?
To be more clear, here's the example:
-We jumped into the water with bullets whizzing past our ears.
-with their son attending a foreign college, the parent have some finacial problems
-I can't do my homework with all this noise going on.

In this structure, with could be used to explain a reason. So opening their utility markets to competition is not a modifier rather than ''with sb/sth doing sth"structure?

I don't know whether you can get my point...

Thanks in advance!

[RonPurewal]

I do see your point.
But, in your examples, note how closely related the modifiers are to the clauses they're describing. ("with all this noise going on" directly describes the situation and the reason why you can or can't do your homework. "with their son attending..." directly describes the situation and the reason why the family has financial issues. etc.)
You don't have the same kind of relationship in this problem.

[Tadashi]

Hi Ron,
Though I chose the right option, I still have some questions about this problem.

OPTION A [revised]:
The merger of the nation’s leading gas and leading (PS. I added it) electric company is intended to create a huge marketing network for the utilities in question , [I added a comma]with states opening their utility markets to competition.

I think the revised version of option A is OK. Would you agree with me?

You have written that GMAC won't test either the use of comma or the difference between essential modifier and non-essential modifier.

In addition, you have written that "create a huge marketing network for the utilities" has the same meaning as the "create a huge network for marketing the utilities" has.

So the ONLY reason why A is inferior to E is that "the merger of the nation’s leading gas and electric company" is inferior to "the merger of the nation’s leading gas and leading electric company".

Please correct me if I am wrong.

ARIGATO.
Tadashi.

[RonPurewal]

No. In your version, "company" would still have to be changed to "companies".

E.g., Officers from the city's police and fire departments brought Christmas presents to needy children yesterday.
Note that "departments" is plural. ("Police and fire department" would suggest that the city has one department that provides both services.)

As long as it still contains the singular form "company", the sentence is still describing a "merger" of only one company, which is nonsense.