SC: Currently 26 billion barrels a year...

[sinhavis]

Currently 26 billion barrels a year, world consumption of oil is rising at a rate of 2 percent annually

A) world consumption of oil is rising at a rate of

B) the world is consuming oil at an increasing rate of

C) the world's oil is being consumed at the increasing rate of

D) the rise in the rate of the world's oil consumption is

E) oil is consumed by the world at an increasing rate of

Source is GMATPrep practice test.

OA is A

I chose E thinking "Currently 26 billion barrels a year" modifies oil.

[RonPurewal]

Currently 26 billion barrels a year, world consumption of oil is rising at a rate of 2 percent annually

A) world consumption of oil is rising at a rate of

B) the world is consuming oil at an increasing rate of

C) the world's oil is being consumed at the increasing rate of

D) the rise in the rate of the world's oil consumption is

E) oil is consumed by the world at an increasing rate of

Source is GMATPrep practice test.

OA is A

I chose E thinking "Currently 26 billion barrels a year" modifies oil.

nope.

oil would be measured in barrels, not barrels per year. remember how literally accurate you have to be with these things.

analogy:
"50 degrees" would refer to a temperature.
"2 degrees per century" would refer to a rise/drop/change in temperature (possibly due to an encroaching ice age, etc.)

(a) is the only choice beginning with a noun that's suitable to this opening modifier, so, (a) it is.

[goelmohit2002]

Currently 26 billion barrels a year, world consumption of oil is rising at a rate of 2 percent annually

A) world consumption of oil is rising at a rate of

B) the world is consuming oil at an increasing rate of

C) the world's oil is being consumed at the increasing rate of

D) the rise in the rate of the world's oil consumption is

E) oil is consumed by the world at an increasing rate of

Source is GMATPrep practice test.

OA is A

I chose E thinking "Currently 26 billion barrels a year" modifies oil.

nope.

oil would be measured in barrels, not barrels per year. remember how literally accurate you have to be with these things.

analogy:
"50 degrees" would refer to a temperature.
"2 degrees per century" would refer to a rise/drop/change in temperature (possibly due to an encroaching ice age, etc.)

(a) is the only choice beginning with a noun that's suitable to this opening modifier, so, (a) it is.

Can someone please tell what is the problem with D....

why can't opening modifier modify the rise....

IMO the rise can be 26 barrels a year

[RonPurewal]

Can someone please tell what is the problem with D....

why can't opening modifier modify the rise....

IMO the rise can be 26 barrels a year

it's unidiomatic to say "the rise in X is SPECIFIC NUMBER". you just can't do that.

(you can say that the rise is ADJ. for instance, you can say the rise has been extremely rapid.)

[goelmohit2002]

Can someone please tell what is the problem with D....

why can't opening modifier modify the rise....

IMO the rise can be 26 barrels a year

it's unidiomatic to say "the rise in X is SPECIFIC NUMBER". you just can't do that.

(you can say that the rise is ADJ. for instance, you can say the rise has been extremely rapid.)

Thanks Ron !!!

[Ben Ku]

Glad it helped.

[shatabdo.kal]

here I've a question though we know GMAT can't be wrong , still :-)
Currently 26 billion barrels a year, world consumption of oil is rising at a rate of 2 percent annually
Don't you think annuallyis redundant in the above sentence , though A is the best available option but still want to know..

[RonPurewal]

Don't you think annuallyis redundant in the above sentence

why would it be redundant?
you can't just specify a rate of increase as just "2%" -- it has to be 2% over a specified time period. for instance, a rate of increase of 2% per day would represent much, much faster growth than a rate of increase of 2% per year (i.e., annually).

if the sentence said both "annually" and "per year", then it would be redundant.

--

in the case of a ONE-TIME increase, you can just specify the increase as a percentage (e.g., the number of cars in the parking lot has gone up by 20% since the last time i was here).
but if you're referring to a continuous rate of growth, as this problem is, then you have to normalize the growth rate over some time period.

[kernnel7799]

Hi,
Can anyone help to explain why (B) is wrong?
Thanks!

[salman30]

Hi,
Can anyone help to explain why (B) is wrong?
Thanks!

B) the world consumption is consuming oil at an increasing rate of

There is an issue of meaning here. How world consumption can consume oil ? World consumption of oil should be correct.

[mschwrtz]

Yes, B is redundant.

[hiphopdidi7623]

If we remove the modifier clause at the begining, would the main clause of choice "E" be grammartically correct?

thx

[danielpatinkin]

Answer choice E is below:

E) "oil is consumed by the world at an increasing rate of..."

Regardless of the preceding modifier, this is not a strong answer choice for 2 reasons:

1. It is in passive voice. The subject "oil" is being acted upon by the object "the world". The GMAT prefers active voice, so "the world is consuming oil..." would be a better structure.

2. "Increasing" is a misplaced modifier and creates an inappropriate meaning. What is increasing is the consumption of oil, not the rate itself. If it were an "increasing rate", then, for example, one year the rate would be 2%, the next year the rate might be 2.3%, then the next year the rate might be 2.7%, and so on.

I hope that helps!

- Dan P

[hiphopdidi7623]

Answer choice E is below:

E) "oil is consumed by the world at an increasing rate of..."

Regardless of the preceding modifier, this is not a strong answer choice for 2 reasons:

1. It is in passive voice. The subject "oil" is being acted upon by the object "the world". The GMAT prefers active voice, so "the world is consuming oil..." would be a better structure.

2. "Increasing" is a misplaced modifier and creates an inappropriate meaning. What is increasing is the consumption of oil, not the rate itself. If it were an "increasing rate", then, for example, one year the rate would be 2%, the next year the rate might be 2.3%, then the next year the rate might be 2.7%, and so on.

I hope that helps!

- Dan P

thank you, Dan
getting clear

[RonPurewal]

thank you, Dan
getting clear

we're glad to help