Sentence Correction

The report indicates that last year one of the nation's most successful construction companies widened the gap between its profitability and that of other construction companies, and an analyst advised the company to invest $6 million into further development, a recommendation that could result in more spending by the construction company on its own equipment and decreasing the dependence on other companies to supply machinery.

* (A)decreasing the dependence
* (B)the decreasing dependence
* (C)decreased dependence
* (D)the dependence decreased
* (E)the dependence decreasing

Please provide explanation.

OA C

IMO C.

atuljadhav wrote:IMO C.

Please provide explanation why A,B,D, E are wrong and C is correct.

The underlined portion needs to be parallel with "more spending". Therefore is has to be a noun preceded by an adjective. "Decreased spending" is the only one that fits that requirement.

Tani Wolff - Kaplan wrote:The underlined portion needs to be parallel with "more spending". Therefore is has to be a noun preceded by an adjective. "Decreased spending" is the only one that fits that requirement.

Hi Tani,

Is B wrong because spending is not parallel to the decreasing??????

Tani Wolff - Kaplan wrote:The underlined portion needs to be parallel with "more spending". Therefore is has to be a noun preceded by an adjective. "Decreased spending" is the only one that fits that requirement.

Hi Tani,

I am not able to understand how "Decreased spending" is a noun. Could you please explain?
I am having a hard time differentiating between participles and gerunds? Any tips.

IMO C, stand alone!

IMO C....what is OA?

A gerund is the -ing form of a verb used as a noun. Here "spending" is the noun. For the -ing form to be a participle, it must be coupled with a helping verb such as "is" or "has been".

Skiing is my favorite sport. (gerund)
I have been skiing all week. (participle)

Tani Wolff - Kaplan wrote:A gerund is the -ing form of a verb used as a noun. Here "spending" is the noun. For the -ing form to be a participle, it must be coupled with a helping verb such as "is" or "has been".

Skiing is my favorite sport. (gerund)
I have been skiing all week. (participle)

Hi Tani,

Can you please clarify why option B is exactly wrong?????

Is it wrong because spending is not parallel to the decreasing??????

"decreasing the dependence" is a verb phrase while "decreased dependence" is a noun phrase and therefore parallel to "more spending"

Tani Wolff - Kaplan wrote:"decreasing the dependence" is a verb phrase while "decreased dependence" is a noun phrase and therefore parallel to "more spending"

Hi Tani,

I think you mistook what I asked as you have mentioned about option A but I asked about option B i.e the decreasing dependance.....

Request you to clarify on the same