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Source: Official Guide for the GMAT 13th Ed. Sentence Correction; #16 Official Guide for the GMAT 2015 14th Ed. Sentence Correction; #16

1

A surge in new home sales and

A surge in new home sales and a drop in weekly unemployment claims suggest that the economy might not be as week as some analysts previously thought.

2 Explanations

3

Gravatar Jonathan , Magoosh Tutor

This is a little tricky! Actually, "economy" is the not the subject of the verb "have been thought." The subject of "have been thought" would actually be the "empty it" here. See this post:

http://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/the-empty-it-on-the-gmat-sentence-correction/

But yes, it should be "has been," such as in:

"It has been previously thought by some analysts that the economy is weak."

May 14, 2015 • Comment

3

Gravatar Mike McGarry, Magoosh Tutor

May 22, 2013 • Comment

kirti vardhan

Hi Mike,

As explained by you about the choice C that "have been previously" is a passive and rarely used in GMAT.

However,i see another reason for it.The word "Economy" is a singular subject which would require a singular verb "has"(in this case).

In that case "claims suggest that economy might not be as weak as has been previously.......

Please review my explanation so that i could note it down for reference.

Thanks

May 8, 2015 • Reply

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Section 9.6 Sentence Correction

Section 9.6 Sentence Correction

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