Question: Students in the metropolitan school district lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.

(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
(B) lack math skills to a large enough degree that they will be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy that becomes
(C) lack of math skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb them into a city’s economy that becomes
(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy becoming
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming

“Students in the metropolitan school district lack math skills to such” - is a GMAT sentence correction question. These sorts of questions possess grammatical errors in the underlined portion of the sentence, and the candidate needs to pick the correct statement. The GMAT sentence correction section detects the grammatical skills of the candidates. It enables the candidate to identify basic grammatical errors. It encourages the candidates to go through intricate and lengthy sentences precisely. GMAT sentence correction is part of GMAT verbal.

Answer: (E)
Explanation:

This question can be used to illustrate a key principle of sentence correction—namely, that the proper answer frequently sounds awful. The use of the uncommon idiom so X as to Y and the present participle in the correct answer is what makes it sound so bad.

The following meaning is conveyed by the proper sentence. It will be challenging to integrate students from the metropolitan school district into an economy that depends more and more on information-based industries.

Let's examine each choice in turn to determine which is the right answer. The right option when put into the underlined part of the question conveys the correct statement with no grammar or other errors.

Option – A : Incorrect

This option uses the phrase "lack math skills to such a great extent as to make," which does not use the proper idiom form "So...X...as to Y." Thus this option is eliminated.

Option – B : Incorrect

This option uses the idiom form "large enough degree," which is inappropriate. Although the sentence suggests that the city's growing reliance on information-based services is a currently ongoing process, this option also uses the future tense verb "becomes." Thus this option is eliminated.

Option - C: Incorrect

This option inappropriately describes a "lack of math skills" with the adjective "large." This option also makes the same tense-related mistake as in the second option. Thus this option is eliminated.

Option - D: Incorrect

The phrase "are lacking so much in math skills as to be" used in this option repeats the same idiom-related mistake found in the first option. Thus this option is eliminated.

Option - E: Correct

The phrase "so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb" is used in this option, and the present participle "becoming" maintains the correct tense. Thus this option is the right choice.

From the explanations given above, it is clear that the final option is the right answer.

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