Please don't do this (attach verbal problems as image files). Also, please post some sort of question along with the problem (which answer choices do you see as possible candidates? which have you already eliminated?)

I'll assume that the question is "why A and not E?"

The problem with choice E is in the placement of the modifier ("For consumers and businesses making a large number of..."). Since this comes before the main clause, "the government predicts...", the implication is that the government is making a prediction for the sake of those consumers and businesses: the prediction is "for" them - and may not even mean that their rates will fall!

Choice A, on the other hand, correctly captures the intended meaning of the sentence: The government is making a general prediction (it's not a prediction aimed at anybody in particular), about the rate cuts that will be experienced by certain individuals.

Can we say that options "B" and "C" are out because of passive voice "will be greatly reduced". And option "D" is out because there is no verb-->"the government prediction that the Federal....".

In option "E" the only error is becasue propositional phrase "For....." comes before main clause? When you write a sentence like this <prepositional phrase>,<main clause> then why intended meaning of "will grately reduce cost" is not applicable to the "consumers and businesses.."? What is the rule that govern this?

please re-type the question into the text window, for the benefit of both fellow users and moderators. thanks.

The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.
A. The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs,
B. The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communication Commission's telephone rate cuts,
C. The government's prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission,
D. For consumers and businesses that make large number of long-distance calls, the government prediction that the Federal Communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs,
E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs,

the passive voice is indeed a problem, because it's unnecessary. (remember that the passive voice should only be employed when there's a fairly compelling reason to use it.) in choice b especially, there's also an unacceptably long distance between the passive-voice action (will be greatly reduced) and the agent of that action (by the ...).

one thing you should definitely notice in choice c is the wordiness of 'the government's prediction is'. constructions like that, which can easily be replaced by more compact forms ('the government predicts') with no change in meaning, are ALWAYS wrong. (also, you need the word 'that' after 'is'.)

the prepositional phrase at the beginning of choice e is an example of a dangling modifier: one isn't quite sure exactly what it's supposed to modify. according to the strict rules followed by the gmat, this phrase should technically modify the action directly following the comma (the government predicts), which doesn't make sense: the government is not making predictions for the benefit of consumers and businesses (rather, it is merely making projections).

Hi Ron,
I am a bit confused over the explanation given for choosing between A & E. Somehow both A & E limit the cost saving to consumers & business hence E that way sounds similar in meaning to A. Secondly in choice A, "that" is followed by a comma, is that correct? I am not too sure if we can use comma after that. Is there any other reason/explanation possible from your side? Except for that comma rest everythign looks fine. As for E not able to differentiate the meaning intended(or mis-intended)

To see that the comma is OK in (A), you might try reading it without the phrase set off by commas:
"The government predicts that the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs..."
= X predicts that Y will Z.

You could also read it as if that limiting phrase is parenthetical:
"The government predicts that (for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls) the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs... "
= X predicts that (just for some people) Y will Z.

The meaning difference boils down to the placement of the "for" phrase. What exactly is FOR the people and companies mentioned? If it is the fact that the rate cuts will reduce their costs, then place the phrase close to that, as in (A). If it is the government, or the government prediction, then place the phrase next to "the government predicts," as in (E).