Noting that the Federal Reserve had raised

[RonPurewal]

better corresponds to the meaning of non-underlined sentence: had raised a key short-term interest rate again last month)

actually, no.

"make(s)" is written in the present tense (in all five choices). thus, this statement is a generality.
(sarah isn't going to like this pad thai, because she hates spicy food --> IN GENERAL she hates spicy food, so we can rest assured that she won't like this particular dish.)

so, ironically, this statement is specifically NOT a reference to the current situation. it's an across-the-board generalization--like "sarah doesn't like spicy food"--from which the analyst is drawing an inference.

if the statement were a reference to the current situation, then we would have to write...
...rising interest rates are making lines of credit more expensive (if the change is occurring at the moment)
...a rise in interest rates has made lines of credit more expensive (if the rates are done rising, at least for now).

[RonPurewal]

2. is it virtually the same to use "buying on credit more expensive" as to use the placeholder it:makes it more expensive to buy them on credit

yes, these are basically the same.

if the __ing phrase is reasonably small (like "buying on credit"), then the version without "it" is better (from a stylistic standpoint) because it's more efficient / less wordy.

on the other hand, if the __ing phrase is long, then the less wordy construction becomes impossible.

e.g.,

Native speakers of Spanish find pronouncing English words that contain an initial consonant cluster starting with 'S' difficult.
(this sentence is pretty much impossible to understand unless you read through it several times. and, even then, it's still hard to understand.)

Native speakers of Spanish find it difficult to pronounce English words that contain an initial consonant cluster starting with 'S'. (ok, this sentence is still pretty challenging... but at least you can read it.)

you will never, ever, ever have to make stylistic decisions on this exam. so, your responsibility here starts and ends with "you should be familiar with both of these."

[RonPurewal]

3. How can I eliminate choice E?

in the construction "it is (adjective) for XXXX to (verb)", the adjective describes what XXXX experience(s) in trying to (verb).

e.g.,

This book is hard for me to read.
(I experience difficulty in reading this book.)

It is difficult for Liz to talk to her ex-husband.
(liz has trouble talking to her ex. we don't know whether the converse is true.)

so, choice E is saying that the appliances themselves have to spend a lot of money "to be bought on credit". well, that doesn't make any sense.

[RonPurewal]

also--
even if your knowledge of these constructions is nil, you should still be able to kill E because it's so terribly wordy and clunky, as compared to the other choices.

(no, wordiness is not an actual error... but the correct answers are NEVER more wordy / less efficient than the incorrect answers. thus, you can still use differences in wordiness as viable criteria for elimination.)

[gmatkiller_24]

3. How can I eliminate choice E?

in the construction "it is (adjective) for XXXX to (verb)", the adjective describes what XXXX experience(s) in trying to (verb).

e.g.,

This book is hard for me to read.
(I experience difficulty in reading this book.)

It is difficult for Liz to talk to her ex-husband.
(liz has trouble talking to her ex. we don't know whether the converse is true.)

so, choice E is saying that the appliances themselves have to spend a lot of money "to be bought on credit". well, that doesn't make any sense.

that is the same reason when I struck choice E out.

I remembered a similar mistake here.

people are able to do sth. (correct)

but you cannot phrase like the following:

people are able to be done sth ( it just logically doesn't make any sense)

basically, here is the same idea. Right?

[RonPurewal]

nope. different animal, though on some level there are similarities (e.g., both are descriptions that are mistaken/false/absurd).

in the original problem, the issue is that we're saying X (= the appliances) do something, when in fact Y does that thing (and the notion that X does that thing is absurd).
of note is that, to process this stuff correctly, you need to be familiar with an idiomatic construction ("xxxx for X to do yyyyy").

the "able" issue, on the other hand, has nothing to do with idiomatic constructions. it's purely a question of meaning: "is this actually an ability?"

[YANGJ318]

Hello, Ron. I am Jessica.
I got the right answer, but I still have some problem with the answer A.
Noting that the Federal Reserve had raised a key short -term-interest rate again last month, analysts said that they expected orders for the durable goods to decline soon because rising rates makes it more expensive to buy them on credit

1. Can "them " refer to the "goods " in "orders for the durable goods ", or refer to "orders"?
Since it's a N1+prep N2, I don't know can "them " refer to N2 ? OR must refer to N1.
Or it depends on the context.
2.OR "them" here actually refers to the same thing that "they" in the previous ununderlined part refer to - the analysts.

I am really confused.

[RonPurewal]

you can buy goods. you can't buy orders. so, there's only one possible meaning.

[mengdiez451]

hi Ron,I got the wrong answer because I thought "rising" is a present participle here
therefore I elimiate B because "rising interest rates" is a single action,and it needs "makes"
I chose A instead,I didn't realise the ambiguity in "them"
can you please help explain this? thank you in advance.

[mengdiez451]

hi Ron,I got the wrong answer because I thought "rising" is a present participle here
therefore I elimiate B because "rising interest rates" is a single action,and it needs "makes"
I chose A instead,I didn't realise the ambiguity in "them"
can you please help explain this? thank you in advance.

[RonPurewal]

^^ that's an impossible interpretation, since "rise" CAN'T have an object. (you can't "rise something".)
the ONLY possible function of "rising" here is to serve as an adjective.

__

you may be confusing "rise" with "raise", which ALWAYS has an object.

[gmaty00]

So the only problem with choice D is "make" - it should be "makes", correct?

Because I picked D, as I think "a rise" refer to "a key short-term interest rate" better, but obviously I missed the "make".

Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

yes, that's the only real problem with D—but it's a very, very big problem.

whenever an answer choice contains a problem THAT big, you should just ignore the rest of it (...even if there are other things that seem like "issues").
remember, choices with MAJOR ERRORS often contain plenty of other "differences" that are included purely as irrelevant distractions—in other words, simply to waste the time of test takers who don't identify MAJOR problems FIRST.