Because of dramatic improvements

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Because of dramatic improvements

by james » Fri Oct 17, 2014 11:09 am
Because of dramatic improvements in computing technology, $200 today buys double the hard drive space that it has in 2004.

A...
B: double the hard drive space that it did
C: as much as twice the hard drive space it has
D: two times as many hard drive space as there were
E: a doubling of the hard drive space that it did

Source: veritasprep; OA B; Is the OA correct this way without stating the verb?
Simple Past tense vs Present tense.

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by [email protected] » Fri Oct 17, 2014 11:41 am
Hi james,

Yes the stated correct answer IS correct. The verb "did" parallels the verb "buys."

The sentence COULD have been written as:

".....$200 today buys double the hard drive space that it BOUGHT in 2004", but the GMAT writers tend to avoid repeat/redundant language in the correct answers. Since the sentence already referred to "buys", it wasn't necessary to repeat that language (although parallelism still needed to be maintained).

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by james » Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:31 pm
If I get u right, u saying it's correct as stated below:

"... $200 today buys double the hard drive space that it did (buys) in 2004"

I feel today should be "buys", while in 2004 should be "bought"
Essentially, the sentence should read as below:

"...$200 today buys double the hard drive space that it did (bought) in 2004"

Because "buys" and "bought" are in different tenses, i also thought the past should be clearly
written"

Pls your response is appreciated.