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verb tense

by paes » Sat May 08, 2010 9:07 pm
A 1964 ordinance in the city of Pittsburg increased the number of people who had been allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling in a residential neighborhood.
(A) increased the number of people who had been allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling
(B) increased the number of people who are allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling
(C) increases the number of people who have been allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling
(D) increased the number of people who were allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling
(E) increases the number of people who had been allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling

OA is B, I am not sure why A and D are wrong.
Somebody please explain.
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by paes » Sun May 09, 2010 11:39 pm
no Explanation :

Somebody can explain please :

Source : 1012 Princeton GMAT
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by rockeyb » Mon May 10, 2010 12:55 am
paes wrote:A 1964 ordinance in the city of Pittsburg increased the number of people who had been allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling in a residential neighborhood.
(A) increased the number of people who had been allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling
(B) increased the number of people who are allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling
(C) increases the number of people who have been allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling
(D) increased the number of people who were allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling
(E) increases the number of people who had been allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling

OA is B, I am not sure why A and D are wrong.
Somebody please explain.
The use of Past Perfect tense is not required . As in A the use of Past Perfect changes the meaning .

(A)increased the number of people who had been allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling.

Ex : By the time we arrived the movie had already started .

The event of movie starting occurred first then the even of arriving happened .

So past perfect will always show a earlier event in past .

Option A --- says people were first allowed and then the ordinance increased the number .

In option D

(D) increased the number of people who were allowed to occupy a single-family dwelling .

Use of past tense would mean a completed action in past . So that would mean after the increase people were allowed to live but now they are not .

HTH .
"Know thyself" and "Nothing in excess"
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by akhpad » Mon May 10, 2010 2:41 am
It is hard to select between B and D.

Here, I can say that they are still allowed to occupy. Based on this I can select B but bit difficult during exam time.
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by paes » Mon May 10, 2010 3:22 am
Thanks Akhilesh and Rockey.

Actually, between b and d, the book is saying that the ordinance still exists, so 'are' is a better choice.
This reasoning was not very convincing to me.
I was trying to find if there is some other general rule, here.

Thanks anyway.
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by loveusonu » Mon May 10, 2010 10:23 am
Paes,
While going through this problem something reminded me of OG12 and I picked B.

The reasoning: since the ordinance is still valid and people are still following the answer should have a present tense "Are"

Finally found the OG12 problem, Its Q74.. For those of you who don't have OG12 handy, below the eg.

74. A 1972 agreement between Canada and the United States reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump into the Great Lakes.

(A) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump
(B) reduced the phosphate amount that municipalities had been dumping
(C) reduces the phosphate amount municipalities have been allowed to dump
(D) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities are allowed to dump
(E) reduces the amount of phosphates allowed for dumping by municipalities

Hope that helps!
Sonu
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When you want something desperately, the whole Universe conspires in helping to give it to you - The Alchemist
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by paes » Mon May 10, 2010 9:42 pm
loveusonu wrote:Paes,
While going through this problem something reminded me of OG12 and I picked B.

The reasoning: since the ordinance is still valid and people are still following the answer should have a present tense "Are"

Finally found the OG12 problem, Its Q74.. For those of you who don't have OG12 handy, below the eg.

74. A 1972 agreement between Canada and the United States reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump into the Great Lakes.

(A) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump
(B) reduced the phosphate amount that municipalities had been dumping
(C) reduces the phosphate amount municipalities have been allowed to dump
(D) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities are allowed to dump
(E) reduces the amount of phosphates allowed for dumping by municipalities

Hope that helps!
Thanks Sonu.
You have found a good example to compare with
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