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Tricky SC with no so clear explanations

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Tricky SC with no so clear explanations

by prachi18oct » Tue May 16, 2017 9:35 pm
In most industries the rising cost of support services actually passes a greater financial burden to customers; in the legal profession, for example, a current climb in the cost of court reporting has forced many attorneys to raise their hourly rates.

a)has forced many attorneys to raise their hourly rates.
b)has made many attorneys raise their hourly rates.
c)has meant that many attorneys are being forced to raise their hourly rates.
d)forces many attorneys to raise their hourly rates.
e)is meaning that many attorneys are raising their hourly rates by force.

I have always read in almost all forums that simple present tense is used for universally true events.
In this case I am not able to convince myself that SPT is correctly used.
Experts please help.
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by Ali Tariq » Wed May 17, 2017 12:58 am
Hello Prachi,
I have always read in almost all forums that simple present tense is used for universally true events.
Simple present tense(SPT) is also appropriate for timeframe-independent generalities, such as general observations, permanent traits, habitual actions, definitions etc.For instance:
Team members practice in this gym.
Coach Calhoun recruits from countries outside the U.S.A.

Therefore SPT in,
In most industries,the rising cost of support services actually passes a greater financial burden to customers
is appropriate.

in the legal profession, for example, a current climb in the cost of court reporting has forced many attorneys to raise their hourly rates.

a)has forced many attorneys to raise their hourly rates.
b)has made many attorneys raise their hourly rates.
c)has meant that many attorneys are being forced to raise their hourly rates.
d)forces many attorneys to raise their hourly rates.
e)is meaning that many attorneys are raising their hourly rates by force.
current means no longer timeframe independent.
In this situation, present perfect tense or present progressive tense is appropriate.

D is ,thus, out ,since for something current, SPT is inappropriate( as has been said before).

In E, mean is a stative/state verb.
These verbs cannot take progressive tense.

C changes the meaning.

Difference between A and B is idiomatic, something untypical of official questions.


Further,comma after initial modifier( in non underlined portion) would have been much better.
In most industries, the rising cost of support services actually passes a greater financial burden to customers
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by elias.latour.apex » Wed May 17, 2017 5:08 am
I partially agree with the previous poster.

The simple present can be used for things that are always true. For example, we can say:

The sun rises in the east. OR
Vegetarians don't eat meat.

But this is not the only possible use of the present simple. We can use the present simple for things that are true for a long period of time. For example, we can say:

John lives in Dublin.
John works for IBM.
John has a dog.

We can also use the present simple to say how often things occur.

Mary goes to the beauty salon twice a month.
Mark usually wakes up at 6:00.

Sometimes the simple present is used for the future. For example:

The bus leaves in 10 minutes.

Accordingly, I conclude that the simple present tense is not the best tense for this situation.

The present perfect, on the other hand, is used to talk about the present effects of past events. If, for example, we say:

Mary has lost a lot of weight.

We mean that at some unspecified time in the past, she lost weight, and we are noticing the current effects.

This is also not the situation here. I believe that the best tense would be the present continuous, which is used for events that have started but have not finished. For example:

The economic situation in Venezuela is forcing many people to look for work abroad.
Expensive food is forcing customers to skip expensive restaurants in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, according to a top UAE hotelier.
A Law Against 'Double Dipping' Is Forcing Disabled Vets To Pay Back Separation Benefits.
The rule, part of the EU's looming Mifid II regulation, is forcing banks to make sweeping changes to the way they sell bonds in the primary market as regulators push for greater clarity on how dealmakers operate.
Elias Latour
Verbal Specialist @ ApexGMAT
blog.apexgmat.com
+1 (646) 736-7622
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by prachi18oct » Wed May 17, 2017 8:09 pm
This is a question from GMAT club tests and the OA iS D.
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by Ali Tariq » Wed May 17, 2017 8:44 pm
prachi18oct wrote:This is a question from GMAT club tests and the OA iS D.
As time is of essence, that which brings negative value should be ignored!

D could have been correct, had forces been a stative verb.
Similarly, E could have been correct, had there been means instead of is meaning.

Much better to ignore this SC.
It certainly does not represent what official material offers.

The whole stative vs dynamic verb itself is not a frequently tested concept in GMAT SC.

So ignore what needs to be ignored and focus on what matters.
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