With government funding for the arts dwindling

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simplyjat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 423; Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 1:29 am; Location: Hyderabad, India; Thanked: 36 times; Followed by:2 members; GMAT Score:770

With government funding for the arts dwindling

by simplyjat » Sat May 03, 2008 3:27 pm

With government funding for the arts dwindling, even major orchestras would feel the pressure of trying to meet their payroll and travel costs over the past several years.

a) would feel
b) will feel
c) have felt
d) feel
e) are feeling

OA C

simplyjat

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat May 03, 2008 3:27 pm

HarvardDreamin: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 93; Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:35 am; Thanked: 2 times

Re: With government funding for the arts dwindling

by HarvardDreamin » Sun May 04, 2008 1:58 am

simplyjat wrote:With government funding for the arts dwindling, even major orchestras would feel the pressure of trying to meet their payroll and travel costs over the past several years.

a) would feel
b) will feel
c) have felt
d) feel
e) are feeling

OA C

Answer should be C. first reaction drove me to a/b however the statement describes the "past several years" which is in the past hence the most appropriate answer is C

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Stuart@KaplanGMAT: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3225; Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:40 pm; Location: Toronto; Thanked: 1710 times; Followed by:614 members; GMAT Score:800

Re: With government funding for the arts dwindling

by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Sun May 04, 2008 8:24 am

HarvardDreamin wrote:
simplyjat wrote:With government funding for the arts dwindling, even major orchestras would feel the pressure of trying to meet their payroll and travel costs over the past several years.

a) would feel
b) will feel
c) have felt
d) feel
e) are feeling

OA C
Answer should be C. first reaction drove me to a/b however the statement describes the "past several years" which is in the past hence the most appropriate answer is C

Great catch! It's important not to neglect the part of the sentence AFTER the underlined part. Here, the phrase you quoted clearly indicates that the past continuous is appropriate.

Note that even if you weren't sure about simple past vs past continuous, only one answer choice is in the past at all, making your decision simple.