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interest rate on mortgage

by daretodream » Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:56 pm
Interest rates on mortgages have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged during the next three months.

A. have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged

B. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remain unchanged

C. steadily declined during the first six months of this year but remain virtually unchanged

D. declined steadily during the first six months of this but have remained virtually unchanging

E. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but have remained virtually unchanged
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by bhumika.k.shah » Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:33 am
Hope this helps :)
daretodream wrote:
Interest rates on mortgages have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged during the next three months.

A. have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged - present perfect tense not required here . ELIMIATE

B. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remain unchanged - declined ..remain not parallel ELIMINATE

C. steadily declined during the first six months of this year but remain virtually unchanged - declined ..remain not parallel ELIMINATE

D. declined steadily during the first six months of this but have remained virtually unchanging - of this what ? who ? when ? why ? ELIMINATE

E. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but have remained virtually unchanged - declined...remained..parallel.CORRECT
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by thephoenix » Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:50 am
a)have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged -->wrong tense
also not llel

b)declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remain unchanged ------> the next three months will last until now

c)steadily declined during the first six months of this year but remain virtually unchanged -------> remain unchanged implies that they are STILL unchanged, whereas we dont know what is now here. The answer could quite easily be C, because one can argue that E implies the rates are STILL unchanged (because of the usage of have).

d) declined steadily during the first six months of this but have remained virtually unchanging --> remain unchanging is wrong. It should be remain unchanged because interest rates is changed, not itself manages to change

e)correct
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by soumyopriyosaha » Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:36 am
daretodream wrote:Interest rates on mortgages have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged during the next three months.

A. have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged

B. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remain unchanged

C. steadily declined during the first six months of this year but remain virtually unchanged

D. declined steadily during the first six months of this but have remained virtually unchanging

E. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but have remained virtually unchanged
IMO E.
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by komal » Mon Feb 15, 2010 7:00 pm
daretodream wrote:Interest rates on mortgages have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged during the next three months.

A. have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged - Virtually modifying remained but it should modify unchanged .

B. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remain unchanged - Parallelism Error

C. steadily declined during the first six months of this year but remain virtually unchanged - Parallelism Error

D. declined steadily during the first six months of this but have remained virtually unchanging - Parallelism Error

E. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but have remained virtually unchanged - Correct
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by kvcpk » Fri Aug 27, 2010 1:45 pm
E. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but have remained virtually unchanged

Why is "have" required here?
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by gmat_perfect » Fri Aug 27, 2010 2:26 pm
kvcpk wrote:E. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but have remained virtually unchanged

Why is "have" required here?

The year:

.....M1....M2....M3......M4.....M5.......M6.........M7... Remained (past)

.....M9.....M10......M11.......M12......M1.. have remained---it still continues.......


For the last three months it has remained ----Means we are speaking in January first week.

The unchanged has started in October, and it still continues.

Another tips for present perfect tense:

An event has occurred, and the result is still there.

Example:

It has rained. --------------[Result: the soil is still wet.]
It rained.--------------------[because--the soil is no more wet.]

I think you got it.
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by nets » Fri Aug 27, 2010 2:30 pm
Interest rates on mortgages have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged during the next three months.

A. have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged

B. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remain unchanged

C. steadily declined during the first six months of this year but remain virtually unchanged

D. declined steadily during the first six months of this but have remained virtually unchanging

E. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but have remained virtually unchanged


IMO E
The problem here is that of time frame instead of parallelism. "have declined" uses present perfect for first 6 months and "remained unchanged" uses simple past for next 3 months. Present perfect is used for things that have just ended or are still continuing from the past.
So, even though E doesn't look perfect but it puts these two tenses in the best order. BCD have obvious problems. A has the same problem - simple past is used for an event that occurs after the event for which present perfect is used.

How does that sound?
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by debmalya_dutta » Fri Aug 27, 2010 3:24 pm
@komal

Why is the "have" in the later part required ....

Surely not to mark the difference when the 2 events took place ...because first one happened in the first six months and the second one happened in the 3 months subsequent to the first 6 months ....
secondly, the 3 month trend is not a continuing phenomenan...Its just an observation for those 3 months in the past... Atleast that's what I understood was the intent behind the sentence ....

I am not arguing that E is the best among the available option.. But something makes me feel that the correct answer , E, is incorrect in itself

@ gmat_perfect - I don't necessarily agree that the effect of the 3 months is continuing. maybe I am overlooking something .. can you elaborate on what made you think that the effect is continuing ?
komal wrote:
daretodream wrote:Interest rates on mortgages have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged during the next three months.

A. have declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remained unchanged - Virtually modifying remained but it should modify unchanged .

B. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but virtually remain unchanged - Parallelism Error

C. steadily declined during the first six months of this year but remain virtually unchanged - Parallelism Error

D. declined steadily during the first six months of this but have remained virtually unchanging - Parallelism Error

E. declined steadily during the first six months of this year but have remained virtually unchanged - Correct
@Deb
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