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by gmat_perfect » Mon Aug 02, 2010 10:38 am
Until quite recently, American economists have assumed that the unemployment rate being four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers.

(A) the unemployment rate being four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers
(B) should the unemployment rate be four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers
(C) were the unemployment rate four per cent, there is a rough balance between jobs and job seekers
(D) if the unemployment rate is four per cent, there is a rough balance between jobs and job seekers
(E) there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers when there is an unemployment rate that is four per cent


I have come to the answer.

But I am not convinced with the explanation of the option C.

Would any one say why C is wrong?

I have assumed that were in C is wrong. Is there any other way to eliminate C?

Thanks.
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by uwhusky » Mon Aug 02, 2010 10:41 am
nope.
Last edited by uwhusky on Tue Aug 03, 2010 9:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
Yep.
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by bichoo » Mon Aug 02, 2010 11:14 am
IMO D
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by tomada » Mon Aug 02, 2010 11:46 am
You can eliminate choices A, B, and E since each of these includes the word "among" to describe the relationship between the jobs and job seekers. "Among" should only be used when there are more than 2 things/people but, in this case, there are only two items: "jobs" (1) and "job seekers" (2).
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by selfmade » Mon Aug 02, 2010 12:27 pm
As said in earlier post - A, B and E can be eliminated since it uses "Among" to compare two items ( job and jobseekers).

Its a very close call between C and D . However the sentence starts with - Until very recently whoch shows the action in the past, so C is more appropriate. D starts with "If" and presents hypothetical situation, so it can be eliminated as well.

Answer should be C.
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by uwhusky » Mon Aug 02, 2010 12:41 pm
yep.
Last edited by uwhusky on Tue Aug 03, 2010 9:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
Yep.
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by tomada » Mon Aug 02, 2010 12:43 pm
IMO D.
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by reply2spg » Mon Aug 02, 2010 9:07 pm
'were' is not correct in C

IMO D
gmat_perfect wrote:Until quite recently, American economists have assumed that the unemployment rate being four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers.

(A) the unemployment rate being four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers
(B) should the unemployment rate be four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers
(C) were the unemployment rate four per cent, there is a rough balance between jobs and job seekers
(D) if the unemployment rate is four per cent, there is a rough balance between jobs and job seekers
(E) there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers when there is an unemployment rate that is four per cent


I have come to the answer.

But I am not convinced with the explanation of the option C.

Would any one say why C is wrong?

I have assumed that were in C is wrong. Is there any other way to eliminate C?

Thanks.
Sudhanshu
(have lot of things to learn from all of you)
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by selango » Mon Aug 02, 2010 9:14 pm
IMO D.

"Assumed that if" is correct.
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by neha.patni » Tue Aug 03, 2010 3:41 am
gmat_perfect wrote:Until quite recently, American economists have assumed that the unemployment rate being four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers.

(A) the unemployment rate being four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers
(B) should the unemployment rate be four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers
(C) were the unemployment rate four per cent, there is a rough balance between jobs and job seekers
(D) if the unemployment rate is four per cent, there is a rough balance between jobs and job seekers
(E) there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers when there is an unemployment rate that is four per cent


I have come to the answer.

But I am not convinced with the explanation of the option C.

Would any one say why C is wrong?

I have assumed that were in C is wrong. Is there any other way to eliminate C?

Thanks.

IMO D
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by gmat_perfect » Tue Aug 03, 2010 9:16 am
tomada wrote:IMO D.
Would you please explain why answer choice C is incorrect?

Thanks.
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by reply2spg » Tue Aug 03, 2010 9:31 am
is "Assumed that if" idiom?
selango wrote:IMO D.

"Assumed that if" is correct.
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by FightWithGMAT » Tue Aug 03, 2010 10:26 am
gmat_perfect wrote:
tomada wrote:IMO D.
Would you please explain why answer choice C is incorrect?

Thanks.
"were" is coupled with "would". That is why C is wrong.

In conditional clause if past form of TO BE is used, associated clause must have "would".
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by e-GMAT » Tue Aug 03, 2010 10:43 am
gmat_perfect wrote:
tomada wrote:IMO D.
Would you please explain why answer choice C is incorrect?

Thanks.
I will take a stab at explaining why Choice C is incorrect.

Lets read the original sentence and understand the intent:

"Until quite recently, American economists have assumed that the unemployment rate being four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers."

The sentence presents an assumption made by the American economists. The assumption is presented in form of a condition which states that if the unemployment rate is 4%, then there is rough balance between jobs and job seekers.

Now lets concentrate on choice C

"were the unemployment rate four per cent, there is a rough balance between jobs and job seekers"
In this construction, use of "were" gives an impression that this is a hypothetical condition. And this by itself changes the intent of the sentence. The "unemployment rate of 4%" is not a hypothetical condition per the original sentence.

Let me know if this makes sense.
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by tomada » Tue Aug 03, 2010 10:48 am
Please bear with me if my reasoning is incorrect, but I eliminated 'C' because I thought that "were" (plural) was inconsistent with "rate" (singular).
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