Noting that its revenues had fallen due to a recent prolonged slump in CD sales, the music-store chain announced that it would be forced to raise prices at all of its outlets.
(A) its revenues had fallen due to a recent
(B) its revenues have fallen due to a recently
(C) its revenues are falling due to a recently
(D) their revenues are falling due to a recent
(E) their revenues had fallen due to a recent
OA is A , but my question is why cant we use Present perfect so as to emphasize the effect of falling revenue on sales. plz explain
5-Day Free Trial
5-day free, full-access trial TTP
Available with Beat the GMAT members only code
MORE DETAILS
Noting that its revenues had fallen due to a recent prolonge
This topic has expert replies
-
saranshpuri
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 46
- Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:32 am
- Thanked: 1 times
-
Bill@VeritasPrep
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 1248
- Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:57 pm
- Location: Everywhere
- Thanked: 503 times
- Followed by:192 members
- GMAT Score:780
The present perfect "have fallen" would place the decrease in revenue after the past tense "announced". Because the revenue drop caused the announcement, this order of events does not work.
Join Veritas Prep's 2010 Instructor of the Year, Matt Douglas for GMATT Mondays
Visit the Veritas Prep Blog
Try the FREE Veritas Prep Practice Test
Visit the Veritas Prep Blog
Try the FREE Veritas Prep Practice Test
-
aditya8062
- Legendary Member
- Posts: 774
- Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:32 am
- Thanked: 46 times
- Followed by:14 members
-
Bill@VeritasPrep
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 1248
- Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:57 pm
- Location: Everywhere
- Thanked: 503 times
- Followed by:192 members
- GMAT Score:780
A good point.aditya8062 wrote:the usage of adverb "recently" is also wrong in option B and C
"Recent prolonged slump" means that the slump was recent AND prolonged.
"Recently prolonged slump" means that the slump was somehow extended.
Join Veritas Prep's 2010 Instructor of the Year, Matt Douglas for GMATT Mondays
Visit the Veritas Prep Blog
Try the FREE Veritas Prep Practice Test
Visit the Veritas Prep Blog
Try the FREE Veritas Prep Practice Test
GMAT/MBA Expert
-
[email protected]
- Elite Legendary Member
- Posts: 10392
- Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm
- Location: Palo Alto, CA
- Thanked: 2867 times
- Followed by:511 members
- GMAT Score:800
Hi saranshpuri,
This SC has a number of grammar rules that you can choose to deal with. Here's how I focused on:
1) Pronouns - the subject of this sentence is "the music store chain", which is singular (the sentence also provides two other pronouns that reference "the music store chain" - "it" and "its", so there is no doubt that we're dealing with a singular noun). Thus, we need a singular pronoun. Eliminate D and E.
2) Verbs - notice that "the music store chain ANNOUNCED....", which is a past tense verb. The announcement was about the fallen revenues and the recent prolonged slump, which PRECEDED the announcement. With two past events (the slump and the announcement), the sentence must use the word "had." Eliminate B and C.
Final Answer: A
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
This SC has a number of grammar rules that you can choose to deal with. Here's how I focused on:
1) Pronouns - the subject of this sentence is "the music store chain", which is singular (the sentence also provides two other pronouns that reference "the music store chain" - "it" and "its", so there is no doubt that we're dealing with a singular noun). Thus, we need a singular pronoun. Eliminate D and E.
2) Verbs - notice that "the music store chain ANNOUNCED....", which is a past tense verb. The announcement was about the fallen revenues and the recent prolonged slump, which PRECEDED the announcement. With two past events (the slump and the announcement), the sentence must use the word "had." Eliminate B and C.
Final Answer: A
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
-
ilyana
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:32 pm
- Location: Orange, TX
- Thanked: 66 times
- Followed by:4 members
- GMAT Score:760
What is the source of the question?
It seems to me that the usage of "due to" is wrong in this problem. "Due to" is a noun-modifier (generally we can substitute "caused by" for "due to"), but here it modifies the verb "had fallen".
It seems to me that the usage of "due to" is wrong in this problem. "Due to" is a noun-modifier (generally we can substitute "caused by" for "due to"), but here it modifies the verb "had fallen".
Please click on "Thank" button if you think my post is helpful.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyana-anderson-481846127/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyana-anderson-481846127/
-
tathastuGMAT
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:41 am
- Location: Delhi, India
- Thanked: 13 times
- Followed by:4 members
Hi Saranshpuri,
I think you already visualized the issue with answer choice D) and E) - the number of pronoun's "their" referent is wrong- and answer choice C) "are" does not make sense at all, the action of "falling" happens first in the event's time-line.
Since Present Perfect's task is to highlight that an action effect reverberates to the present or that an action started in the past and is still ongoing, using Present Perfect would have no logical sense.
The sentence is a clear cut and it is delineated by two actions:
1st: revenues fall
this fact triggers a consequence which is the protagonist of our second sentence
2nd: the shop announces something.
We should highlight this sequence of events, for this reason we apply Past Perfect on the earliest event and simple past on the earliest.
Very soon we're going to disclose an article on Perfect Tense, stay tuned for that.
-tathastuGMAT
I think you already visualized the issue with answer choice D) and E) - the number of pronoun's "their" referent is wrong- and answer choice C) "are" does not make sense at all, the action of "falling" happens first in the event's time-line.
Since Present Perfect's task is to highlight that an action effect reverberates to the present or that an action started in the past and is still ongoing, using Present Perfect would have no logical sense.
The sentence is a clear cut and it is delineated by two actions:
1st: revenues fall
this fact triggers a consequence which is the protagonist of our second sentence
2nd: the shop announces something.
We should highlight this sequence of events, for this reason we apply Past Perfect on the earliest event and simple past on the earliest.
Very soon we're going to disclose an article on Perfect Tense, stay tuned for that.
-tathastuGMAT
