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International journalists

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by vaibhav.iit2002 » Fri Oct 02, 2009 12:34 am
A majority of the international journalists surveyed view nuclear power stations as unsafe at present but that they will, or could, be made sufficiently safe in the future.
(A) that they will, or could,
(B) that they would, or could,
(C) they will be or could
(D) think that they will be or could
(E) think the power stations would or could
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by GMATBootcamp » Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:09 pm
IMO the ans is D

I would eliminate answers A, B, and C because the word "they" is ambiguous. "They" can refer to either power stations or journalists.

Even though D uses the word "they" as well, the verb "think" clearly refer to the journalists, so "they" correctly refers to power stations.

The main difference between answers D and E is that D uses the word "will" and the E uses the word "would." Now the real question becomes what is the difference between these words?

"Would" is used to denote an inclination. "Could" denotes a possibility. "Will" means something will happen with certainty.

The original sentence uses the word "will" stating this fact with certainty; I would pick D because this solution maintains the original intent of the sentence.
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by vaibhav.iit2002 » Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:24 pm
GMATBootcamp wrote:IMO the ans is D
"Would" is used to denote an inclination. "Could" denotes a possibility. "Will" means something will happen with certainty.

The original sentence uses the word "will" stating this fact with certainty; I would pick D because this solution maintains the original intent of the sentence.
Thanks again Paul :)

Isn't it that would is past tense of will and as could is in past tense, we should use would rather than could?
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by Mayur Sand » Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:06 pm
OA plz ?
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by vaibhav.iit2002 » Tue Oct 06, 2009 7:52 pm
OA is D
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by GMATBootcamp » Wed Oct 07, 2009 3:27 pm
@vaibhav.iit2002

It's a little bit more complicated than simply being a difference between singular and plural tense.

We use the word "would" only if the sentence is written in subjunctive tense.

eg. If I were 7 ft tall, I would be in the NBA.

On the other hand, "will" is used to talk about something in future tense, and denotes something that will happen with certainty.

eg. If I grow to be 7 ft tall, I will be in the NBA.


Make sense? While subtle, there is a fundamental difference between using the two words.


HTH!
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by krazy800 » Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:57 pm
GMATBootcamp,

Agree with the usage of Will

What does 'they' in Option D refer to. Does it clearly refer to Power Stations? Isn't there any ambiguity? Please explain.
Aiming High
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by GMATBootcamp » Fri Oct 09, 2009 10:12 am
A majority of the international journalists surveyed view nuclear power stations as unsafe at present but that they will, or could, be made sufficiently safe in the future.
(A) that they will, or could,
(B) that they would, or could,
(C) they will be or could
(D) think that they will be or could
(E) think the power stations would or could


@krazy800

answers D and E have the word "think" before the pronoun "they" is put into use. Only journalists can think...not power stations, so the use of "they" in these two choices is no longer ambiguous.


HTH!
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by ikruz » Fri Oct 09, 2009 10:44 am
GMATBootcamp wrote:A majority of the international journalists surveyed view nuclear power stations as unsafe at present but that they will, or could, be made sufficiently safe in the future.
(A) that they will, or could,
(B) that they would, or could,
(C) they will be or could
(D) think that they will be or could
(E) think the power stations would or could

Answers D and E have the word "think" before the pronoun "they" is put into use. Only journalists can think...not power stations, so the use of "they" in these two choices is no longer ambiguous.

HTH!
agree that think refers to an action by journalists.But how does it make the use of "they" unambigous..."They" can still refer to journalists or power stations.

(They should actually refer to the power stations here)
Can you please clarify this?.
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by Stacey Koprince » Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:52 am
Received a PM asking me to reply.

Please remember that we need to cite the authors (person, company, name of book) of specific problems before experts can reply!
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by vaibhav.iit2002 » Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:56 am
Stacey Koprince wrote:Received a PM asking me to reply.

Please remember that we need to cite the authors (person, company, name of book) of specific problems before experts can reply!
I posted this problem long back. As far as I remember its from MGMAT CAT, though m not 100% sure.
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by Stacey Koprince » Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:59 am
As far as I remember its from MGMAT CAT, though m not 100% sure.
I just searched for it in our database and it's not ours. :(
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by S_S » Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:43 pm
vaibhav.iit2002 wrote:A majority of the international journalists surveyed view nuclear power stations as unsafe at present but that they will, or could, be made sufficiently safe in the future.
(A) that they will, or could,
(B) that they would, or could,
(C) they will be or could
(D) think that they will be or could
(E) think the power stations would or could
I think parallelism is the key to this problem. D is the only choice here that makes journalists view and ... think parallel and shows that 'they' clearly refers to 'stations'. Other choices leave me guessing what 'they' refers to.
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by tuanquang269 » Tue Nov 15, 2011 8:12 pm
In A and B, 'that' has no object to modify
Choice C, 'they' structurally refer to journalists, so wrong
Choice E, lack of 'that' after verb 'think'

IMO D
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