Tense ambiguity 2

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najeeb775: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 30; Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2010 6:00 am; Thanked: 2 times

Tense ambiguity 2

by najeeb775 » Mon Jul 11, 2011 5:23 am

A fifty-year accord signed in 1994 by the United States, Canada, and Mexico dictated the reduction of tariffs that member nations had been permitted to levy on imports from other member nations.

A dictated the reduction of tariffs that member nations had been permitted to levy
B dictated the tariff reduction that member nations had been levying
C dictates the tariff reduction member nations were permitted to levy
D dictated the reduction of tariffs that member nations are permitted to levy
E dictates the reduction of tariffs permitted for levying by member nations

Help me eliminate options here.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Jul 11, 2011 5:23 am

aspirant2011: Legendary Member; Posts: 1574; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 am; Thanked: 88 times; Followed by:13 members

by aspirant2011 » Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:43 am

najeeb775 wrote:A fifty-year accord signed in 1994 by the United States, Canada, and Mexico dictated the reduction of tariffs that member nations had been permitted to levy on imports from other member nations.

A dictated the reduction of tariffs that member nations had been permitted to levy
B dictated the tariff reduction that member nations had been levying
C dictates the tariff reduction member nations were permitted to levy
D dictated the reduction of tariffs that member nations are permitted to levy
E dictates the reduction of tariffs permitted for levying by member nations

Help me eliminate options here.

dictates should be used because 50 year old accord got started in 1994 i.e it still continues,therefore, left with C and E

E wrong because permitted should be near to member nations

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Brian@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1031; Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:23 pm; Location: Malibu, CA; Thanked: 716 times; Followed by:255 members; GMAT Score:750

by Brian@VeritasPrep » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:41 am

Really good question here. I'm going to disagree a little with aspirant - which I normally do not do! - and call out D with this explanation:

1) "were permitted" in C is inconsistent with "dictates". If C had "dictates what member nations are permitted" the verb tenses are fine, but you can't currently dictate something that already happened, so the tenses in C are illogical.

2) Also, logically you can't really levy a tariff reduction as B and C suggest. The government levies taxes and tariffs, but the accord is what dictates the reduction. So B and C aren't quite logical that way - the accord reduces the number of tariffs; the countries themselves levy the tariffs.

3) In D, the verb tenses give a logical timeline. Once the accord was signed, it laid down the law - it dictated (past tense...from that point forward) how much the countries are allowed (currently, and for the entire 50-year period) to levy.

I hope that helps...

Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep

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amit2k9: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 461; Joined: Tue May 10, 2011 9:09 am; Location: pune; Thanked: 36 times; Followed by:3 members

by amit2k9 » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:30 pm

najeeb775 wrote:A fifty-year accord signed in 1994 by the United States, Canada, and Mexico dictated the reduction of tariffs that member nations had been permitted to levy on imports from other member nations.
dictated - reporting verb in past.Hence past tense will be past perfect here.
Nations were permitted earlier than the accord being signed.Hence order has to be taken care too.
A dictated the reduction of tariffs that member nations had been permitted to levy -- hold it.
B dictated the tariff reduction that member nations had been levying -- wrong usage of tariff reduction and levying. POE.
C dictates the tariff reduction member nations were permitted to levy -- dictates wrong tense usage POE.
D dictated the reduction of tariffs that member nations are permitted to levy -- are tense change.POE.
E dictates the reduction of tariffs permitted for levying by member nations -- wrong tense POE.

Help me eliminate options here.

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gtr02: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 47; Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:47 pm; Thanked: 2 times

by gtr02 » Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:33 am

so past perfect is not required in this sentence? i picked (A) but from Brian's explanation, looks like answer is (D)?

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arun@crackverbal: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 234; Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:50 am; Location: Bangalore; Thanked: 47 times; Followed by:60 members

by arun@crackverbal » Wed Jul 13, 2011 12:12 pm

This questions looks a lot similar to another Official problem:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/og-sc-62-t580.html

Arun

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najeeb775: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 30; Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2010 6:00 am; Thanked: 2 times

by najeeb775 » Sun Aug 14, 2011 9:59 am

Brian@VeritasPrep wrote:Really good question here. I'm going to disagree a little with aspirant - which I normally do not do! - and call out D with this explanation:

1) "were permitted" in C is inconsistent with "dictates". If C had "dictates what member nations are permitted" the verb tenses are fine, but you can't currently dictate something that already happened, so the tenses in C are illogical.

2) Also, logically you can't really levy a tariff reduction as B and C suggest. The government levies taxes and tariffs, but the accord is what dictates the reduction. So B and C aren't quite logical that way - the accord reduces the number of tariffs; the countries themselves levy the tariffs.

3) In D, the verb tenses give a logical timeline. Once the accord was signed, it laid down the law - it dictated (past tense...from that point forward) how much the countries are allowed (currently, and for the entire 50-year period) to levy.

I hope that helps...

OA is D but I have a question here to Brian, why should it be 'dictated' ? since the accord is signed in the past and it holds good today as well, why can't we say 'dictates' implying ongoing action?

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