SC: usage of has

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SC: usage of has

by stop@800 » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:46 am
Industrial pollution has done seriously and possibly irreversible damage to the bronze horses on the facade of the cathedral of St. Mark La Venica.

1 has done serious and possibly irreversible damage to

2 did serious and possibly irreversible damage to

Which one is better here?

PS: I have changed original question a bit. :)

Thanks!!

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by abhi75 » Fri Oct 24, 2008 11:25 am
According to me the original choice should be fine (i.e has done). Did is the past tense and done is past participle. I consider this sentence to be Present perfect as it defines an event at some point in the past.

What is the answer anyways ?

Thanks.
-Abhi

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Re: SC: usage of has

by codesnooker » Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:21 pm
stop@800 wrote:Industrial pollution has done seriously and possibly irreversible damage to the bronze horses on the facade of the cathedral of St. Mark La Venica.

1 has done serious and possibly irreversible damage to

2 did serious and possibly irreversible damage to

Which one is better here?

PS: I have changed original question a bit. :)

Thanks!!
IMO if we look at the context of the sentence; it talks about possible irreversible damage. If it was the normal damage then I think we should present perfect tense. Whereas it talks about irreversible damage, so I think simple past fits over here.

Hence, I will go with Simple past, as damage done in past or even now cannot be reversed. So in this case, even current ongoing damage doesn't add any special information to the sentence. So simple past should be good over here.

What is the OA?

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by stop@800 » Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:52 am
There is no OA.

I myself tweaked a question to derive these answer choices.

In actual question "has done" was correct as there was no choice with did.

I also agree that it should be did because it may be possible that the damage has stopped and is still not continuing.