Over his 65-year life span, Hughes, one of America’s most enduring writers and a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s, will have published hundreds of poems, plus novels, short stories, autobiographies, librettos, essays and children’s books.
A. will have published hundreds of poems, plus novels, short stories, autobiographies, librettos, essays and children’s books.
B. is publishing hundreds of poems, plus novels, short stories, autobiographies, librettos, essays and children’s books.
C. would have published hundreds of poems, plus novels, short stories, autobiographies, librettos, essays and children’s books.
D. will publish hundreds of poems, plus novels, short stories, autobiographies, librettos, essays and children’s books.
E. would publish hundreds of poems, plus novels, short stories, autobiographies, librettos, essays and children’s books.
Can some one explain this ?
The OA says E but however i dont think the answer can be E.
Please share your thoughts
Huges
This topic has expert replies
-
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 443
- Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:33 pm
- Thanked: 5 times
-
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 118
- Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:47 pm
- Thanked: 5 times
- Followed by:1 members
A and C leaves the sentence incomplete(Will have/Would have....if...but if(the condition) is not stated in sentence.
Since we know that subject(a proper noun) is part of history we cant use is or will.So B and D are wrong.
Since we know that subject(a proper noun) is part of history we cant use is or will.So B and D are wrong.
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 All,
This SC involves a rarer verb issue: how to properly present a period of time that occurs in the past.
The prompt starts with "Over his 65-year life span..." and includes a time reference "...of the 1920s...", so we know that the entire 65 years took place in the past. Even if we're not sure which verb to use, we can eliminate several answers since the verb tense doesn't make sense:
Answers A and D use the verb "will", which is a future-tense verb and does not fit the given situation.
Answer B uses the verb "is", which is present tense and also does not fit the given situation.
That leaves us with no choice but to use the verb "would" (answers C and E). Grammatically, this is actually a good choice, since the phrase "would publish" is an abbreviated version of "....he would eventually publish...." Answer C uses the phrase "...would have published..." which seems like more of a "hypothetical" than "factual" statement. Since we're talking about something that did happen, the factual/declarative phrase "would publish" is correct.
Final Answer: E
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
This SC involves a rarer verb issue: how to properly present a period of time that occurs in the past.
The prompt starts with "Over his 65-year life span..." and includes a time reference "...of the 1920s...", so we know that the entire 65 years took place in the past. Even if we're not sure which verb to use, we can eliminate several answers since the verb tense doesn't make sense:
Answers A and D use the verb "will", which is a future-tense verb and does not fit the given situation.
Answer B uses the verb "is", which is present tense and also does not fit the given situation.
That leaves us with no choice but to use the verb "would" (answers C and E). Grammatically, this is actually a good choice, since the phrase "would publish" is an abbreviated version of "....he would eventually publish...." Answer C uses the phrase "...would have published..." which seems like more of a "hypothetical" than "factual" statement. Since we're talking about something that did happen, the factual/declarative phrase "would publish" is correct.
Final Answer: E
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
-
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 78
- Joined: Wed May 16, 2012 8:57 pm
- Thanked: 2 times
Ref: ***********************
That leaves us with no choice but to use the verb "would" (answers C and E). Grammatically, this is actually a good choice, since the phrase "would publish" is an abbreviated version of "....he would eventually publish...." Answer C uses the phrase "...would have published..." which seems like more of a "hypothetical" than "factual" statement. Since we're talking about something that did happen, the factual/declarative phrase "would publish" is correct.
********************
Hi Rich,
In this sentence, I thought C option - 'would have' - hypothetical worked because he says Hughes would have published hundreds (=> the author is not sure of the exact number of poems etc Hughes had published).
e.g. Allen published 5 novels
e.g. Allen would have published 5 novels in the past year and 5 more might be on their way for this year.
Would you please help me understand better why E is better than C? Thanks in advance.
That leaves us with no choice but to use the verb "would" (answers C and E). Grammatically, this is actually a good choice, since the phrase "would publish" is an abbreviated version of "....he would eventually publish...." Answer C uses the phrase "...would have published..." which seems like more of a "hypothetical" than "factual" statement. Since we're talking about something that did happen, the factual/declarative phrase "would publish" is correct.
********************
Hi Rich,
In this sentence, I thought C option - 'would have' - hypothetical worked because he says Hughes would have published hundreds (=> the author is not sure of the exact number of poems etc Hughes had published).
e.g. Allen published 5 novels
e.g. Allen would have published 5 novels in the past year and 5 more might be on their way for this year.
Would you please help me understand better why E is better than C? Thanks in advance.
-
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 78
- Joined: Wed May 16, 2012 8:57 pm
- Thanked: 2 times
Hi Rich,
In this sentence, I thought C option - 'would have' - hypothetical worked because he says Hughes would have published hundreds (=> the author is not sure of the exact number of poems etc Hughes had published).
e.g. Allen published 5 novels
e.g. Allen would have published 5 novels in the past year and 5 more might be on their way for this year.
Would you please help me understand better why E is better than C? Thanks in advance.
In this sentence, I thought C option - 'would have' - hypothetical worked because he says Hughes would have published hundreds (=> the author is not sure of the exact number of poems etc Hughes had published).
e.g. Allen published 5 novels
e.g. Allen would have published 5 novels in the past year and 5 more might be on their way for this year.
Would you please help me understand better why E is better than C? Thanks in advance.
[email protected] wrote:Hi All,
This SC involves a rarer verb issue: how to properly present a period of time that occurs in the past.
The prompt starts with "Over his 65-year life span..." and includes a time reference "...of the 1920s...", so we know that the entire 65 years took place in the past. Even if we're not sure which verb to use, we can eliminate several answers since the verb tense doesn't make sense:
Answers A and D use the verb "will", which is a future-tense verb and does not fit the given situation.
Answer B uses the verb "is", which is present tense and also does not fit the given situation.
That leaves us with no choice but to use the verb "would" (answers C and E). Grammatically, this is actually a good choice, since the phrase "would publish" is an abbreviated version of "....he would eventually publish...." Answer C uses the phrase "...would have published..." which seems like more of a "hypothetical" than "factual" statement. Since we're talking about something that did happen, the factual/declarative phrase "would publish" is correct.
Final Answer: E
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich