BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

When and Where

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:35 am
Location: Edison
Thanked: 12 times
Followed by:1 members

When and Where

by ani781 » Sun Jul 07, 2013 5:10 am
On the GMAT, 'where' always refers to a specific location and 'when' always refers to a specific time period. Keeping that in mind, what is wrong with the below sentences ?

e.g. 1 : When the price goes up, the demand falls down.
e.g. 2 : The company where I work has gone bankrupt.

Please help me understand.
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
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

by [email protected] » Sun Jul 07, 2013 10:44 am
Hi Ani781,

The examples that you listed both use "conversational" English; unfortunately, neither is grammatically correct.

e.g. 1 : When the price goes up, the demand falls down.
e.g. 2 : The company where I work has gone bankrupt.

In the first example, the "intent" is to talk about an idea that is always true, not just at one point in time. There's also a parallelism issue. This sentence can be written in a number of ways, but here's a straight-forward way:

As the price goes up, the demand goes down.

In the second example, the noun is a "company", not a "location". In many cases, the way to "fix" a "where/when issue" is to remove the word (where or when) and replace it with the phrase "in which":

The company in which I work has gone bankrupt.

"The Ws" is an issue that usually shows up on the GMAT verbal section once, so be on the look out for it.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:35 am
Location: Edison
Thanked: 12 times
Followed by:1 members

by ani781 » Sun Jul 21, 2013 10:29 am
[email protected] wrote:
e.g. 1 : When the price goes up, the demand falls down.
e.g. 2 : The company where I work has gone bankrupt.

In the first example, the "intent" is to talk about an idea that is always true, not just at one point in time. There's also a parallelism issue.
Rich

Thanks a lot Rich... Can you please let me know what is the parallelism issue with this ? Should it be : goes and goes in place of goes and falls ?
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
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

by [email protected] » Sun Jul 21, 2013 11:46 am
Hi ani781,

That's exactly it! - "goes" should parallel "goes"

As the price goes up, the demand goes down.

There are other ways to write "in parallel" though:

eg. As the price rises, the demand falls.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:35 am
Location: Edison
Thanked: 12 times
Followed by:1 members

by ani781 » Sun Jul 21, 2013 5:18 pm
Rish,
That helps, much appreciate it !
Top
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1