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SC - Verb tense and Amount

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SC - Verb tense and Amount

by karthikpandian19 » Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:48 pm
A 1972 agreement between Canada and the United States reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump into the Great Lakes.
(A) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump
(B) reduced the phosphate amount that municipalities had been dumping
(C) reduces the phosphate amount municipalities have been allowed to dump
(D) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities are allowed to dump
(E) reduces the amount of phosphates allowed for dumping by municipalities
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by Ashujain » Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:39 am
karthikpandian19 wrote:A 1972 agreement between Canada and the United States reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump into the Great Lakes.
(A) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump
(B) reduced the phosphate amount that municipalities had been dumping
(C) reduces the phosphate amount municipalities have been allowed to dump
(D) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities are allowed to dump
(E) reduces the amount of phosphates allowed for dumping by municipalities
A) Correct; 'reduced' is in simple past tense and 'had been allowed' is in past perfect which correctly shows that the 2 events are related to each other.
B) Incorrect; usage of tenses is not correct and usage of 'phosphate amount' is also incorrect
C) Incorrect; usage of tenses is not correct and usage of 'phosphate amount' is also incorrect
D) Incorrect; usage of tenses is not correct
E) Incorrect; usage of tenses is not correct
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by Kasia@EconomistGMAT » Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:52 am
Point to consider:
Did the agreement concern the amounts after 1972 or could it reduce the amounts of phosphates (...) before 1972?
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by Ashujain » Mon Jun 04, 2012 2:08 am
Kasia@MasterGMAT wrote:Point to consider:
Did the agreement concern the amounts after 1972 or could it reduce the amounts of phosphates (...) before 1972?

The agreement reduced the amount of phosphates which was allowed to be dumped not the amount of phosphates itself.

Hope I am correct. :-)
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by 1947 » Mon Jun 04, 2012 2:56 am
Kasia@MasterGMAT wrote:Point to consider:
Did the agreement concern the amounts after 1972 or could it reduce the amounts of phosphates (...) before 1972?
I think it should be D.
since the agreement reduced the amount of phosphate allowed after 1972.
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by amit28it » Mon Jun 04, 2012 4:03 am
In my opinion the answer is A,
That is,
reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump
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by Gaurav 2013-fall » Mon Jun 04, 2012 7:30 am
Good problem! IMO D
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by tanviet » Wed Jun 06, 2012 6:22 am
why "amount of phosphates" is correct? I think "number of phosphates" is correct.
Pls, explain.
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by 1947 » Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:00 am
whats the OA ?
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by karthikpandian19 » Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:08 pm
OA is D
1947 wrote:whats the OA ?
Last edited by karthikpandian19 on Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by ankita1709 » Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:25 pm
karthikpandian19 wrote:OA is A
1947 wrote:whats the OA ?
OA is not A Refer to OG 12 Sentence correction Q74

Correct OA D
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by karthikpandian19 » Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:44 pm
I corrected my post....sorry about tht, got messed up with something else
ankita1709 wrote:
karthikpandian19 wrote:OA is A
1947 wrote:whats the OA ?
OA is not A Refer to OG 12 Sentence correction Q74

Correct OA D
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by karthikpandian19 » Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:51 pm
A 1972 agreement between Canada and the United States reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump into the Great Lakes.
(A) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump
(B) reduced the phosphate amount that municipalities had been dumping
(C) reduces the phosphate amount municipalities have been allowed to dump
(D) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities are allowed to dump
(E) reduces the amount of phosphates allowed for dumping by municipalities
OE is

An agreement that occurred in 1972 is correctly described with the past tense verb reduced. Since the dumping continued after the date of the agreement, the past perfect verb had been allowed should instead be the present are allowed (if the agreement remained in eff ect when the sentence was written) or the past were allowed (if the agreement was no longer in eff ect when the sentence was written). Since were allowed does not appear in any of the options, we can assume that the correct verb tense is are allowed. The phrase amount of phosphates is clear and idiomatically correct, whereas phosphate amount is not idiomatic

A Had been allowed should be are allowed.

B The phosphate amount should be the amount of phosphates; the omission of some form of allow is incorrect since the agreement changed not the amount dumped, but the amount permitted to be dumped.

C Present tense reduces should be the past tense reduced; the phosphate amount should be the amount of phosphates; have been allowed should be are allowed.

D Correct. Th e past tense reduced is correctly used in this sentence to describe a past action, and the present tense are allowed is used to describe the present situation.

E Present tense reduces should be the past tense reduced; allowed for dumping is an incorrect idiom; allowed for dumping by municipalities is awkward
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