Confusing sentence in tenses

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miteshsholay: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 16; Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2012 2:47 amFollowed by: 1 member

by miteshsholay » Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:38 pm

Because Cole wears a helmet when he struck on the head by a falling coconut ten years ago, he has escaped serious injury in that episode

the corrected sentence is as follows:
Because Cole was wearing a helmet when he was struck on the head by a falling
coconut ten years ago, he escaped serious injury in that episode.

My confusion is, why are we using past progressive form in the first part? Cole was not actually performing the act of 'wearing' the helmet. he was simply equipped with a helmet.

My take :
Because Cole wore a helmet when he was struck on the head by a falling
coconut ten years ago, he escaped serious injury in that episode.

Somebody plz explain.
Source: Manhattan SC Guide.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:38 pm

alex.gellatly: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 435; Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2011 7:27 amFollowed by: 16 members; Thanked: 48 times

by alex.gellatly » Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:04 am

miteshsholay wrote:Because Cole wears a helmet when he struck on the head by a falling coconut ten years ago, he has escaped serious injury in that episode

the corrected sentence is as follows:
Because Cole was wearing a helmet when he was struck on the head by a falling
coconut ten years ago, he escaped serious injury in that episode.

My confusion is, why are we using past progressive form in the first part? Cole was not actually performing the act of 'wearing' the helmet. he was simply equipped with a helmet.

My take :
Because Cole wore a helmet when he was struck on the head by a falling
coconut ten years ago, he escaped serious injury in that episode.

Somebody plz explain.
Source: Manhattan SC Guide.

The verb wear means "equipped with" (in your words). It DOES NOT mean the act of putting on the helmet. I know in some languages this is not entirely true. For example, in Chinese the verb (chuan) is translated as wear but its more like putting on. Further, we use the past progressive because he was wearing it for a period of time. For example, I say "I am wearing a watch"... that means the watch is on my hand and it has been there for a while.

Does the help? Please let me know

A useful website I found that has every quant OG video explanation:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/useful-websi ... tml#475231

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karthikgmat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 172; Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:35 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 3 times; GMAT Score:610

by karthikgmat » Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:54 am

I believe "was wearing" and "wore" doesn't make much difference . I guess the author wants to stress on "Wearing" helmet.

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anuprajan5: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 279; Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:56 pmFollowed by: 10 members; Thanked: 60 times

by anuprajan5 » Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:35 am

miteshsholay wrote:Because Cole wears a helmet when he struck on the head by a falling coconut ten years ago, he has escaped serious injury in that episode

the corrected sentence is as follows:
Because Cole was wearing a helmet when he was struck on the head by a falling
coconut ten years ago, he escaped serious injury in that episode.

My confusion is, why are we using past progressive form in the first part? Cole was not actually performing the act of 'wearing' the helmet. he was simply equipped with a helmet.

My take :
Because Cole wore a helmet when he was struck on the head by a falling
coconut ten years ago, he escaped serious injury in that episode.

Somebody plz explain.
Source: Manhattan SC Guide.

Hey Mitesh,

Ok this is one of the fun things that I noticed while prepping on Sentence Correction. This is a timeline sort of question.

Past Progressive tense - On the timeline it is something that was being done (continuous) until it was interrupted by another action in the past. Example - She was sleeping until I woke her up.

Another timeline effect is the Past Perfect tense - An action should be completed in the past followed by another past action to have a past perfect tense.

Regards
Anup

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