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It is vs It were

Expert replies
by prachich1987 » Sat Feb 05, 2011 8:09 pm
Rust can deteriorate a steel pipe to such an extent that it will snap easily, as though it was a twig.

A)will snap easily, as though it was a twig
B)will snap easily, like a twig does
C)will snap easily, as though it is a twig
D)might snap easily, as though it was a twig
E)will snap easily, as though it were a twig

Source : MGMAT CAT#6
OA : E
Last edited by prachich1987 on Sun Feb 06, 2011 6:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks!
Prachi
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by jaxis » Sat Feb 05, 2011 8:32 pm
Clearly, E.

Subjunctive mood.
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by RACHVIK » Sun Feb 06, 2011 2:07 am
IMO D. Th sentence makes a prediction in future about a certain event.

Whats the OA. It cannot be E since 'were' in subjunctive mood is always followed by 'would'
Rachvik
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by AIM GMAT » Sun Feb 06, 2011 4:44 am
IMO E as well . Clearly hypothetical situation , hence subjunctive mood applies here .
Thanks & Regards,
AIM GMAT
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by prachich1987 » Sun Feb 06, 2011 6:20 am
OA updated in the original post.
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Prachi
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by RACHVIK » Sun Feb 06, 2011 6:26 am
Hi Prachi,

I think there is some error. In subjunctive mood, 'were' is never used with 'will'. Can you please clarify with MGMAT on this. The question tends to give wrong interpretation.

thanx
Rachvik
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by Jim@Grockit » Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:49 pm
RACHVIK wrote:Hi Prachi,

I think there is some error. In subjunctive mood, 'were' is never used with 'will'. Can you please clarify with MGMAT on this. The question tends to give wrong interpretation.

thanx
This is not true, unfortunately and confusingly. You won't see those two verbs together as the essence of the same conditional statement, but that doesn't mean they can't be in the same sentence. The phrase "as if" regularly takes the subjunctive "were" in cases where what is expressed cannot be literally true -- clearly, a steel pipe was never actually a twig.
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