Subjunctive confusion

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gmat740: MBA Student; Posts: 1194; Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:42 pmFollowed by: 17 members; Location: Paris, France; Thanked: 71 times; GMAT Score:710

by gmat740 » Sun Aug 09, 2009 11:53 pm

16) Until quite recently, American economists have assumed that the unemployment rate being four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers.
(A) the unemployment rate being four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs
and job seekers
(B) should the unemployment rate be four per cent, there is a rough balance among
jobs and job seekers
(C) were the unemployment rate four per cent, there is a rough balance between jobs
and job seekers
(D) if the unemployment rate is four per cent, there is a rough balance between jobs
and job seekers
(E) there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers when there is an
unemployment rate that is four per cent

OA-D

I am convinced by OA. But not convinced by the explanation.

The reason to kick out C is " S-V Agreement problem(highlighted with bold)"

My Question is:

Isn't this subjunctive Mood, so in that case we must use were

Also, if you remember the famous phrase :

If I were a rich man

Here we are talking about a desire : something which has not happened in past, so technically aren't we creating a tense problem here(WERE=>Past Tense)

Thanks

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun Aug 09, 2009 11:53 pm

Gmat09_5ALL: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 52; Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:23 am

If ..then

by Gmat09_5ALL » Mon Aug 10, 2009 12:32 am

It is clearly causal situation. so, if..... then situation
please correct if I am incorrect

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gmat740: MBA Student; Posts: 1194; Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:42 pmFollowed by: 17 members; Location: Paris, France; Thanked: 71 times; GMAT Score:710

Re: If ..then

by gmat740 » Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:05 am

Gmat09_5ALL wrote:It is clearly causal situation. so, if..... then situation
please correct if I am incorrect

If is a condition statement. Please look at the bold part of the sentence you have written. I found no better example to demonstrate my point.

You said correct me if I am incorrect

The bold part is the condition.

when the condition is satisfied, only then I can correct you.

Are you getting me??

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madhur_ahuja: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 435; Joined: Sat May 02, 2009 3:55 am; Thanked: 17 times

Re: If ..then

by madhur_ahuja » Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:47 am

gmat740 wrote:
Gmat09_5ALL wrote:It is clearly causal situation. so, if..... then situation
please correct if I am incorrect
If is a condition statement. Please look at the bold part of the sentence you have written. I found no better example to demonstrate my point.

You said correct me if I am incorrect

The bold part is the condition.
when the condition is satisfied, only then I can correct you.

Are you getting me??

I fail to see the point you are making.

Are you saying that, since it is conditional, we should use subjunctive ?

If yes, this is not the case. Subjunctive is use for unreal and hypothetical conditions only.

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gmat740: MBA Student; Posts: 1194; Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:42 pmFollowed by: 17 members; Location: Paris, France; Thanked: 71 times; GMAT Score:710

by gmat740 » Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:41 am

I am sorry if my previous post deviated from the main topic.

Just to be straight forward, I want to ask:

If I were a rich man

Here we are talking about a desire : something which has not happened in past, so technically aren't we creating a tense problem here(WERE=>Past Tense)

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madhur_ahuja: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 435; Joined: Sat May 02, 2009 3:55 am; Thanked: 17 times

by madhur_ahuja » Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:52 am

gmat740 wrote:I am sorry if my previous post deviated from the main topic.

Just to be straight forward, I want to ask:
If I were a rich man

Here we are talking about a desire : something which has not happened in past, so technically aren't we creating a tense problem here(WERE=>Past Tense)

Yes, but that's how the subjunctive work

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Gmat09_5ALL: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 52; Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:23 am

by Gmat09_5ALL » Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:18 am

Karan,

Can you please show the error at a, b, c and e and How option D is correct ?

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gmat740: MBA Student; Posts: 1194; Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:42 pmFollowed by: 17 members; Location: Paris, France; Thanked: 71 times; GMAT Score:710

by gmat740 » Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:10 am

madhur_ahuja wrote:
gmat740 wrote:I am sorry if my previous post deviated from the main topic.

Just to be straight forward, I want to ask:
If I were a rich man

Here we are talking about a desire : something which has not happened in past, so technically aren't we creating a tense problem here(WERE=>Past Tense)
Yes, but that's how the subjunctive work

No, I mean the rule works, but it definitely creates a tense issue, specially when there are more than one verb as in this question. For Example: please take a look at option C in my next post below.

Last edited by gmat740 on Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

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gmat740: MBA Student; Posts: 1194; Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:42 pmFollowed by: 17 members; Location: Paris, France; Thanked: 71 times; GMAT Score:710

by gmat740 » Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:17 am

Gmat09_5ALL wrote:Karan,

Can you please show the error at a, b, c and e and How option D is correct ?

(A) the unemployment rate being four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers
being is usuallly wrong in GMAT because it makes the sentence passive

(B) should the unemployment rate be four per cent, there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers
among is used for more than 2 people. A also has this error

(C) were the unemployment rate four per cent, there is a rough balance between jobs and job seekers Tense error

(D) if the unemployment rate is four per cent, there is a rough balance between jobs and job seekers

(E) there is a rough balance among jobs and job seekers when there is an
unemployment rate that is four per cent
Passive & awkward

Hope this Helps

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:24 am

gmat740 wrote:
madhur_ahuja wrote:
gmat740 wrote:I am sorry if my previous post deviated from the main topic.

Just to be straight forward, I want to ask:
If I were a rich man

Here we are talking about a desire : something which has not happened in past, so technically aren't we creating a tense problem here(WERE=>Past Tense)
Yes, but that's how the subjunctive work
No, I mean the rule works, but it definitely creates a tense issue, specially when there are more than one verb as in this question. For Example: please take a look at option C in my next post below.

Hi Karan,

IMO we can solve this much more mechanically....

if were...."would".....

since would is not there so C is out .....

Please correct me if there are gaps in my reasoning.....

Thanks
Mohit

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