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Opening question of SC section in Kaplan 800

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by gmatJuly30 » Sat Jun 08, 2013 6:26 pm
As of this morning, none of my friends have been able to solve the puzzle contained in last week's newspaper.

A. none of my friends have been able to solve
B. none of my friends was able to solve
C. not one of my friends has yet been able to solve
D. none of my friends has been able to solve
E. nobody among my friends have solved
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by faraz_jeddah » Sun Jun 09, 2013 12:13 am
I would go with D

None of my friends is singular.
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by vivekchandrams » Sun Jun 09, 2013 12:49 am
IMO B

Reason: None is singular. Hence a singular verb is needed.
Eliminate A and E (even nobody is singular)

Next, there is time frame mentioned (As of this morning), which shows that the action is still continuing. Hence a present perfect tense is needed. Hence, eliminate B.

Between C and D, D is clear. C is wordier.

Hence D
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by Lifetron » Sun Jun 09, 2013 8:30 pm
vivekchandrams wrote:time frame mentioned (As of this morning), which shows that the action is still continuing. Hence a present perfect tense is needed.
Hi,

Can you elaborate this reasoning... to me "this morning" sounds very specific...

Thank you !
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by vivekchandrams » Sun Jun 09, 2013 10:27 pm
Let's get to the perspective of the author. As far as the author is concerned, the puzzle had not been solved till that morning. So when the statement was made, the puzzle is still unsolved (at least to the knowledge of the author). So the action had begun in the past and is still continuing in the present.
Hence, a present perfect tense needs to be used here to show that continuity of action.
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by Gaurav 2013-fall » Mon Jun 10, 2013 12:41 am
vivekchandrams wrote:IMO B

Reason: None is singular. Hence a singular verb is needed.
Eliminate A and E (even nobody is singular)

Next, there is time frame mentioned (As of this morning), which shows that the action is still continuing. Hence a present perfect tense is needed. Hence, eliminate B.

Between C and D, D is clear. C is wordier.

Hence D

none=not one (singular)
C is wordier and incorrect because usage of yet is wrong when As of this morning has been used.
IMO D
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by lunarpower » Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:22 am
i received a private message about this thread.

you should ignore this question; it's not useful, and it will misdirect your attention onto things that are not actually tested on this exam.

* first, the gmat has never tested the singular/plural status of "none".
... and they won't, either, because this is one of those issues on which there's a lot of disagreement among language experts. there's a substantial contingent of experts who insist that "none" is always singular, but there's also a substantial contingent of experts who insist that it can be either singular or plural.
it won't be tested.

* there's not sufficient context to decide the verb tense.
this sentence gives no context whatsoever for the observation, so there's no way of telling which tense should be used for sure.
viz.:
-- if someone actually solved the puzzle between this morning and now, then (b) would be correct. (as of this morning no one was able to solve it ... but then someone did.)
-- if it's still currently morning, and the puzzle is still unsolved, then the tense that's used in (a), (c), and (d) is appropriate.

basically, the only choice here that's definitely wrong, for reasons that are actually tested on this exam, is E (because "nobody" doesn't agree with "have").

by the way, i've noticed that many, many problems from this particular source have lots of issues. you are better off not using this source.
gmatJuly30 wrote:As of this morning, none of my friends have been able to solve the puzzle contained in last week's newspaper.

A. none of my friends have been able to solve
B. none of my friends was able to solve
C. not one of my friends has yet been able to solve
D. none of my friends has been able to solve
E. nobody among my friends have solved
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron en castellano
Potete chiedere domande a Ron in italiano
On peut poser des questions à Ron en français
Voit esittää kysymyksiä Ron:lle myös suomeksi

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