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The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes

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The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes

by pnk » Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:14 am
The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed.

A)The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed.
B)The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like those caused by faulty wiring, have increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.
C)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, have increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.
D)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing had been relaxed.
E)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.

[spoiler]oa - E;

Pls explain - since is normally followed by 'present perfect', but why in this 'have been relaxed' not there in place of 'were relaxed'. If the option were "The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed" - would this be a correct option?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Source MGMAT; Have seen its explanation on mgmat website - but could not completely clarify my doubt[/spoiler]
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by reply2spg » Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:33 am
E is correct here. (Took 45 seconds)

Why do you need to think in comlicated way????

How I tackle this question

A, B and D are out. Correct idiom X, like Y. I have highlighted in red

Out of C and E

We have subject as 'the number' singular, we need verb 'has' singular

C out

E is correct.
pnk wrote:The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed.

A)The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed.
B)The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like those caused by faulty wiring, have increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.
C)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, have increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.
D)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing had been relaxed.
E)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.

[spoiler]oa - E;

Pls explain - since is normally followed by 'present perfect', but why in this 'have been relaxed' not there in place of 'were relaxed'. If the option were "The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed" - would this be a correct option?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Source MGMAT; Have seen its explanation on mgmat website - but could not completely clarify my doubt[/spoiler]
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by samarpan_bschool » Tue Jul 27, 2010 1:24 pm
pnk wrote:The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed.

A)The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed.
B)The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like those caused by faulty wiring, have increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.
C)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, have increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.
D)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing had been relaxed.
E)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.

[spoiler]oa - E;

Pls explain - since is normally followed by 'present perfect', but why in this 'have been relaxed' not there in place of 'were relaxed'. If the option were "The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed" - would this be a correct option?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Source MGMAT; Have seen its explanation on mgmat website - but could not completely clarify my doubt[/spoiler]
Let me give it a shot!
Accidents - countable noun. So 'amount of accidents' is wrong. That eliminates A & B.

'The number of car accidents' ...has increased and NOT 'have increased' as the subject is singular. So eliminate C

Between D & E - Past perfect has to be used only when there are two past tenses involved. Let us analyze 'The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes' in detail.

'The numbe of car accidents ' - subject
'caused by faulty brakes ' - Here 'caused' is not a past tense verb, rather 'caused' is a past participle modifying 'car accidents'.

So option D has 'present perfect - has increased' as the main verb and NOT a past tense. So option D would be wrong.

Lets analyze option E - we have two verb tenses - past and present perfect. In terms of hierarchy, past tense goes first and present perfect comes next - in other words 'regulations were relaxed first' and 'accidents have increased' as a result.

I hope this answers your question.
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by diebeatsthegmat » Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:36 am
pnk wrote:The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed.

A)The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed.
B)The amount of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like those caused by faulty wiring, have increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.
C)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, have increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.
D)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like accidents caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing had been relaxed.
E)The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing were relaxed.

[spoiler]oa - E;

Pls explain - since is normally followed by 'present perfect', but why in this 'have been relaxed' not there in place of 'were relaxed'. If the option were "The number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes, like the number caused by faulty wiring, has increased significantly since regulations on manufacturing have been relaxed" - would this be a correct option?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Source MGMAT; Have seen its explanation on mgmat website - but could not completely clarify my doubt[/spoiler]
ehh i think present perfect tense always goes with past simple tense
for example :
" it has been 4 years since the last time i saw her"
present perfect tense doesnt go with past perfect tense or i have never seen that case
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by gmat_perfect » Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:03 am
Theory:
Amount is used in case of non-count nouns.

Application:

=> This eliminates A and B.

Theory:

The number is singular.

Application:

=> This eliminates C

Theory:
Like XX, YY-where XX and YY MUST be grammatically parallel.

Application:
=> This rule eliminates A, B, and D.

Answer is E.
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by Anaira Mitch » Thu Sep 14, 2017 5:36 am
The original sentence contains several errors. First, it is incorrect to refer to "the amount of car
accidents" because "amount of" is used only with uncountable quantities, such as "amount of salt."
Since accidents are countable, the correct quantity reference is "the number of car accidents." Second,
the original sentence compares "the amount of accidents" to "accidents caused by faulty wiring." The correct (i.e., logically and structurally parallel) comparison is between the number of one type of
accident and the number of another type of accident. Third, the present perfect "have been relaxed" is
incorrectly used. This action occurred exclusively in the past, so the simple past "were relaxed" is
needed.

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) First, it is incorrect to refer to "the amount of car accidents" because "amount of" is used only with
uncountable quantities, such as "amount of salt." Since accidents are countable, the correct quantity
reference is "the number of car accidents." Second, this choice compares "the amount of accidents" to
"accidents caused by faulty wiring." The correct (i.e., logically and structurally parallel) comparison is
between the number of one type of accident and the number of another type of accident. Finally, the
antecedent of the plural pronoun "those" is ambiguous: it could refer to "car accidents" or "faulty
brakes."

(C) The plural verb "have increased" does not agree with the singular subject "the number."

(D) This choice compares "the number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes" to "accidents caused
by faulty wiring." The correct (i.e., logically and structurally parallel) comparison is between "the
number of car accidents caused by faulty brakes" to "the number of car accidents caused by faulty
wiring." Third, the past perfect "had been relaxed" can only be correctly used to indicate that the
regulations were relaxed prior to some other action in the past. In this sentence, there is no other past
action, so the use of the past perfect tense cannot be justified and the simple past "were relaxed"
should be used instead.

(E) CORRECT. "The number" is correctly used to refer to car accidents, a countable quantity. Also, a
logically and structurally parallel comparison is made between "the number of car accidents caused by
faulty brakes" to "the number caused by faulty wiring." Finally, this choice uses the correct simple past "were relaxed."
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