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In an effort to reduce their inventories...

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In an effort to reduce their inventories...

by 123nobody321 » Sun Sep 01, 2013 8:25 am
Hi forum,

can you please help me with this sentence? I am confused about the verb tenses.

In an effort to reduce their inventories, Italian vintners have cut prices; their wines have been priced to sell, and they are.

1)
2) are priced to sell, and they have
3) are priced to sell, and they do
4) are being priced to sell, and have
5) had been priced to sell, and they have

My suggestions so far:
1) have been = present perfect -> wrong because the action from the past is not in the present now
2) seems right to me
3) "do"? seems wrong
4) "being priced" sounds wordy and a pronoun is missing
5) had been = past perfect -> wrong because we do not have 2 actions in the past in which one is before the other

Can you please comment if I am right? If not WHY?

Thanks in advance,

best,
nobody
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by vinay1983 » Sun Sep 01, 2013 8:43 am
Option C (3rd one) is the best answer,since, "do" is correctly used in place of the full verb do sell; in this verb, do is a conjugated form and sell is in the infinitive form!

It is like this:

In an effort to reduce their inventories, Italian vintners have cut prices; their wines have been priced to sell, and they do (sell)
Last edited by vinay1983 on Sun Sep 01, 2013 8:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by 123nobody321 » Sun Sep 01, 2013 10:06 am
Hi, thanks for your reply.

In fact, the right solution is answer "C" according to OGMAT12.
But the odd thing is that I do not understand why, because I would have explained (2) more or less the same way you did....

Can somebody probably shed some more light on this issue?

Best,
nobody
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by vinay1983 » Sun Sep 01, 2013 8:41 pm
123nobody321 wrote:Hi, thanks for your reply.

In fact, the right solution is answer "C" according to OGMAT12.
But the odd thing is that I do not understand why, because I would have explained (2) more or less the same way you did....

Can somebody probably shed some more light on this issue?

Best,
nobody
Hi,
If it is option 2, "have" would imply sold, which would not have been correct usage in this case.
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by sana.noor » Mon Sep 02, 2013 9:03 pm
hey its a very simple question. "have + past participle" is something that used for present perfect. means recently some changes took place or something happened. the sentence semi colon to introduce another sentence that is in present tense and showing the affect of those recent changes.
so first sentence using present perfect; second sentence present tense. so with present tense u must use present form "DO" so u can easily reject choices 2,4 and 5.
the original sentence wrongly used present perfect continuous tense--->means the change and effect all took place in the recent present.
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by 123nobody321 » Tue Sep 03, 2013 12:50 pm
sana.noor wrote:hey its a very simple question. "have + past participle" is something that used for present perfect. means recently some changes took place or something happened. the sentence semi colon to introduce another sentence that is in present tense and showing the affect of those recent changes.
so first sentence using present perfect; second sentence present tense. so with present tense u must use present form "DO" so u can easily reject choices 2,4 and 5.
the original sentence wrongly used present perfect continuous tense--->means the change and effect all took place in the recent present.
Hey, thanks, I understand it better now.

Just one more question. You said that
so first sentence using present perfect; second sentence present tense. so with present tense u must use present form "DO" so u can easily reject choices 2,4 and 5.
But answer 2, 4 and 5 also use present! (2="have", 4="have" and 5="have")? Where do I know that I need the form "do" and not "have"?
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by sana.noor » Tue Sep 03, 2013 6:50 pm
tell me when u use "are" then what u will use with it "have" or "Do"
--->something happened in the recent preset---u can say a cause is represented in present perfect form
--->now the effect of the cause happened in today present---u will use "are" and "do" not "have"

example: i have never seen a cobra, but my father has...(both the actions happened in the recent past so the sentences uses Have and has)
my suit were design to impress the audience, and they do (something that happened in the past is mentioned with were but those actions still effecting today..so today's effect is shown with DO)
in choices given
2) are priced to sell, and they have (are priced to sell---Now (present time) and they have (present perfect...wrong it should be simple present)
3) are priced to sell, and they do (are priced-present, do-present--> right)
4) are being priced to sell, and have (are being priced-->yukky showing continuous effect we dont need it
5) had been priced to sell, and they have ( past perfect continuous)---how come? the cause took place in recent present--->have cut prices....then how come its effect is shown in later past when their isnt any such thing?
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by Java_85 » Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:33 pm
I chose C too.
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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Sep 06, 2013 7:06 am
Focus on the SEQUENCE of events.
B implies the following:
Their wines ARE PRICED to sell, and they HAVE [SOLD].
The present perfect (have sold) serves to express an action that took place in or started at an indefinite moment IN THE PAST and somehow affects the present.
Its use here implies that sales at an indefinite moment in the PAST were the result of how the wines ARE PRICED in the PRESENT.
This sequence makes no sense: prices in the present cannot lead to sales in the past.
Eliminate B.

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