sales of the new vehicle

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sales of the new vehicle

by force5 » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:21 am
Sales of the new vehicle are not what they should be, because the car has an idiosyncratic appearance which prevented more conservative consumers from buying it.

(A) which prevented
(B) that has been preventing
(C) which has prevented
(D) having prevented
(E) that prevents

Source: Princeton
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by clock60 » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:39 am
vote for E here
A) no comma before which, and unnecessary shift from present (vehicles are..) to past -prevented
B)wrong tense
C)again no comma before which, wrong tence
D)wrong tense

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by mundasingh123 » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:58 am
clock60 wrote:vote for E here
A) no comma before which, and unnecessary shift from present (vehicles are..) to past -prevented
B)wrong tense
C)again no comma before which, wrong tence
D)wrong tense
https://www.beatthegmat.com/usage-of-whi ... 73755.html
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by atulmangal » Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:02 am
IMO E

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by force5 » Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:32 am
guys i came across this question but was not too happy with the choices. i don't completely agree to the believers of comma before which. (i don't say that they are wrong) however i think if the construct doesn't use a comma then it cannot be proved wrong with 100% confidence.

coming back to question choices. i would still trade between choices C and E. I really want to ask people who think C is wrong, the reason?

@Atul and clock - C uses present perfect (which doesnt show a completed action) hence c is actually stating that sales of the vehicle are down..... because of the car's appearance..... which prevented + is still preventing consumers (again "has prevented" doesnt mean that the action is over.... i have put a + sign to state that action started in the past and continues till present, we are not sure if its over or not.)

moreover the sentence uses THE CAR HAS........ which means that the fact that the appearance of the car was idiosyncratic started in the past and still continues (may be)... and so will be the consumers behavior........

we wont say that appearance was idiosyncratic in the past but consumer behavior just changed today. if the behavior changed today then i will give prediction about the sales in future tense.

another point is "that" - introduces restrictive clause which is not needed here. we need a non restrictive clause.

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by mundasingh123 » Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:48 am
i think E ) is more apt for universal truths / habits rather than market state or state of sales .
present perfect is better which conveys that some state has been prevalent so far .
what if the consumer perception toward the product changes overnight because the design becomes fashionable and fashions are likely to start from being idiosyncratic
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by Jim@Grockit » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:21 am
A restrictive clause is not out of place here. Not all idiosyncratic appearances prevent conservative consumers from buying something; we are specifying that this car had one that had this effect.

The sentence would not have been wrong with a non-restrictive which.

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by mundasingh123 » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:36 am
Jim@Grockit wrote:A restrictive clause is not out of place here. Not all idiosyncratic appearances prevent conservative consumers from buying something; we are specifying that this car had one that had this effect.

The sentence would not have been wrong with a non-restrictive which.
Jim , is present perfect in C correct here ?
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by atulmangal » Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:08 am
Guys i need help, need clarity on a concept:

I must admit, in questions like this...most of the times i play a cheap game

Game:

COMMA + THAT/WHICH ----> NON-RESTRICTIVE CLAUSE

In this case COMMA + THAT always wrong in GMAT so use COMMA + WHICH, i don't know whats the difference in meaning they assert..but so far i have seen this Rule always work

NO COMMA THAT/WHICH ---> RESTRICTIVE CLAUSE

Prefer THAT over WHICH, though here i understand the difference in meaning.

In this question also, i played this cheap trick plus applied the knowledge of tense and pick up the answer....

Can anyone provide me some link regarding the above concepts or can clear those concepts...I'm really gonna be grateful..

Thanks

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by Ryandmitri » Mon May 02, 2011 1:04 am
Can someone please help me with the usage of has been -ing form of verb?? In this question, option B uses 'has been preventing'....isn't this correct considering that the 'prevention' started in the past and is still continuing..(incidently this is what present perfect is used for too...)

Thank You.

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by Ryandmitri » Mon May 02, 2011 1:05 am
Can someone please help me with the usage of has been -ing form of verb?? In this question, option B uses 'has been preventing'....isn't this correct considering that the 'prevention' started in the past and is still continuing..(incidently this is what present perfect is used for too...)

Thank You.

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