Can someone help with this

[sumitkhurana]

A recent study has found that within the past decade, many lawyers not considered for partnership had chosen to quit rather than wait until the following year.

A) have chosen to quit rather than wait until the following year.
B ) chose to quit rather than wait until the following year.

Which one should be the correct option and why ?

[karmayogi]

A recent study has found that within the past decade, many lawyers not considered for partnership had chosen to quit rather than wait until the following year.

A) have chosen to quit rather than wait until the following year.
B ) chose to quit rather than wait until the following year.

Which one should be the correct option and why ?

I would go for B because:
1. the study talks about past decade.
2. idiom: x rather than y, where x and y should be parallel, and x and y have to in past tense.
3. both the actions x and y happened at the same time. Hence, past perfect tense was wrong.

Anybody differs :

[vittalgmat]

Agree with karmayogi.

[jnellaz]

IMO it is A, but mainly because I thought it sounded better. (Which doesn't mean much) Does anyone have the QA?

[vivek.kapoor83]

karamyogi...u hv mastered sc..he is write imo b

[sumitkhurana]

Actually, this question is from Princeton Verbal Workout. As per the book, the correct answer is A.

The explaination is - Since there is "has found" in the beginning of the sentence, in order to keep the same tense form in the second part of the sentence, "have chosen" is the correct answer.

What do you guys think of this explanation ?

[karmayogi]

Actually, this question is from Princeton Verbal Workout. As per the book, the correct answer is A.

The explaination is - Since there is "has found" in the beginning of the sentence, in order to keep the same tense form in the second part of the sentence, "have chosen" is the correct answer.

What do you guys think of this explanation ?

A recent study has found means the study has been conducted in present time only, but lawyers quit in the past. If within the past decade means the current running decade then that could be the reason why A is the answer. In that case, the decade is yet not over and we should use present perfect tense.

To me, the reason given in the book is dubious.

[vivek.kapoor83]

1 more ques...to quit rather than to wait..would hv been better..ur thoughts guys ?

[iamcste]

1 more ques...to quit rather than to wait..would hv been better..ur thoughts guys ?

Good question


X rather than Y ; X and Y must be grammatically and logically parallel

Second infinitive must not be repeated and is understood.

This is by the rules of parallelism of infinitives.

Infact, if you use it, it makes sentence wordy ( by one word )

[sudhir3127]

Actually, this question is from Princeton Verbal Workout. As per the book, the correct answer is A.

The explaination is - Since there is "has found" in the beginning of the sentence, in order to keep the same tense form in the second part of the sentence, "have chosen" is the correct answer.

What do you guys think of this explanation ?

A recent study has found means the study has been conducted in present time only, but lawyers quit in the past. If within the past decade means the current running decade then that could be the reason why A is the answer. In that case, the decade is yet not over and we should use present perfect tense.

To me, the reason given in the book is dubious.

Has found is present perfect .... same with Have chosen ...

[nervesofsteel]

Firstly i chose B

But A maintains parallelism and "have chosen" in A shows that the statement is true till now...... so a present perfect tense is used

[Stacey Koprince]

I received a PM asking me to reply. (Sorry it has taken me so long. I'm getting ready to move from one country to another, so things are a bit crazy right now! Also, FYI, I won't be able to respond to any PMs / answer any more questions until around the second week in January.)

On the "x rather than y" bit, it is parallel in both choices: "to quit rather than (to) wait." The second "to" does not need to be repeated and so it should not be repeated.

Generally, we stay in the same tense unless we have a reason to change tenses. In this case, though, I don't think you'd ever see the real test present a problem in this way, because "chose" (option B) is fine as well in terms of both grammar and meaning. They'd have had to give you present perfect in the original sentence as well, to indicate that this was the meaning they wanted. I've never seen them test "stay in the same tense unless you have reason to change" in this way (with two choices that are completely correct in terms of both grammar and meaning).