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a tense problem

by rx_11 » Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:01 am
2. Although a surge in retail sales have raised hopes that there is a recovery finally under way, many economists say that without a large amount of spending the recovery might not last.

(A) have raised hopes that there is a recovery finally
(B) raised hopes for there being a recovery finally
(C) had raised hopes for a recovery finally being
(D) has raised hopes that a recovery is finally
(E) raised hopes for a recovery finally


Hello, everyone,

OA is D

I am very confused about tense of the correct answer. Can any expert explain why we use present tense after a present perfect? (A surge in retail sales has raised hopes that a recovery is finally under way)

I wonder whether it is still correct if we use "a recovery would be finally under way".. Any experts can answer me the two questions? Thanks very much!!!!
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by Tani » Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:01 am
People are not hoping that a recovery started in the past and is continuing (i.e.present perfect), but that the recovery is happening now (i.e. present).
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by lunarpower » Sun Jan 02, 2011 1:49 am
rx_11 wrote:I wonder whether it is still correct if we use "a recovery would be finally under way".. Any experts can answer me the two questions? Thanks very much!!!!
no, that'd be incorrect.

"WOULD" AND "COULD"
These words have 2 different incarnations.

Usage #1
"Would" is the past tense of "will", and "could" is the past tense of "can".
e.g.
According to his most recent advertisement, Mookie the Bookie can predict with 100% accuracy which teams will win next week's games.
vis-à-vis
His October 2, 1982, advertisement declared that Mookie the Bookie could predict with 100% accuracy which teams would win the following week's games.

Usage #2
"Would" and "could" are used to describe hypothetical situations that are not true. (since these situations are hypothetical -- i.e., they never happened -- they don't really have a timeframe.)
e.g.
If I had one million dollars, I could buy 800,000 hamburgers at the gas station.
If I had one million dollars, I would donate 800,000 hamburgers to the county food bank.

--

your proposed replacement doesn't satisfy the criteria for either of these two, so it's incorrect.

by the way, suggesting possible changes to answer choices is usually a horrible idea; doing so often introduces a whole new set of complications that are non-issues in the original problem.
it's best to stick with discussing the choices that are in front of you; there's already plenty of trouble just with those choices, without the possible headaches of introducing new choices. remember -- despite the ironic name "sentence correction", you don't have to be able to fix sentences; you just have to be able to identify what is correct and what is incorrect.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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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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by rx_11 » Sun Jan 02, 2011 3:53 am
lunarpower wrote:
rx_11 wrote:I wonder whether it is still correct if we use "a recovery would be finally under way".. Any experts can answer me the two questions? Thanks very much!!!!
no, that'd be incorrect.

"WOULD" AND "COULD"
These words have 2 different incarnations.

Usage #1
"Would" is the past tense of "will", and "could" is the past tense of "can".
e.g.
According to his most recent advertisement, Mookie the Bookie can predict with 100% accuracy which teams will win next week's games.
vis-à-vis
His October 2, 1982, advertisement declared that Mookie the Bookie could predict with 100% accuracy which teams would win the following week's games.

Usage #2
"Would" and "could" are used to describe hypothetical situations that are not true. (since these situations are hypothetical -- i.e., they never happened -- they don't really have a timeframe.)
e.g.
If I had one million dollars, I could buy 800,000 hamburgers at the gas station.
If I had one million dollars, I would donate 800,000 hamburgers to the county food bank.

--

your proposed replacement doesn't satisfy the criteria for either of these two, so it's incorrect.

by the way, suggesting possible changes to answer choices is usually a horrible idea; doing so often introduces a whole new set of complications that are non-issues in the original problem.
it's best to stick with discussing the choices that are in front of you; there's already plenty of trouble just with those choices, without the possible headaches of introducing new choices. remember -- despite the ironic name "sentence correction", you don't have to be able to fix sentences; you just have to be able to identify what is correct and what is incorrect.

Thanks very much!!!
Stacey's big fan.
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