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OG - SC Question 40

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by Mission2012 » Sat Jul 13, 2013 11:51 pm
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had long been expected to announce a reduction in output to bolster sagging oil prices, but officials of the organization just recently announced that the group will pare daily production by 1.5 million barrels by the beginning of next year, but only if non-OPEC nations, including Norway, Mexico, and Russia, were to trim output by a total of 500,000 barrels a day
A. year, but only if non-OPEC nations, including Norway, Mexico, and Russia, were to trim output
B. year, but only if the output of non-OPEC nations, which includes Norway, Mexico, and Russia, is trimmed
C. year only if the output of non-OPEC nations, including Norway, Mexico, and Russia, would be trimmed
D. year only if non-OPEC nations, which includes Norway, Mexico, and Russia, were trimming output
E. year only if non-OPEC nations, including Norway, Mexico, and Russia, trim output

Why is this question following the construction of If Present Then Future (Particular case in future with no uncertainty) and not hypothetical subjunctive?
How to differentiate between two?
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by vishugogo » Sun Jul 14, 2013 4:16 am
The construction above refers to conditional statement.

IF present clause then future clause.

A and B are redundant using only and but at the same time.

C is passive and D is past continuous so E is correct
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by Mission2012 » Mon Jul 15, 2013 7:33 am
Hi,

I think A and B are using Hypothetical subjunctive but as the construction followed by then (here omitted) is not conditional but in future. Hence the entire IF THEN construction has to be in IF present Then Future
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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Mon Jul 15, 2013 9:36 am
The problem with A and B is that you use "but" twice where you only need it once - there's only one point of contrast in the sentence (OPEC has been expected to reduce production BUT will only do so if something else happens).

As for the hypothetical subjunctive, the GMAT only seems to insist on it if something is particularly unlikely to happen. A sentence like "If the train is on time, I'll make it to work by 7:00" is fine (rather than something as achingly formal as "Should the train be on time, I'll be at work by 7:00").
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