Thanks a lot Ron for taking out time from busy schedule to futher add to your posts. Its of great value.lunarpower wrote:in this particular instance, you should figure out the verb tense in the same way you normally do -- according to the time context of the sentence.patanjali.purpose wrote:But, you mentioned in your post (quoted above) that SHAREHOLDERS STATED THAT are sort of "warmups" - if it is really a warmup how would I know whether IS SHATTED is incorrect (and HAS SHATTERED is correct)?
Am I missing something?
you could have a present-tense verb in this kind of construction -- but only in a context where such a verb actually makes sense. for instance:
max knew that the plural of "radius" is "radii" when he was only four years old.
in this context, the present tense makes sense, because the fact described is a timeless grammar phenomenon -- in other words, something that just IS true, independently of any timeframe.
in your example, however, "is shattered" doesn't make sense, because the shattering of the shareholders' confidence was actually a point event in the past. that's not the kind of thing you can describe in the present tense.
Two more related questions:
1) It means, the warmups could be ignored and still we can decide the right tense using the context. In this case, IS STATTERED is incorrect becasuse we have BY CONTINUED LOSSES signifing losses are continuing from past (if that was not the case, sentence would not have used CONTINUED. In other words, CONTINUED suggests us NOT to use PRESENT TENSE).
Secondly, use of CONTINUED suggests us to use perfect tense - had CONTINUED not been in the sentence (eg Their trust in the company's ability to grow is shattered by the losses in its financial division), then WAS STATTERED would ALSO have been correct.
Summary:
Reacting to the poor earnings per share reported by GE, shareholders stated that their trust in the company's ability to grow HAS shattered by the continued losses in its financial division - CORRECT
Reacting to the poor earnings per share reported by GE, shareholders stated that their trust in the company's ability to grow WAS (or HAS) shattered by the losses in its financial division - CORRECT. Is my understanding correct?
2) In another problem (https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/use ... t9839.html)
The Federal Reserve announcement said that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few signs of higher energy prices driving up the cost of other goods so far.
A. that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
E. that growth accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
I am bit confused here in the sense that if I ignore the warm up (The Federal Reserve announcement said), then E appears better than A. But OA-A - Why do we need to consider WARM UP to understand right tense in above example.
Pls help
