RichaChampion wrote:
Despite the criticism in the early 1890’s that if journalists use pictures the intellectual quality of publications would diminish, by the late 1890’s photographs were found in most newspapers and magazines.
(A) that if journalists use pictures the intellectual quality of publications would diminish,
(B) that if journalists use pictures it will diminish the intellectual quality of publications,
(C) that the use of pictures by journalists would diminish the intellectual quality of publications,
(D) of the intellectual quality of publications being diminished by the use of pictures by journalists,
(E) of the use of pictures by journalists diminish the intellectual quality of publications,
This is a GMAT Prep Question and the answer is C.
In Option A and Option B do you think that the usage of present tense "use" correct? Because the criticism happened in the past and the criticism is not continued till date.
Apart from this the If___ Then___ construction is correct in B, but incorrect in A. Right?
Three Conditionals tested -
Likely - If Simple Present then Simple future.
Unlikely - If Simple Past then Clause beginning with Would.
Impossible- If Past Perfect then Clause beginning with Would
I request you sir to please help me with Option C, D and E.
I couldn't understand how "would" is correct in Option C.
Dear
RichaChampion,
I'm happy to respond.
First of all, I totally agree that the present tense of "
use" in (A) & (B) is train-wreck wrong. All this is in the past.
Here's what I would say about conditions. For the first one, the "likely" case, it's perfect try that we use simple present and simple future if the condition is a present-time condition, but we have to change tense if we are talking about a condition in the past.
Present time:
In the US today, if a person refuses to pay his income tax, he will be arrested and thrown in jail. That's factually true, not only likely but just about certain. Here, we use simple present tense in the first part, simple future in the second.
Now, a past event. The US has had income tax continually since the passage of the XVI amendment in 1913, but it was only sporadic in the 1800s. The use no longer has poll taxes, but it did in the past. Thus we could say
In the 1840s, if a person refused to pay his poll tax, he would be arrested and thrown in jail.
Not only was this 100% true at the time, but it actually happened to
Thoreau. Here, we use the simple past in the first part, and the "
would" construction in the second part. You see, among other things, the construction
"would" + [verb] is used to indicate the future of the past, the future from a past frame of reference. This is also the case in
sequence of tenses. Answer choice (C) is correct, and it's closer to a sequence of tenses construction.
Does all this make sense?
Mike
_________________
Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test PrepEducation is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)