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Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in [#permalink]
 05 Mar 2009, 08:36
Question Stats:
40% (01:40) correct
59% (00:38) wrong based on 6 sessions
Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were manufactured in China, a country that has the largest population in the world. A. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were B. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year had been C. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year have been D. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers were sold in United States that have been E. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States had been Please explain
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Mar 2009, 09:37
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rampuria wrote: 3. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were manufactured in China, a country that has the largest population in the world.
A. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were
B. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year had been
C. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year have been
D. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers were sold in United States that have been
E. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States had been
Please explain Very subtle issue here in this Q. Initially I chose A but changed to B Clearly D & E are out as they are not parallel or change the meaning C is out as it uses present continuous, which is not needed Between A & B, I initially chose A as we are looking at a past action of last year. How ever, there are two actions last year, manufactured and sold. The first action will use a past perfect and the second action will use simple past. Hence B.
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Mar 2009, 10:15
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Mar 2009, 10:27
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IMO B.
First action manufacture (past perfect) and then the second action sell (past tense).
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Mar 2009, 11:10
I chose A.
The sentence has multiple modifiers and verb is in simple past tense.
First modifier is "a country that has the largest population in the world". Hence, the verb tense of this modifier will not affect the main verb tense.
Second modifier is "computers that were sold in United States last year". Again, the verb tense of this modifier will not directly affect the main verb tense.
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Mar 2009, 11:20
rampuria wrote: 3. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were manufactured in China, a country that has the largest population in the world.
A. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were
B. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year had been
C. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year have been
D. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers were sold in United States that have been
E. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States had been
Please explain No issue of "tense" in this sentence. We are talking about the number of computers that were sold last year. Simple past tense should do. A should be the answer.
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Mar 2009, 12:18
A.
I believe past perfect needs to be used ONLY when specifically intended to EMPHASIZE that one incident happened before the other.
In the question, the duration of the incidents in question both happened last year.
Example:
Last Year: Jan-Dec: computers were sold in China
Last year: Jan-Dec: computers were manufactured in US.
So the incidents themselves occurred at the same time in the past.
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Mar 2009, 14:23
ConkergMat wrote: A.
I believe past perfect needs to be used ONLY when specifically intended to EMPHASIZE that one incident happened before the other.
In the question, the duration of the incidents in question both happened last year.
Example:
Last Year: Jan-Dec: computers were sold in China
Last year: Jan-Dec: computers were manufactured in US.
So the incidents themselves occurred at the same time in the past. How can both manufacturing and selling occur at the same time? I have no issues with A, but B is better because it shows the distinction even better. I hope I dont see some thing like this on GMAT  Also they did not happen in the same country. That it self is enough to prove that there is an interval between M & S. Your example does not reflect the current situation. Even I eliminated B & E for past perfect to start with but if the Q is testing the subtlety, it has to be B.
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Mar 2009, 14:42
I will go with A. Eighty percent of notebook computers <that were sold in United States last year> were manufactured in China Main subject: Eighty percent of notebook computers <that were sold in United States last year> --modifer that modifies "computers" Remove that above sentence and read it Eighty percent of notebook computers were manufactured in China IMO, we don't require "had been" here. BTW, What is OA?
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Mar 2009, 15:46
x2suresh wrote: I will go with A.
Eighty percent of notebook computers <that were sold in United States last year> were manufactured in China
Main subject: Eighty percent of notebook computers
<that were sold in United States last year> --modifer that modifies "computers"
Remove that above sentence and read it
Eighty percent of notebook computers were manufactured in China
IMO, we don't require "had been" here.
BTW,
What is OA? I am afraid you cannot use the dependent clause strategy here on the modifier.
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Mar 2009, 16:54
rampuria wrote: 3. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were manufactured in China, a country that has the largest population in the world.
A. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were
B. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year had been
C. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year have been
D. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers were sold in United States that have been
E. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States had been
Please explain This is a very poor question, IMO - I dont think people should be learning from such questions. 1. "last year" in A, B, and C is dubious - is it part of a "that" clause or the overall sentence? 2. In D and E, moving "last year" to the start of the sentence changes the meaning of the sentence. Still, D and E are grammatically meaningless.
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Mar 2009, 18:11
I dnt think it is a poor question and we cant learn frm this question. The will solve the debate whether to use past tense or past perfect tense. anyways, i will go with A here. Rampuria, pls post the OA botirvoy wrote: rampuria wrote: 3. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were manufactured in China, a country that has the largest population in the world.
A. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were
B. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year had been
C. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year have been
D. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers were sold in United States that have been
E. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States had been
Please explain This is a very poor question, IMO - I dont think people should be learning from such questions. 1. "last year" in A, B, and C is dubious - is it part of a "that" clause or the overall sentence? 2. In D and E, moving "last year" to the start of the sentence changes the meaning of the sentence. Still, D and E are grammatically meaningless. |
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
06 Mar 2009, 08:38
OA is B
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
06 Mar 2009, 08:40
Good job icandy 
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
06 Mar 2009, 12:03
icandy wrote: rampuria wrote: 3. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were manufactured in China, a country that has the largest population in the world.
A. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were
B. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year had been
C. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year have been
D. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers were sold in United States that have been
E. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States had been
Please explain Very subtle issue here in this Q. Initially I chose A but changed to B Clearly D & E are out as they are not parallel or change the meaning C is out as it uses present continuous, which is not needed Between A & B, I initially chose A as we are looking at a past action of last year. How ever, there are two actions last year, manufactured and sold. The first action will use a past perfect and the second action will use simple past. Hence B. Even though there were two actions last year, the action "manufactured" didn't affect the action "sold". Can't be B. i understand that the OA is B. what is the source of this question?
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
06 Mar 2009, 14:04
rampuria wrote: OA is B You use past perfect tense only when doing otherwise leads to confusion. Here there is no need for it. I still stand by what I said; this is a misleading question to learn from.
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
29 Dec 2009, 14:01
IMO B. Since the computers had already been manufactured, had been is correct
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
29 Dec 2009, 20:13
rampuria, Can you kindly reveal the source of this question and the explanation of OA?
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
30 Dec 2009, 10:47
B is the correct usage of past perfect tense. The computers were manufactured at a point in time in the past which was prior to the sale date, also in the past (last year). E is incorrect because Last year eighty percent of is incoherent with the rest of the sentence.
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Re: SC - Computers [#permalink]
05 Jan 2011, 06:56
I'll go with B
Had been is appropriate for earlier past action.
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Re: SC - Computers
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05 Jan 2011, 06:56
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