Quote:
The new “e-waste” salvage company collects electronic waste items, such as old cellular telephones and broken personal music players, discarding them as trash, to transport them to state facilities for recycling.
A players, discarding them as trash, to transport
B players, that have been discarded as trash and transports
C players that are discarded, as trash in order to transport
D players, which have been discarded as trash and transport
E players, that are discarded as trash and transport
sharathnair14 wrote:
Hey, I understand that Option E is wrong because there's a clear subject verb error.
However, when you look closely at B & E, the only difference apart from the SV Error, is the usage of "have been discarded" in B, presenting a past perfect tense, instead of "are discarded" in A, which is also incorrect I assume?
Is B right for this past perfect construction? You'll notice a 2:2:1 split among options for "are discarded", "have been discarded", and "discarding"
One major thing I believe is overlooked in this thread.
mikemcgarry GMATNinja generis hazelnut MikeScarn daagh egmat souvik101990 Help!
Hi
sharathnair14 , in answer to the highlighted question: yes, the verb tense is correct.
I doubt that the issue has been overlooked; the verb is correct.
I can understand how you might think that the issue had been ignored. The perfect tenses are hard, and
present perfect is kinda weird because it refers to actions in the past.
(Sidebar: I don't care what you call these verb tenses as long as you understand how they are used, but if terminology matters, this construction is not
past perfect. It's
present perfect. See the footnote.*)
We use present perfect to talk about events that happened at an unspecified time before now.
More specifically, we use present perfect to talk about repeated actions that began in the past; that have effect in or that matter in the present; that are connected to the present; and that have no specified, finished time.
Option B in the sentence:
The new “e-waste” salvage company collects electronic waste items, such as old cellular telephones and broken personal music
players, that have been discarded as trash and transports them to state facilities for recycling.
Generally, present perfect connects actions in the past that continue and those actions' effects in the present.
The exact time of the action is unspecified.
Present perfect is correct in this instance because the clause
players that have been discarded:
1) conveys action in the past that has a relationship with the present
The discarded players are just sitting there as waste, probably in a landfill.
They don't degrade easily.
They can be used in the present after having been recycled.
Presumably, they can be recycled for profit.
2) conveys that an action has taken place many times before now (repeated action)
Many of these discarded players exist—enough that they are used as examples of things that inspired the formation of a new company
3) emphasizes the present effect of a past action, and the exact time of the action is neither important nor mentioned (similar to #1)
More effects in the present that the discarded players create:
Recycling them equals less non-degradable waste and re-use of materials.
Knowing when
not to use present perfect is probably the better thing to master.**
If a time period is specified and finished, do not use present perfect.
The other four options have fatal errors.
This verb in B is not an error; its use is appropriate.
Hope that helps.
* PRESENT PERFECT CONSTRUCTION and PAST PERFECT CONSTRUCTION
Present perfect, active: HAS/HAVE + past participle
-- People who have discarded personal music players as trash often do not realize that the gadgets can be recycled.
Present perfect, passive: HAS/HAVE + BEEN + past participle (verbED)
-- [. . . players, that have been discarded as trash]
Past perfect, active: HAD + past participle (verbED)
-- The word HAD agrees with both singular and plural subjects.
Past perfect, passive: HAD + BEEN + participle
Past perfect in this construction would be . . . that had been discarded as trash
**We cannot use present perfect
when the past time is specific and finished.
Specific and finished? Examples: last year/month/week • yesterday, this morning • when he was younger • in [date], in 2013)
Incorrect: I have talked to him on the phone last week.
Correct: I talked to him on the phone last week.
Incorrect: The envelopes have been addressed in July.
Correct: The envelopes were addressed in July.
Correct, time unspecified and NOT finished: The leader has been lying for years.
-- Is the leader still the leader and are we talking about the present?
-- Did he suddenly stop lying? No?
Then this way is incorrect: The leader lied for years.
HERE and HERE are overviews of present perfect.
Do not worry too much about this issue. The area is murky. GMAC will almost always give you another reason to reject the choice if the present perfect is incorrect.