Dear Friends,
Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
jaynayak wrote:
The health commissioner said that the government had implemented strict measures to eradicate the contaminated food and, despite the recent illnesses,
it will try to prevent the outbreak from recurring in the future.
(A) it will try
(B) that it tried
(C) it had tried
(D) it would have tried
(E) that it would try
This question is part of the GMAT Club Sentence Correction : Verb Tense Revision Project. • Any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this case) must be parallel.
• "would + base form of verb" ("try" in this case) is used to refer to a future action from a point of time in the past.
• The simple future tense is used to refer to actions that will take place in the future.
• The simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.
• The past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past".
• For referring to a hypothetical past event and its probable outcome, the preferred method is to express the hypothetical event in the past perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “had”), and express the probable outcome in the “would + have + past participle (“verb+ed”- “challenged” in this sentence)” construction.
A: Trap. This answer choice uses "will + base form of verb" to refer to a future action from a point of time in the past; remember, "would + base form of verb" is used to refer to a future action from a point of time in the past. Further, Option A fails to maintain parallelism between "that the government had implemented strict measures to eradicate the contaminated food" and "it will try to prevent the outbreak from recurring in the future"; remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this case) must be parallel.
B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple past tense verb "tried" to refer to an action that will take place in the future; remember, the simple future tense is used to refer to actions that will take place in the future, and the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.
C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the past perfect tense verb "had tried" to refer to an action that will take place in the future; remember, the simple future tense is used to refer to actions that will take place in the future, and the past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past". Further, Option C fails to maintain parallelism between "that the government had implemented strict measures to eradicate the contaminated food" and "it had tried to prevent the outbreak from recurring in the future"; remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this case) must be parallel.
D: This answer choice incorrectly uses the construction "would + have + past participle ("tried" in this case)" to refer to an action that will take place in the future; remember, the simple future tense is used to refer to actions that will take place in the future and "would + have + past participle" is the preferred construction for referring to the probable result of a hypothetical past action. Further, Option D fails to maintain parallelism between "that the government had implemented strict measures to eradicate the contaminated food" and "it would have tried to prevent the outbreak from recurring in the future"; remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this case) must be parallel.
E: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the simple future tense verb "would try" to refer to an action that will take place in the future. Further, Option E uses the "would + base form of verb ("try" in this case)" construction to refer to a future action from a point of time in the past. Additionally, Option E maintains parallelism between "that the government had implemented strict measures to eradicate the contaminated food" and "that it would try to prevent the outbreak from recurring in the future".
Hence, E is the best answer choice.To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
To understand the concept of "Past Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
I am trying to break the sentence down into smaller bits. What role/ type of phrase/ modifier is 'despite the recent illnesses'? What is the role from a grammar POV?
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16 Jun 2019, 15:53
