A study commissioned by the Department of Agriculture showed that if

Question

A study commissioned by the Department of Agriculture showed that if calves exercise and  associated with other calves, they will require less medication and gain weight quicker than do  those raised in confinement.

(A) associated with other calves, they will require less medication and gain weight quicker than do

(B) associated with other calves, they require less medication and gain weight quicker than

(C) associate with other calves, they required less medication and will gain weight quicker than do

(D) associate with other calves, they have required less medication and will gain weight more quickly than do

(E) associate with other calves, they require less medication and gain weight more quickly than

daagh · Accepted Answer

(A) associated with other calves, they will require less medication and gain weight quicker than do------ exercise and associated is wrong tense combo

(B) associated with other calves, they require less medication and gain weight quicker than ---  same as A.

(C) associate with other calves, they required less medication and will gain weight quicker than do ----  They required --- wrong past tense in combination with the future tense -will gain-

(D) associate with other calves, they have required less medication and will gain weight more quickly than do -----  have required and will gain --- wrong tense combination

(E) associate with other calves, they require less medication and gain weight more quickly than ---- perfect tensing; correct choice

DmitryFarber · Answer

sananoor , the word "do" is not wrong. It just isn't needed to make the meaning clear.

Let's contrast it to another case:

I like pie more than my wife.

In this case, we have definite ambiguity: Do I actually prefer pie to my wife or do I simply like pie more than she does? We can save my marriage by adding "does"!

However, there's no ambiguity in the calves sentence. We can't read it to mean "They require less medication than they require those raised in confinement." Therefore, the comparison is clear without "do."

sananoor · Answer

Hi experts! I understand this question. I want to know is the placement of "do" in option D is right?

shuzy · Answer

Hi, can someone please elaborate on the adverb adjective issue

Thanks in advance

egmat · Answer

Hello shuzy , Can you please specify which adverb adjective issue do you have doubt about? Please elaborate a bit so that we can help you accordingly and effectively. Looking forward to hear from you.

Thanks. Shraddha

thangvietnam · Answer

permit me to post second time, showing the new point.

if do, then do
is a fact, not a conditional

he showED that if temparature is 100 C degree, water boils

honestly, I see hard to diferentiate this sentence from conditional sentence

a timeless fact that water boils at 100 degree C or that they require less medicine confirm that the main clause in the past tense "showed" can go with dependent clause in the present tense.

DmitryFarber · Answer

thangvietnam  We need to distinguish between a conditional and a hypothetical. A conditional is ANY statement of a possible condition and a result. This can be a "timeless fact" ("If an animal does not eat, it will die") or a prediction ("If it rains much more, the game will be canceled") or speculation/judgment of past events ("If he was trying to compliment us, he did a bad job") or a hypothetical ("If all of the continents were connected, people would travel by train more often"). So the statement in this question is definitely a conditional. It's just not also a hypothetical.

A hypothetical is strictly for when we are discussing what would happen in a situation that has not currently come to pass. This can even be a past situation ("If my parents had not met, I would not be alive today"). Note that none of this is affected by verbs that occur BEFORE the conditional (e.g. "showed" in the original). I could say "A study showed that if we do X, Y will happen" or "A study showed that if X had happened, Y would have happened," or "If X were to happen, Y would happen," etc.

porwal1 · Answer

in the above question is the usage of quicker not the reason for elimination?

MBAMSAspirant16 · Answer

I eliminated C and D since both the options used past tense “required” with an “if” condition. Is this reasoning correct?

Posted from my mobile device

AjiteshArun · Answer

You're right: some of these options can be removed because they use an adjective ( quicker ) to modify a verb ( gain / will gain ).

Yes, because we already have  exercise  (and  associate ) there.

Just in case it helps, the  required  in option D is part of the present perfect  have required .

thangvietnam · Answer

thank you 
but I need you to differentiate hypothetical and conditional case. pls, explain it.

DmitryFarber · Answer

thangvietnam  Hypotheticals are generally one kind of conditional. Perhaps the most common form is this: "If X happened, Y would happen." Strangely, we use the past tense to describe an imagined future event, and then we use "would" to introduce the predicted outcome if that event happened. "If people were better informed, they would vote for better candidates."

A conditional is just any statement that translates to "If X, then Y." There are many ways to do this, but a conditional by itself does not require any special grammatical adjustment. We can just say "If it rains, we will stay home." Normally, we just use this form and not a hypothetical. It would be weird to say "If it rained, we would stay home" unless we are in the process of comparing multiple options. For instance, I might be discussing whether to get together with some friends tonight. "If I studied tonight, I would go to a coffee shop. Alternatively, I could meet up with friends. If they wanted, we could go to the baseball game, but if it rained, we would stay home and watch a movie."

KanikaG16 · Answer

Hi,
If Option A used 'associate' instead of 'associated', this choice would be correct, right ?

DmitryFarber · Answer

KanikaG16

We also don't want the use of "will" that appears in A. This implies that if calves exercise and associate at one time, then at some later time they will require less medication and gain weight more quickly. Since the sentence seems to be describing the conditions of the calves throughout their childhood, it makes sense for both sets of verbs to be ongoing at the same time. Calves do A and B and therefore are able to do X and Y throughout their childhood.

SALAKSHYA · Answer

Hi, I know that option A is wrong, But is the use of  do  in option A wrong, can you please explain meaning of A with use of  do  and without  do

DmitryFarber · Answer

There's nothing wrong with "do." It's just that it isn't strictly needed, because the meaning is clear either way. We need that second verb when there might be a misunderstanding:

I like books more than the other kids.

Do I think books are better than the other kids (I often did!) or do I simply like books more than the other kids  do ? In that case, the "do" clarifies the meaning. But there's no way that these calves gained weight more quickly than they gained the other calves. What would that even mean? So do is fine (not wrong at all), but we can do without it if we like.

CEdward · Answer

So what threw me off was the use of the present tense in the if/then conditional despite the use of the past tense in "the study commissioned". Can someone elaborate on this contrast?

DmitryFarber · Answer

CEdward 
 This is a common source of trouble. The GMAT likes to start sentence of with a "false" opening that has little bearing on the rest. If the sentence starts with "A study found that," "X believes that," etc., then the finding or belief that follows may be about the past, present, or future. The part after "that" just has to be internally consistent. For instance, a study that was commissioned last year could now find out something about the past (some dinosaurs had stripes), the present (flossing your teeth makes you live longer), or the future (the moon will leave earth's orbit billions of years from now).

Argp · Answer

Hi  AjiteshArun 
Is there a rule or pointer that can help us identify whether a word is playing the role of an adverb or an adjective?

In this sentence, would it be right to say that in option (B) - you cannot gain X quicker, but you can gain X quickly? Hence, an adverb makes sense in the OA.

A study commissioned by the Department of Agriculture showed that if

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

A study commissioned by the Department of Agriculture showed that if

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