Hi AjiteshArun

If we remove "will be" in option choice E and replace it with "would be", then would it still be correct ?

Hi AjiteshArun GMATNinja



When I read E:
Analysts and media executives predict that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one (WILL BE) for the company's C.E.O.
My question : When no verb is present in the end . It is understood to carry previous verb forward as elliptical. But in this case : this elliptical verb is : WILL BE Or the helping verb can be any ( was)

For more clarity:
She buys more items than he ( buys): here buys is understood ; buys is carried forward and in this case we may no need to mention it explicitly.
It is better to repeat helping verb/verb(placeholder verb?) if tense is changed
She buys more items than he BOUGHT ( If i don't mention BOUGHT , it would be taken as buys and meaning would be different)

When we come to E:
as no helping verb is present in the end of sentence, so helping verb carried forward should be WILL BE but we want helping verb in PAST tense.


If we say : no need of any helping verb/verb (placeholder verb(, then how can I know I need to repeat helping verb or no need?

Please comment.AjiteshArun GMATNinja

Hi tt147,

A would be won't be correct (predict is present tense, so will is appropriate). Try to use would to refer to the future from the perspective of the past (there are, of course, other ways to use would). For example:

1. NASA says that it will launch the rocket before the weather gets worse.

Now let's "backshift" everything in (1) to see how we'd normally use a would in such sentences:

2. NASA says said that it will would launch the rocket before the weather gets got worse.
_________________

Hi mSKR,

The verb will be was (than the previous one was...). I'm not aware of any rule that limits us to will. It'd be great to see other opinions on this though.
_________________