At the end of 2001, motion picture industry representatives said that

Hello Everyone!

This is a great example of a GMAT question that focuses on consistent verb tense! Let's start by looking at the question carefully, and identify any major differences between the options by highlighting them in orange:

At the end of 2001, motion picture industry representatives said that there were about a million copies of Hollywood movies available online and expected piracy to increase with high-speed Internet connections that become more widely available.

(A) online and expected piracy to increase with high-speed Internet connections that become more widely available
(B) online and expect the increase of piracy with the wider availability of high-speed Internet connections
(C) online, and they expect more piracy to increase with the wider availability of high-speed Internet connections
(D) online, and that they expected the increase of piracy as high-speed Internet connections would become more widely available
(E) online, and that they expected piracy to increase as high-speed Internet connections became more widely available

Since we know that this question focuses mainly on verb consistency, here are a couple places we can focus on:

1. expected / expect
2. became available / become available / the wider availability of

To begin, we need to determine when these events take place: in the past, present, or future? Let's look at the entire sentence for clues:

At the end of 2001, motion picture industry representatives said that there were about a million copies of Hollywood movies available online and expected piracy to increase with high-speed Internet connections that become more widely available.

This takes place in 2001, which is clearly in the past! So, let's make sure all the verbs in each option reflect that:

(A) online and expected piracy to increase with high-speed Internet connections that become more widely available

This is INCORRECT because it uses the present tense "become" instead of the past tense "became." Since this all takes place in the past, it's best to keep all the verbs in some form of past tense!

(B) online and expect the increase of piracy with the wider availability of high-speed Internet connections

This is INCORRECT because it uses the present tense "expect" for an event that took place in 2001, which is clearly in the past and requires past tense verbs to match!

(C) online, and they expect more piracy to increase with the wider availability of high-speed Internet connections

Again, this is INCORRECT because it uses the present tense "expect" to describe a past event!

(D) online, and that they expected the increase of piracy as high-speed Internet connections would become more widely available

This is INCORRECT because it uses the present tense "become" to describe a past event.

(E) online, and that they expected piracy to increase as high-speed Internet connections became more widely available

This is CORRECT! It uses past tense verbs consistently throughout the sentence to indicate that everything in the sentence occurred in the past!


There you have it - option E is the best choice because it uses consistent verb tenses!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
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This question is from our Ask Me Anything About SC thread. Reposting it here in case it helps anybody:


Good question! First, I'd pick off some low-hanging fruit. Both (B) and (C) use the present tense "expect." The timeframe of the action is established by the phrase "at the end of 2001," so we want a past tense verb. Two down.

Next, I might ask myself whether I need "that." In (D) and (E), we have a nice parallel construction: the representative said two things: 1) that there were a million copies of movies available and 2) that they expected piracy to increase. Makes sense.

In (A), because there's no second "that" it seems as though the actions are unconnected. The representatives said there were a million copies of movies available, and perhaps unrelated, they also expected piracy to increase. This isn't fundamentally wrong, but it seems less logical than the construction we have in (D) and (E) in which it's crystal clear that the actions are connected.

Also, the phrase "expected piracy to increase with high-speed Internet connections that become more widely available," is a problem. It sounds as though piracy will increase as widely available high-speed Internet connections increase, as opposed to less-widely available Internet connections, which apparently don't increase with piracy. It makes far more sense to convey the idea that piracy will increase as the high-speed connections become more available, generally. So (A) is out.

Last, in (D), the phrase "the increase of piracy as high-speed Internet connections," makes it sound as though piracy is increasing in the form of high-speed Internet connections. A person can go to a party as a clown, but piracy cannot increase as a high-speed internet connection. Offer a brief eulogy for (D), and (E) is our winner.

As for your second question, a public service announcement: there are almost no hard rules governing comma usage. There are conventions, sure, but ultimately, commas can always be used if a writer feels as though a pause will help clarify the meaning of a sentence. So if you're debating about whether a comma is appropriate, remind yourself of this, and look for other decision points instead.

I hope that helps!
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Few things to notice:-

1) Representatives said two things- that there were about a million copies and that increase of piracy is expected. A and B are out because 'that' is not present.
2) Sentence must be in past tense (expected and not expect). more and increase are redundant- C is out
3) Reps stated the general principle that with increase in high-speed internet, piracy is expected to increase. For stating a general principle 'would is nit required. D is out.

E is the answer
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Consider the following sentence:

They expect piracy to increase as high-speed Internet connections become more widely available.

If the above statement is used within a statement in past, then each verb moves one step back (present becomes simple past, simple past becomes past perfect, and future becomes conditional).

In the above sentence, the verb "become" is in simple present, and hence when used within a statement in simple past, simple present "become" becomes simple past "became".

At the end of 2001 (i.e.,in the past), the representatives said:
THAT there were about a million copies available online
THAT they expected piracy 2 increase
So, in the interests of parallelism, we can eliminate A, B and C

Answer choice A has additional issues.
"THAT become more widely available" is a relative clause modifying INTERNET CONNECTIONS
So if we ignore that relative clause we get "[they] expected piracy to increase with high-speed Internet connections," which makes no sense.

Answer choice B has the additional issue related to the tense mismatch related to EXPECT (since all of this happened in the past, we need the past tense EXPECTED)

Likewise, answer choice C also has an issue with EXPECT. Furthermore, we have a redundancy issue with "expect MORE piracy to INCREASE"
We can say that "we expect more piracy," or we can say that "we expect piracy to increase," but we need not combine both ideas.

It's down to D and E.

The most glaring issue with answer choice D is related to the tense mismatch with EXPECTED and WOULD BECOME
Also, "increase OF piracy" should be "increase IN piracy "

For all of these reasons the correct answer is E

Cheers,
Brent

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that motion picture industry representatives expected piracy to increase as high-speed Internet connections became more widely available.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Tenses + Parallelism + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• The simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.
• The simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.
• The "would + simple present tense verb" construction is used to refer to hypothetical future actions and habitual actions in the past.
• Any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.

A: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "with high-speed Internet connections that become"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that motion picture industry representatives expected piracy to increase alongside the specific high-speed Internet connections that become more widely available; the intended meaning is that motion picture industry representatives expected piracy to increase as high-speed Internet connections, in general , became more widely available. Further, Option A fails to maintain parallelism between "that there were...available online" and "expected piracy to increase...more widely available"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.

B: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "with the wider availability of high-speed Internet connections"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that motion picture industry representatives expected piracy to increase alongside the wider availability of high-speed Internet connections; the intended meaning is that motion picture industry representatives expected piracy to increase as high-speed Internet connections became more widely available. Further, Option B incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "expect" to refer to an event that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature. Additionally, Option B fails to maintain parallelism between "that there were...available online" and "expect the increase...Internet connections"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.

C: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "with the wider availability of high-speed Internet connections"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that motion picture industry representatives expected piracy to increase alongside the wider availability of high-speed Internet connections; the intended meaning is that motion picture industry representatives expected piracy to increase as high-speed Internet connections became more widely available. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "expect" to refer to an event that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature. Additionally, Option C fails to maintain parallelism between "that there were...available online" and "they expect more...Internet connections"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel. Besides, Option C redundantly uses "more" alongside "increase".

D: This answer choice incorrectly uses the "would + simple present tense verb" construction to refer to an event that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past, and the "would + simple present tense verb" construction is used to refer to hypothetical future actions and habitual actions in the past.

E: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase "as high-speed Internet connections became more widely available", conveying the intended meaning - that motion picture industry representatives expected piracy to increase as high-speed Internet connections, in general, became more widely available. Further, Option E correctly uses the simple past tense verbs "expected" and "became" to refer to events that concluded in the past. Additionally, Option E maintains parallelism between "that there were...available online" and "that they expected piracy...widely available". Besides, Option E is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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At the end of 2001, motion picture industry representatives said that there were about a million copies of Hollywood movies available online and expected piracy to increase with high-speed Internet connections that become more widely available.

(A) online and expected piracy to increase with high-speed Internet connections that become more widely available This construction makes it seem like Hollywood movies expected piracy to increase.

(B) online and expect the increase of piracy with the wider availability of high-speed Internet connections “Said” and “expect” are not parallel

(C) online, and they expect more piracy to increase with the wider availability of high-speed Internet connections This construction makes it seem like Hollywood movies expected piracy to increase. Also, "more piracy to increase" is redundant.

(D) online, and that they expected the increase of piracy as high-speed Internet connections would become more widely available “The increase of piracy” is a wordier option.

(E) online, and that they expected piracy to increase as high-speed Internet connections became more widely available This construction is correct - At the end of 2001, motion picture industry representatives said that x, and that y.

- Nitha
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Answers must be (E) , reasons for the same highlighted below...

At the end of 2001, motion picture industry representatives said
that there were about a million copies of Hollywood movies available online,
and
that they expected piracy to increase as high-speed Internet connections became more widely available
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Hi Experts / chetan2u / mikemcgarry,

The sentence states that "At the end of 2001" Motion picture industry representative said 2 things-
1) that there were about a million copies of Hollywood movies available online
2) expected piracy to increase with high-speed Internet connections that become more widely available.

We need "That" after "and" to the sentence parallel. Only D and E left.

Furthermore, the sentence also mentions that they (representatives) "EXPECT" something-->
What do they expect..? that something will take place in future..
Therefore, if the sentence talks about past and we want to show future--> We need to use "WOULD"

So, D should be the answer.
Can you please assist whats wrong in this..?

If I talk about option E, the verbs "expected" and 'became" shows simultaneous actions and so the intended meaning is lost.

Please assist.
Thanks and Regards,
Prakhar
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Hi,

The biggest error is the use of the possessive -the increase of piracy.
we can expect piracy to increase BUT expected the increase of piracy is not correct..
So E wins over D immediately

Now the point about became and expected.... they are not parallel...
AS is used as a conjuction here and means at the same time/ while one act is happening..

so it conveys that the rep expected the piracy to increase while high-speed internet connections became more widely available..
herewe are not talking in past about a future event but an ongoing eventwherein the high-speed internet connections are already in use and are being spread
so E is ok in tense too..
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Hi chetan2u,

Thanks for your response. As you said-"we are not talking in past about a future event but an ongoing event".

If I talk about the word "expect" means "regard (something) as likely to happen."

expect means which is "likely to happen" not "happening currently".
According to me the usage of word "expect" by itself means that the rep are anticipating that something WILL take place.

I don't understand how did you reach to the point that its an ongoing event.

Can you please assist.

Also what do you mean by "The biggest error is the use of the possessive -the increase of piracy."..?
Can you tell me in simple language..

Thanks and Regards,
Prakhar
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Not idiomatic.

You can say: "I expect global warming to worsen as more greenhouse gasses get released into the atmosphere".
This would be idiomatically incorrect: "I expect global warming to worsen as more greenhouse gasses will get released into the atmosphere."

"An increase in piracy" would be grammatically correct. "The increase of piracy" is not.

Hi Experts,

I have one more doubt. I eliminated the choices based on the following reasoning that the sentence should be of form:-

At the end of 2001, motion picture industry representatives said that One thing, and that Second thing.

or it should be of the form

At the end of 2001, motion picture industry representatives said that One thing, and expected that another thing.

However, the correct ans seems to be something like:- said that 1 and that they expected 2 which seems to me a bit awkward.
At the end of 2001, motion picture industry representatives said that there were about a million copies of Hollywood movies available online, and that they expected piracy to increase as high-speed Internet connections became more widely available

Your first interpretation is correct. The representatives said 2 things:

1. They said that there were about a million copies.
2. They also said that they expected piracy to increase.

The green highlighted portions are what the representatives said. (The verb "expected" is not parallel to the verb "said").

why option D is wrong??
D is correct because :
1. from past the future is represented with would (MGMAT )

2. that they expected increase...they didnt expect piracy...they expected increase and increase of piracy only..

please correct me..

Just to add to the explanations that were made here:

One of the key point in this question is to understand how to descibed somthing that someone said:
- Now - Dan:I expect that prices would increase as high-speed Internet becomes more avaliable"
- Future - A person describing what Dan said: " Dan expected that prices would increase as high-speed internet became more available".

Basically we need to take the verbs and bring them past of the tense they are mentioned it.

Another thing to notice is the use of could. Could is used to show some uncertanity (expectation/assumption etc..).

I am bit confused by this comment - Please help clarify which of below 2 sentences is correct

- Now - Dan:I expect that prices will increase as high-speed Internet becomes more avaliable"
- Now - Dan:I expect that prices would increase as high-speed Internet becomes more avaliable"

The overall tense is present - so for a future event, a simple future tense verb 'will' should be correct, right ?

Thanks

The correct usages are as follows:

Statement/ expectation in present: I expect that prices will increase as high-speed Internet becomes more available.
Statement/ expectation in past: I expected that prices would increase as high-speed Internet became more available.

All verbs within the statement / expectation goes on step back along with the main verb (expect / said etc.) of the sentence.

Is first sentence wrong?

1. I want to say that India is a great country and I love this country .

2. I want to say that India is a great country and that I love this country .