Hi,
Due to the fact that Greg wrecked his family's station wagon during a road trip last summer, he has not been and probably never would be allowed to drive his father's car.



The only error in this sentence is the verb tense error. Use of “would’ is incorrect here. Conditional “would” is used when the sentence talks about a hypothetical situation, an assumption or any expectation about the future as all these three conditions involve uncertainty. For example: The investors are expecting that the market would improve in the next couple of days.
Use of “would” is correct here because the sentence talks about the expectation of the investors. It is not sure whether the market will really improve or not. Due to the uncertainty of a future event, use of “would” is correct.
In this sentence, it is almost certain that Greg will never be allowed to drive his father’s car in the future. I say almost only because of the presence of “probably” in the sentence. Use of “would” is incorrect here because there is no uncertainty about the fact whether Greg will be allowed to drive his father’s car or not. There is no hypothetical situation here, no assumption and not even any kind of expectation involved in this sentence.

POE:

A: Wrong as discussed.

B: Correct answer. This answer choice uses the correct verb tense as well as the correct parallel structure. Notice that the use of “never” before “will be allowed” is absolutely correct. “never” is an adverb that modifies the verb “will be allowed”. So it is correct to place it before “will be allowed”.

C: Wrong.
i. Same verb tense error as in A.
ii. “has not be allowed to drive” is ungrammatical.

D: Wrong. Same error as in C.

E: Wrong: Same error as in C.



1. Use conditional "would" only when the sentence talks about a hypothetical situation, an expectation about the future or an assumption.
2. The entities in a parallel list must be grammatically as well as logically parallel.
3. The words that are not "repeated" in the sentence must be present in the sentence somewhere in its original form and must not make the sentence ungrammatical.

The concepts covered in this sentence have been covered in e-gmat concepts:
1. Level 2 - Conditional "Would"
2. Level 1 - Parallelism - Identify and Correct
3. Level 1 - Parallelism - Helpful Tips

Thanks.
Shraddha


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B

I think clarity is the issue

in A

has not been and probably never would be allowed to drive


she has been -- what not allowed to date
not allowed to dance
not allowed to sing

B although wordy, is intelligible

has not been allowed to drive and probably never will be allowed to drive

Professor,

I see what you are saying is that a rule though?

besides 'will' is more corret here than 'would'

'probably' already brings in the element of uncertainty. we may not need a 'would' again

Comments anyone?

this is a great question. thanks u2lover

IMO B

"Would" indicates uncertainty, and "probably" also indicates uncertainty. So "would" is redundant here. So A and D are out.

Also, option C, D and E has incorrect and awkward structures "has not....allowed to drive". The correct structure should be "has not been... allowed" or "is not...allowed" etc
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It's gonna be B.

The intention of A is to jump from present to future tense. "Has not been" and "will never be"

But it uses the word "would". Now "would" is not present or future tense. It is reference the future but is more conditional/probability. Not present or future tense.

Thus, A cannot be correct and unless it uses "will never be"

B is clear but it's so long. In speaking I'd always try to abbreviate, but in abbreviating it's grammatically incorrect, at least the choices that are presented here. B is correct and clear.

Give me kudos and I'll answer more! Hit the button under my name for "Kudos"

Let us read this in this way:
Due to the fact that Jordan wrecked Bono's station wagon, she has not been and probably never would be allowed to drive her father's car.

The sequence should be chronological -
1st - wrecked
2nd-1 - she has not been allowed to....
2nd-2 - she never would be allowed to...

2nd-1 and 2nd-2 should be parallel to make any sense

so one possible correct way is :
1st - wrecked
2nd-1 - she has not been allowed to....
2nd-2 - she never will be allowed to...

C,D,E - ruled out because HAS NOT does not have correct Verb

Out of A,B - Go with B

In SC - it is the best available choice that we need to go with and not the best possible choice
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Only A and B make parallel senses. However, in choice A, I do not prefer with the tense here. Tense in choice B is more preferable. This point, I agree totally with fluke. Besides, another point, I remember some book says that "if you want to change the tense of the same action, you have to write it again in full version". The placement of "never" is acceptable.

Hope that help :D.
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You are probably taking "uncertain" situations for "hypothetical" situations. "Hypothetical" means "imaginary" or "unreal". We use "would" for "unreal" or "imaginary" situations.

The word "probably" implies an "uncertain" situation, not an "unreal" or "imaginary" (or "hypothetical") situation. Therefore "probably will" is alright.

Another example: The first sentence of this post is "You are probably taking". I am expressing something with which I am uncertain, not something "imaginary". Therfore I have used a present continuous tense since the action is happening at this moment - If I wanted to express a future event, I would use "You will probably take".

Now look at my last sentence, I used hypothetical " I would use" - why?.. because I am expressing an unreal event. I will not express a future event - the effect of an unlikely event is also hypothetical - an imaginary or unreal situation; therefore I used "would" in my last sentence.

One does not always require an independent clause before "and". In this example "and" connects two verbs (and not two independent clauses); hence it does not require an independent clause before it. (I sing and play...correct - two verbs are joined... no independent clause before "and")

"Probably" depicts an uncertain event. "Would" also does the same. Therefore using both ("probably would") is considered redundancy. "Probably will" is correct.

(You may also note that none of the options are correct because of faulty use of "due to" - should have been "because of".)