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ugimba
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 31 Mar 2009, 17:39
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E
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58% (00:55) correct 42% (01:02) wrong based on 997 sessions

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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in tens of thousands of Americans being evicted from homes that they can no longer afford monthly payments.

(A) that they can
(B) that they could
(C) on which they can
(D) because they can
(E) for which they could


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Can some one explain this for me and why D is wrong as well...

was it "can" vs "could" decides the answer?

thanks.
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 30 Jan 2010, 05:45
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268. During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in tens of thousands of Americans being evicted from homes that they canno longer afford monthly payments.
(A) that they can
(B) that they could
(C) on which they can
(D) because they can
(E) for which they could

First Take - Can VS Could
Could is correct as the entire sentence is in the past tense and hence can would not be in sync....
Hence A, C, D are out...

B says that they could ... they is not sure whether it is Americans or Homes... hence B is out.. (an introduction of that after homes... makes homes a subject and hence creates this cconfusion)

E is a clear winner... which states.... homes for which they could....... and hence correct (if that is not present after homes... homes would be treated as an object and they would not refer to it in any form)
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 31 Mar 2009, 17:53
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ugimba
268. During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in tens of thousands of Americans being evicted from homes that they canno longer afford monthly payments.
(A) that they can
(B) that they could
(C) on which they can
(D) because they can
(E) for which they could


Can some one explain this for me and why D is wrong as well...

was it "can" vs "could" decides the answer?

thanks.


IMO E). Here we are talking about past and so it requires conditional past (could) and we are referring homes and so it requires which since "that" cannot be used for things.
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roshanaslam
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in Updated on: 07 Jun 2010, 06:27
Originally posted by roshanaslam on 07 Jun 2010, 06:18.
Last edited by roshanaslam on 07 Jun 2010, 06:27, edited 1 time in total.
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a simple to thing toremember here is that we usually eliminate 'which' because it refers to a noun preceding it. but remember that if a preposition precedes 'which', then this yardstick must not be applied
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izaidi
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 07 Jun 2010, 20:38
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IMO:

Option d is also wrong because That is being used as a subordinator, and it is not clear what verb is being modified by it.

Its also the wrong subordinator! Because, As, For, or Since should be used.
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roshanaslam
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 07 Jun 2010, 22:30
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no its not a subordinator!!
citizens of many countries are expressing concern THAT the enviromentmental damage caused by widespread release of green house gasses maybe impossible to reverse.
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 07 Jun 2010, 23:49
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could > can

can is used for general ability, could is used for possibility

I could pay my taxes. ----> Expresses possibility. If I have nothing else to do with the money, I might pay taxes.

ugimba
268. During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in tens of thousands of Americans being evicted from homes that they canno longer afford monthly payments.
(A) that they can
(B) that they could
(C) on which they can
(D) because they can
(E) for which they could


Can some one explain this for me and why D is wrong as well...

was it "can" vs "could" decides the answer?

thanks.
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izaidi
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 08 Jun 2010, 07:48
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roshanaslam
no its not a subordinator!!
citizens of many countries are expressing concern THAT the enviromentmental damage caused by widespread release of green house gasses maybe impossible to reverse.

IMO:

Can the phrase "the enviromentmental damage caused by widespread release of green house gasses maybe impossible to reverse" stand as an independent clause? If so, then you have a run on sentence.

I think in the example you have cited, if THAT is not a subordinator then the sentence is a run on sentence.
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 08 Jun 2010, 10:44
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this sentence is perfectly correct. using essential modifier doesnt make a run on sentnce. although despite inspite of because make run on sentnces. who has told u 'that' is a subordinator? the clause before 'that' need not have a verb.
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 11 Jul 2010, 23:18
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roshanaslam: MGMAT indicates that all relative pronouns can be used as subordinators (sorry for the late reply)
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 29 Dec 2010, 08:49
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went with D.. Because looked a better choice but didnt notice 'can' tense mistake :(
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Got it wrong, the answer is E i guess...
Good to know that in general "which" must be preceded by a noun. However, if a preposition is attached before which as in this case "For Which..." then this case does not apply..
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 27 Dec 2011, 01:30
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E it is ....in option D) "can" is wrongly used ...it should be past tense "could"
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 27 Dec 2011, 03:11
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E. Which can be used because preposition is used before it.
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 15 Nov 2017, 05:09
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jeeteshsingh
268. During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in tens of thousands of Americans being evicted from homes that they canno longer afford monthly payments.
(A) that they can
(B) that they could
(C) on which they can
(D) because they can
(E) for which they could

First Take - Can VS Could
Could is correct as the entire sentence is in the past tense and hence can would not be in sync....
Hence A, C, D are out...

B says that they could ... they is not sure whether it is Americans or Homes... hence B is out.. (an introduction of that after homes... makes homes a subject and hence creates this cconfusion)

E is a clear winner... which states.... homes for which they could....... and hence correct (if that is not present after homes... homes would be treated as an object and they would not refer to it in any form)


abhimahna and GMATNinja

I get really confused about the pronoun usage. The rule is that a pronoun must have only one antecedent and "it should make sense". But "they" in this question can logically refer to only AMERICANS because if we say "that homes could/can no longer afford payments...", it does not make sense.

Am I thinking in the wrong direction?
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 17 Jun 2018, 08:33
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patedhav
ugimba
268. During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in tens of thousands of Americans being evicted from homes that they canno longer afford monthly payments.
(A) that they can
(B) that they could
(C) on which they can
(D) because they can
(E) for which they could


Can some one explain this for me and why D is wrong as well...

was it "can" vs "could" decides the answer?

thanks.


IMO E). Here we are talking about past and so it requires conditional past (could) and we are referring homes and so it requires which since "that" cannot be used for things.



'that' and 'which' both can be used for things. Difference is 'that' is used for general things but 'which' is used to refer specific things.
As in this case we are talking about those specific homes, 'which' is preferred here.
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 21 Jun 2018, 02:04
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in tens of thousands of Americans being evicted from homes that they canno longer afford monthly payments.
(A) that they can
(B) that they could
(C) on which they can
(D) because they can
(E) for which they could
this one is hard.
look at choice D.
I think, can/could is a problem in D but there is another problem
"because they can no longer pay monthly payment" is not clear. payment for what. the sentence should be
because they can no longer pay monthly payment for the homes"

in contrast, choice E is more logic. the ideas in choice E are connected logically

this is the reason why choice D is wrong.
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 02 Jul 2020, 19:59
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Since the original sentence included "resulted" which is past tense, we should also have a consistent past tense verb here ("could"). Therefore, eliminate A, C, and D.

since "that" come directly after "home", the "they" would refer to "homes", but homes cannot do the human action of affording mortgages. Therefore, B wrong.

Use of "for which":

Relevant example:

Incorrect: the restaurant I ate at.
Correct: the restaurant at which I ate.

Therefore, by plugging in E, we could translate the clause to home which they can no longer afford monthly payments for. Correct.
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During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in 05 Jan 2024, 12:30
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