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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global 02 Apr 2017, 07:29
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VeritasPrepKarishma
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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives – and included a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite ministers – to guide Italy, Europe’s third-largest economy, out of stagnation.
A)frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives – and included a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite ministers – to guide Italy, Europe’s
B)had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives – and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – to guide Italy, with Europe’s
C)had been frightening global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives – and that include a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – to guide Italy, which has Europe’s
D)had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives – and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – to guide Italy, which has Europe’s
E)frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government to unite liberals and conservatives – and includes a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – and to guide Italy, with Europe’s


Here is the skeleton of option (A) with details removed:

Ending a stalemate that frightened leaders, Enrico has formed a rare coalition government that united ... – and included ... – to guide Italy, Europe’s third-largest economy, out of stagnation.

There are two events:
Leaders frightened
Govt formed

Since leaders were frightened before the Govt was formed, we can express the events in two ways:

Option (A) - Ending a stalemate that frightened (simple past) leaders, Enrico has formed (present perfect) a rare coalition government...
We don't know whether Enrico has just formed the Govt or did he form it some time back. There is no need to assume that he formed it some time back and hence use of present perfect may not be incorrect. But the problem with option (A) is that 'united' and 'included' use past tense. In that case, the use of present perfect for forming the Govt is incorrect. The formation of the Govt united liberals and conservatives and included women and non white ministers. Hence, 'uniting' and 'including' did not happen before the Govt was formed.

Option (B) - Ending a stalemate that had frightened (past perfect) leaders, Enrico formed (simple past) a rare coalition government...
Here, the tenses are correct. Past perfect for 'Leaders frightened' and simple past for 'Govt formed'.

As for the use of 'with'.

Italy here is referring to the country. The country has Europe's third largest economy.

Hence the use of both these is correct:
... to guide Italy, with Europe's third largest economy, out of stagnation.
... to guide Italy, which has Europe's third largest economy, out of stagnation.

Note that we could also refer to Italy, Europe's third largest economy. We could say that Italy is Europe's third largest economy as done in option (A). That is correct too. But option (A) has other errors.
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According to your reasoning, with Europe's third largest economy in B and which has Europe's third largest economy in D are both correct.

We can see that the only difference in B and D are uniting in B that united in D. VeritasPrepKarishma can you please clarify why uniting in B is wrong and that united in D is right and why we use and including but not and included in B and D ?

Many thanks for you :)
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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global 02 Apr 2017, 23:53
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leanhdung
VeritasPrepKarishma
emmak
Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives – and included a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite ministers – to guide Italy, Europe’s third-largest economy, out of stagnation.
A)frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives – and included a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite ministers – to guide Italy, Europe’s
B)had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives – and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – to guide Italy, with Europe’s
C)had been frightening global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives – and that include a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – to guide Italy, which has Europe’s
D)had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives – and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – to guide Italy, which has Europe’s
E)frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government to unite liberals and conservatives – and includes a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – and to guide Italy, with Europe’s


Here is the skeleton of option (A) with details removed:

Ending a stalemate that frightened leaders, Enrico has formed a rare coalition government that united ... – and included ... – to guide Italy, Europe’s third-largest economy, out of stagnation.

There are two events:
Leaders frightened
Govt formed

Since leaders were frightened before the Govt was formed, we can express the events in two ways:

Option (A) - Ending a stalemate that frightened (simple past) leaders, Enrico has formed (present perfect) a rare coalition government...
We don't know whether Enrico has just formed the Govt or did he form it some time back. There is no need to assume that he formed it some time back and hence use of present perfect may not be incorrect. But the problem with option (A) is that 'united' and 'included' use past tense. In that case, the use of present perfect for forming the Govt is incorrect. The formation of the Govt united liberals and conservatives and included women and non white ministers. Hence, 'uniting' and 'including' did not happen before the Govt was formed.

Option (B) - Ending a stalemate that had frightened (past perfect) leaders, Enrico formed (simple past) a rare coalition government...
Here, the tenses are correct. Past perfect for 'Leaders frightened' and simple past for 'Govt formed'.

As for the use of 'with'.

Italy here is referring to the country. The country has Europe's third largest economy.

Hence the use of both these is correct:
... to guide Italy, with Europe's third largest economy, out of stagnation.
... to guide Italy, which has Europe's third largest economy, out of stagnation.

Note that we could also refer to Italy, Europe's third largest economy. We could say that Italy is Europe's third largest economy as done in option (A). That is correct too. But option (A) has other errors.

According to your reasoning, with Europe's third largest economy in B and which has Europe's third largest economy in D are both correct.

We can see that the only difference in B and D are uniting in B that united in D. VeritasPrepKarishma can you please clarify why uniting in B is wrong and that united in D is right and why we use and including but not and included in B and D ?

Many thanks for you :)
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Note that (B) is the correct option. Here is why:

(B) Ending a contentious political stalemate that had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives – and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – to guide Italy, with Europe’s third-largest economy, out of stagnation.

(D) Ending a contentious political stalemate that had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives – and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – to guide Italy, which has Europe’s third-largest economy, out of stagnation.

The problem is not with "united" vs "uniting". The issue is that with "uniting", "including" works as happens in option (B).
... formed a ... government uniting A and including B...
The govt united and included and hence they are parallel.

But (D) gives you
... formed a ... government that united A and including B...
They need to be in parallel. "including" does not work with "united". You need "included" in that case.
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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global 24 Apr 2017, 09:11
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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives – and included a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite ministers – to guide Italy, Europe’s third-largest economy, out of stagnation.

A)frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives – and included a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite ministers – to guide Italy, Europe’s
present perfect out

B)had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives – and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – to guide Italy, with Europe’s

Enrico Letta finally formed a government to guide Italy out of stagnation. This is the structure of B, correct.

C)had been frightening global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives – and that include a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – to guide Italy, which has Europe’s


D)had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives – and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – to guide Italy, which has Europe’s

E)frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government to unite liberals and conservatives – and includes a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister – and to guide Italy, with Europe’s
Option E changes the meaning. To unite and to guide Italy become two things, where in option A formed a government to guide.
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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global 07 Jun 2018, 03:27
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(A) frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives—and included a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite ministers—to guide Italy, Europe’s - correct choice.

(B) had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives—and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister—to guide Italy, ((with)) Europe’s - makes no sense.

(C) had been frightening global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives—and that include a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister —to guide ((Italy, which has)) Europe’s - again makes no sense. Incorrect.

(D) had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives—and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister—to guide ((Italy, which has)) Europe’s - same as C.

(E) frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government to unite liberals and conservatives—and includes a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister—and to guide Italy, ((with)) Europe’s - same as B.

A is the right choice.


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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global 15 May 2019, 04:34
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Hi,
Wanted to check that is it always a rule of thumb that when present participles show up in middle of the sentence it has to be adverbial modifier.

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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global 15 May 2019, 22:45
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bhargavakumartu
Hi,
Wanted to check that is it always a rule of thumb that when present participles show up in middle of the sentence it has to be adverbial modifier.
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No. Present participles are not restricted to playing an adverbial role.
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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global 26 Dec 2019, 20:53
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(A) frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed ( nothing wrong here) a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives—and included( ‘government that included a record number of women’ [simple past] is incorrect here as the formation of the government has been presented in present perfect tense) a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite ministers—to guide Italy, Europe’s
Hence option A is incorrect

(B) had frightened ( correct as formation is stated in past tense)global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives—and including( ‘government including’ is correct) a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister—to guide Italy, with(the country Italy, withEuropes third largest economy) Europe’s
Option B is correct

(C) had been frightening( past perfect continuous is unnecessary and not preferred in GMAT) global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives—and that include a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister —to guide Italy, which has Europe’s
Hence option C is incorrect

(D) had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives—and including(government that including is incorrect) a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister—to guide Italy, which has Europe’s
Hence option D is incorrect

(E) frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government to unite liberals and conservatives—and includes (to unite requires to include/ simply include) a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister—and to guide Italy, with Europe’s
Hence option E is incorrect
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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global 25 Nov 2020, 23:00
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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives—and included a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite ministers—to guide Italy, Europe’s third-largest economy, out of stagnation.

(A) frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives—and included a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite ministers—to guide Italy, Europe’s

(B) had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives—and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister—to guide Italy, with Europe’s

(C) had been frightening global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, has finally formed a rare coalition government uniting liberals and conservatives—and that include a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister —to guide Italy, which has Europe’s

(D) had frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government that united liberals and conservatives—and including a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister—to guide Italy, which has Europe’s

(E) frightened global business leaders, the new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, finally formed a rare coalition government to unite liberals and conservatives—and includes a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister—and to guide Italy, with Europe’s
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This question is based on Verb and Tense Usage and Parallelism.

Two main actions are present in this sentence – a contentious political stalemate frightened global political leaders and Enrico Letta formed a rare coalition government. These two actions must be in tenses that are consistent with the time frame and with each other.

The word ‘ending’ conveys that the political stalemate is in the past and happened well before the government was formed, so the first action should be in the past perfect tense.
Options A and E can be ruled out on this basis, since they both contain the simple past tense form ‘frighten’.

Option A also has other verbs – united and included - that are inconsistent with the present perfect tense – has formed. The verbs should have been in the simple present tense to be consistent with the present perfect tense. So, Option A can be ruled out on this basis too.

This sentence contains two descriptions of the coalition government – it united liberals and conservatives and it included a record number of women and Italy’s first nonwhite minister. These two descriptions must be parallel in structure.

Option C lacks parallelism. The two descriptions are not parallel; the participle ‘uniting’ is not parallel to the verb form ‘include’. This option also contains the past perfect continuous tense – had been frightening. Any continuous tense is used when the continuity of an action needs to be emphasized. In this sentence, there is no such requirement. So, Option C can be ruled out.

Option D also lacks parallelism. The verb form ‘united’ and the participle form ‘including’ are not parallel to each other. So, Option D can be ruled out.

Option B contains the appropriate tense forms and maintains parallelism. Therefore, B is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.
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Ending a contentious political stalemate that frightened global 20 Dec 2024, 03:16
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