Every time a consumer makes an impulse buying decision

Concur with your answer, these were exactly my thoughts.

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My answer is (A). It took me 02:08.

(A) I did not find anything unseemly. The meaning is clear. Definitely keep for now.
I did notice that "she" is used as the subject of the main clause.
I have yet seen any official GMAT questions that use ‘She’ as a generic pronoun. This practice has been gaining traction, though there are certainly detractors.
Another trend that GMAT has not caught up with is the "singular they".

(B) After reading (B), I know this question is testing the use of verb tenses.
While the author might have some justification for her use of "is making....is demonstrating", her decision to use simple present ("call"), especially in the presence of "now", is problematic.

But I am not 100% sure. In this situation, I typically reverse the order of inspection and jump to (E).

(E) "has made" and "demonstrated" are not compatible. Definitely eliminated.
(D) "made" and "had demonstrated" are not compatible. Definitely eliminated.
(C) "is making" and "demonstrates" are not compatible. Definitely eliminated.

Now, back to (A) and (B).
Since "every time" refers to a general observation, simple present is preferred.
Again, even though the author can defend her use of "is making...is demonstrating", she cannot really justify the switch to simple present in "now call".
(A) is a much better choice than (B).

I selected A.

The thought process is as follows: since the action of the consumer making an impulse decision, happen simultaneously as he/she demonstrating the link, the tenses should be the same between the subordinate clause and the main clause. Thus eliminating C/D/E.

For B, the "now" signals to me that progressive tense should be used. Not sure tho.



Every time a consumer makes an impulse buying decision, she demonstrates the link between neuroscience and economics—a link that behavioral economists are now calling crucial to understanding the integration of all the behavioral sciences: economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, and political science.


A) Every time a consumer makes an impulse buying decision, she demonstrates the link between neuroscience and economics—a link that behavioral economists are now calling crucial to understanding

B) Every time a consumer is making an impulse buying decision, she is demonstrating the link between neuroscience and economics—a link that behavioral economists now call crucial to understanding

C) Every time a consumer is making an impulse buying decision, she demonstrates the link between neuroscience and economics—a link that behavioral economists are now calling crucial to understanding

D) Every time a consumer made an impulse buying decision, she had demonstrated the link between neuroscience and economics—a link that behavioral economists now call crucial to understanding

E) Every time a consumer has made an impulse buying decision, she demonstrated the link between neuroscience and economics—a link that behavioral economists are now calling crucial to understanding

Ans:A
A) Every time a consumer makes an impulse buying decision, she demonstrates the link between neuroscience and economics—a link that behavioral economists are now calling crucial to understanding--correct

B) Every time a consumer is making an impulse buying decision, she is demonstrating the link between neuroscience and economics—a link that behavioral economists now call crucial to understanding--simple present is more preferable.

C) Every time a consumer is making an impulse buying decision, she demonstrates the link between neuroscience and economics—a link that behavioral economists are now calling crucial to understanding--is making...demonstrates not parallel

D) Every time a consumer made an impulse buying decision, she had demonstrated the link between neuroscience and economics—a link that behavioral economists now call crucial to understanding--past perfect is not required

E) Every time a consumer has made an impulse buying decision, she demonstrated the link between neuroscience and economics—a link that behavioral economists are now calling crucial to understanding--present perfect--past not parallel

Hi Zhanbo. As always very nicely explained!!
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