avohden wrote:
If NASA's Cassini mission successfully completes its next phase – orbiting Saturn many times over a several-year period – its stunning photos of and data concerning Saturn have been and will continue to enthrall astronomers throughout the world.
A. have been and will continue to enthrall
B. have and will continue to enthrall
C. will continue to enthrall, as they already did,
D. will continue to enthrall, as they have already,
E. will continue to enthrall
OE to follow.
Dear
avohden,
I'm happy to help.
This is a very subtle question about redundancy. See:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/lessons/920-avoid-redundancyThink about the phrase "
will continue to enthrall" --- according to just this phrase, when does the "enthralling" happen? If something is continuing, it
already must be happening --- it must have started in the past, and have been in continuous operation from that start through the present. By saying, it "
will continue", we are saying this continuous activity, from the start in the past to the present without break, will also proceed without break into the future. All of this is contained in the idea of "
will continue". The phrase "
will continue to enthrall" directly implies that the mission already "
had been enthralling" these people. Thus, adding explicitly the idea of past action, the fact that the mission "
had been enthralling", is redundant, because it's already implied in the "
will continue" verb.
The only answer that totally eliminates the redundancy is
(E).
Does all this make sense?
Mike
_________________
Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test PrepEducation is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)