In a continuous series of back of the napkin drawings Carl

Question

In a continuous series of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, who is a financial planner, is explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams .

A. In a continuous series of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, who is a financial planner, is explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams
B. In a continuing series of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, a financial planner, has been explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams
C. In a continuing series involving back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, a financial planner, has explained the basics of money by means of simple graphs and diagrams
D. In a continuous series of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings a financial planner, Carl Richards, had been explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams
E. In a continuing series from back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, a financial planner, was explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams

chamisool · Answer

Ok, thank you for the replies. I also chose A but the answer is actually B according to the source. I apologize for including the wrong OA because I was hoping someone would question the OA I provided so we can get a good discussion but many of you guys appear to agree with it.

Now I don’t know if there is a mistake with the question but here is the explanation according to Aristotle SC. Do you guys agree or disagree with the explanation?

Explanation:
Official Answer (OA) – B 
Concepts Tested – Tense, Diction
A – Since we are referring to a continuing series ‘is explaining‘ is the incorrect tense since
the action has been continuing from the past. (SC Grail – pg. 56)

C – ‘involving‘ distorts the meaning of the sentence. Since we are referring to a continuing
series ‘has explained‘ is the incorrect verb since the action still continues.

D – ‘continuous‘ distorts the meaning of the sentence. Use of past perfect tense ‘had‘ is
incorrect since there are no two things taking place at different times in the past.

E – ‘from‘ back of the napkin makes no sense, it should be ‘of‘. Since we are referring to a
continuing series ‘was‘ is the incorrect verb since the action still continues.

impulse255 · Answer

I chose B because of its use of the present perfect tense.

Present perfect = "HAVE/HAS + Past Participle".

So in this case with choice B, it says "Has + Been". The use of the present perfect is used when explaining things that occurred in the past but also continue to occur in the present (as noted by the "continuing series").

daagh · Answer

I do not agree with the perception of the use of progressive tense in four of the choices in this topic. It may be noted that a progressive tense is used to describe some thing that is/was/has been /had been happening at the moment of saying it Here we are not making a running commentary of an event We are just expressing Carl’s style of explaining. We should normally use a simple present tense ‘explains”

All the four choices A, B, D, and E are wrong. D and E in addition shift the tense from the present to past. At best, we can agree with Chocie C, which uses present perfect tense ‘has explained’. If it is a one-time event, go for present perfect. If it is a generality, then go for simple present (which is not there) So C is the best. This is IMO

Lstadt · Answer

I personally went with B. We are talking about an event that happened in the past and is still continuing into the future.

B makes perfect sense to me.

A is talking as if Car is actually "Explaining and doing that action" right that moment.

And here's the actual source from NYtimes

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/your ... llery.html

In a continuing series of back-of-the-napkin drawings and posts on the Bucks blog. Carl Richards, a financial planner, has been explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams. Here we bring them to you all in one place for easier browsing.

prasun9 · Answer

Option B would be perfect except for the problem with intended meaning. 
In a continuing  series  of  back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards ,  a financial planner

In my opinion Carl Richards is the financial planner, but as per this sentence  a financial planner  is qualifying the noun  back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards 
shouldn't there be a comma before  Carl Richards  to separate it from  back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings

Experts please help.

mnm21234 · Answer

In a continuous series of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, who is a financial planner, is explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams.

A. In a  continuous series  of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, who is a financial planner,  is explaining  the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams. "is explaining is wrong" should be past tense & not present tense
B. In a  continuing  series of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, a financial planner,  has been  explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams.
C. In a  continuing series  involving back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, a financial planner,  has explained  the basics of money by means of simple graphs and diagrams. should be in present perfect tense
D. In a  continuous series  of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings a financial planner, Carl Richards,  had been explaining  the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams.
E. In a  continuing series  from back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, a financial planner,  was explaining  the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams.

King407 · Answer

In a continuous series of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, who is a financial planner, is explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams .

A. In a continuous series of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, who is a financial planner,  is explaining  the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams -- is explaining shows present continuous

B. In a continuing series of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, a financial planner,  has been explaining  the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams --- has been explaining shows correct verb usage

C. In a continuing series involving back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings Carl Richards, a financial planner,  has explained  the basics of money by means of simple graphs and diagrams --- has explained distorts continuity

D. In a  continuous  series of back‐of‐the‐napkin drawings a financial planner, Carl Richards, had been explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams --- continuous is wrong, should be -ing form

E. In a continuing series  from back‐of‐the‐napkin  drawings Carl Richards, a financial planner, was explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams --- from is wrong, should be of

IMO B is correct

dominicraj · Answer

Hi Reto, In A "who is a financial planner" is unnecessary since we dont have two people and the person concerned is immediately before the comma. Also in a process that started earlier and is still continuing we use "has been" instead of "is". Kindly notice that in option A "the series is continuous" while in B "the series is continuing". Hence in option A the word "continuous" is an adjective modifying the "series" and in option B "continuing" is an adjective showing that the series is still going on. Hope its in black and white.

Regards, Dom.

sayantanc2k · Answer

A is grammatically correct, but B is better for the following reasons:

1. Concision: "who is" are two extra words to convey the same meaning.
2. Tense: The series has started some time ago and is still continuing. Hence present perfect rather then present continuous is better. (though the meaning that the explanation is happening right now is not quite wrong either).

In the real GMAT, you may probably expect to get more severe errors in the wrong options.

aishwarya4391 · Answer

The sentence talks about a continuous series of back of the napkin drawings. Therefore, in such a case the usage of present perfect is not the ideal usage as it reflects an event that is completed in present. It makes sense to use Present continuous sense and therefore, option B is appropriate.

sallysea · Answer

Merged topics. Please, search before posting questions!

mikemcgarry · Answer

This is really one of the worst attempts at a GMAT SC practice questions that I have ever seen. This might be the single worst question on the entire GMAT Club site. That's impressive, in a strange way.

I don't know why " simple graphs and diagrams " is underlined, since it's the same in all five answer choices. Considering how much is underlined, a ridiculously small amount of the sentence varies from one choice to the next.

I can imagine scenarios in which any of the five answer choices could be correct. Of course the meaning is different in all five, so that doesn't make any answer better than any other.

Mike

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In a continuous series of back of the napkin drawings Carl

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