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iamba
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions wil Updated on: 16 Sep 2018, 07:03
Originally posted by iamba on 04 Jul 2007, 20:36.
Last edited by Bunuel on 16 Sep 2018, 07:03, edited 2 times in total.
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43% (01:14) correct 57% (01:11) wrong based on 2031 sessions

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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions will develop in China, as the growth of democracy has generally followed industrial development in other countries throughout the 20th century.


A) has generally followed industrial development

B) generally followed industrial development

C) had generally followed industrial development

D) generally follows industrial development

E) followed general industrial development


This question is part of the GMAT Club Sentence Correction : Verb Tense Revision Project.
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions wil Updated on: 16 Sep 2018, 07:08
Originally posted by souvik101990 on 29 Mar 2015, 20:19.
Last edited by Bunuel on 16 Sep 2018, 07:08, edited 1 time in total.
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:



The non-underlined portion of the sentence utilizes the present perfect tense “have . .. predicted” to indicate that the analysts have and continue to predict the development of democratic institutions in China. In the original sentence, the present perfect tense is also utilized in “has . . . followed” to describe the pattern of democracy following industrial development. However, the sentence clearly refers to the past with the phrase “throughout the 20th century,” making the use of the present perfect tense incorrect, as the activity cannot be continuing if it occurred in the past and ended at the end of the 20th century.


(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) CORRECT. This choice correctly uses the simple past tense in reference to the pattern of democracy following industrial development in the 20th century, and is otherwise clear and concise.

(C) This choice utilizes the past perfect construction “had . . . followed.” This is incorrect, as the past perfect tense requires that another action occurred in the later past, as noted by the use of the simple past tense. There is no such later past action in the original sentence.

(D) The simple present tense “follows” is incorrect in reference to a pattern that occurred “throughout the 20th century,” which is in the past.

(E) This choice correctly uses the simple past tense form of the verb. However, here “general” is incorrectly used to modify “industrial development” as opposed to being used to describe the pattern of democracy following industrial development; moreover, the meaning of “general industrial development” is unclear.
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions wil 25 Mar 2015, 21:10
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions will develop in China, as the growth of democracy has generally followed industrial development in other countries throughout the 20th century.

A. has generally followed industrial development Present Perfect is wrong as we are talking about a trend in 20th Century

B. generally followed industrial development Correct

C. had generally followed industrial development Past perfect is wrong.There is no other past event so as have Past perfect

D. generally follows industrial development Simple Present is wrong. Same as A.

E. followed general industrial development Meaning Shift
General Discussion
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions wil 04 Jul 2007, 20:42
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iamba
Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions will develop in China, as the growth of democracy has generally followed industrial development in other countries throughout the 20th century.
A) has generally followed industrial development
B) generally followed industrial development
C) had generally followed industrial development
D) generally follows industrial development
E) followed general industrial development
Show more


'has' is present perfect that is used for action continuing until now.

C - past perfect - not required here
D - presentence - wrong
E - changing word order changes the meaning

A, B - left

as we are in 21st century - i am going with B. I dont know if that action is still continuing until now.
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I think author is stating the second part as a matter of fact like
Sun sets in the west.

It has to be present-simple.

I like D.
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions wil 05 Jul 2007, 11:12
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asaf
I think author is stating the second part as a matter of fact like
Sun sets in the west.

It has to be present-simple.

I like D.
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D would be okay if there was no ' in the 20th century' at the end of the century .

This is a tricky one but A seems the correct one for me.
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Why not A and D?

A - Since it has been a trend, using "Has generally followed" seems good
D - talking about something that happens in general, can't we say "generally follows Industrial development"?
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Aniketa
Why not A and D?

A - Since it has been a trend, using "Has generally followed" seems good
D - talking about something that happens in general, can't we say "generally follows Industrial development"?
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Hi Aniketa,


The reason for eliminating A is that we are referring to an event in the past past with the phrase “throughout the 20th century,” making the use of the present perfect tense incorrect.


Hope it helps.
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Indeed when a action starts in the past, and the effect continues we use present perfect.

20th century is Past and the phrase "throughout the 20th century" restricts the meaning.

Consider below sentences.

1. India became an independent country in 1947. Correct

2. India has become a independent country since 1947 . Correct

3. India has become a independent country in 1947. Wrong

Hope It helps !!!!!
(Note Point 2 uses "Since")
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions wil 01 Nov 2016, 03:12
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iamba
Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions will develop in China, as the growth of democracy has generally followed industrial development in other countries throughout the 20th century.
A) has generally followed industrial development
B) generally followed industrial development
C) had generally followed industrial development
D) generally follows industrial development
E) followed general industrial development
Show more

Responding to a pm:

Quote:

My question is, how do I know if the action is still continuing? Also how do I eliminate the possibility that we are not dealing with a statement made in the 20th century? I'm asking this because, a few folks on the foum did argue that this is 21st century, but the question talks about 20th century, so it should be in the past. But, how do we know that the sentence was not spoken in the 20th century? Could you please guide me with the logic here?
Show more

The use of "throughout the 20th century" shows that we need to use simple past. We are talking about some time span in the past. It is the 21st century now and even if we did not know this, the use of "throughout" shows that the 20th century is over now. So we are talking about the 20th century now when 20th century is over. Analysts have "recently" predicted this. They did not predict this is the 20th century.
Hence option (B) is correct.
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions wil 02 Mar 2017, 12:00
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mvictor
souvik101990
This question is part of the GMAT Club Sentence Correction : Verb Tense Revision Project.

Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions will develop in China, as the growth of democracy has generally followed industrial development in other countries throughout the 20th century.

A. has generally followed industrial development

B. generally followed industrial development

C. had generally followed industrial development

D. generally follows industrial development

E. followed general industrial development

cracked it in under a minute...
since we have "20 century" - something already happened/past, present perfect is incorrect here.
B - looks good.
C- past perfect - no! past perfect is needed when we have two events in the past, and one happened before the another. what is the other event that happened after "followed"?
D - follows - present simple is not correct here for an event that already happened.
E - followed general industrial development is not the same as generally followed industrial development. general seems to be an adjective which modifies industrial development while it needs to be an adverb...
Show more



You say in C: "o! past perfect is needed when we have two events in the past, and one happened before the another. what is the other event that happened after "followed"?"

But what about "recently predicted" ? They predicted (past) and the development in china was before that (namely during the 20th century)

Furthermore, souvik101990

could you (or anyone else) explain to me why we do not have to use has/have followed since the event in the past occurred not at a specific moment but throughout a whole century
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VeritasPrepKarishma
iamba
Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions will develop in China, as the growth of democracy has generally followed industrial development in other countries throughout the 20th century.
A) has generally followed industrial development
B) generally followed industrial development
C) had generally followed industrial development
D) generally follows industrial development
E) followed general industrial development

Responding to a pm:

Quote:

My question is, how do I know if the action is still continuing? Also how do I eliminate the possibility that we are not dealing with a statement made in the 20th century? I'm asking this because, a few folks on the foum did argue that this is 21st century, but the question talks about 20th century, so it should be in the past. But, how do we know that the sentence was not spoken in the 20th century? Could you please guide me with the logic here?

The use of "throughout the 20th century" shows that we need to use simple past. We are talking about some time span in the past. It is the 21st century now and even if we did not know this, the use of "throughout" shows that the 20th century is over now. So we are talking about the 20th century now when 20th century is over. Analysts have "recently" predicted this. They did not predict this is the 20th century.
Hence option (B) is correct.
Show more


I do not understand, why do we have to use simple past for a time span in the past ? https://www.differencebetween.net/langua ... have-been/
I thought we use have/has verb+ed for exactly that purpose ..?
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions wil 04 Mar 2017, 01:48
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VeritasPrepKarishma
iamba
Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions will develop in China, as the growth of democracy has generally followed industrial development in other countries throughout the 20th century.
A) has generally followed industrial development
B) generally followed industrial development
C) had generally followed industrial development
D) generally follows industrial development
E) followed general industrial development

Responding to a pm:

Quote:

My question is, how do I know if the action is still continuing? Also how do I eliminate the possibility that we are not dealing with a statement made in the 20th century? I'm asking this because, a few folks on the foum did argue that this is 21st century, but the question talks about 20th century, so it should be in the past. But, how do we know that the sentence was not spoken in the 20th century? Could you please guide me with the logic here?

The use of "throughout the 20th century" shows that we need to use simple past. We are talking about some time span in the past. It is the 21st century now and even if we did not know this, the use of "throughout" shows that the 20th century is over now. So we are talking about the 20th century now when 20th century is over. Analysts have "recently" predicted this. They did not predict this is the 20th century.
Hence option (B) is correct.


I do not understand, why do we have to use simple past for a time span in the past ? https://www.differencebetween.net/langua ... have-been/
I thought we use have/has verb+ed for exactly that purpose ..?
Show more

The action "following" started and completed in the past It is not intended to indicate that there is some effect of that action in the present, hence no present perfect is required- Moreover this action does not occur before another action in the past, hence past perfect is also not required. Simple past is alright.

Also please note that when an event continues for a span of time in the past, past continuous is required, not present perfect or past perfect as you mentioned.
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions will develop in China, as the growth of democracy has generally followed industrial development in other countries throughout the 20th century.
A) has generally followed industrial development <throughout the 20th century. >
the effect is not present now as we are in 21st century.
B) generally followed industrial development
precise. correct.
C) had generally followed industrial development
D) generally follows industrial development <throughout the 20th century. >
E) followed general industrial development
changes meaning.
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I do understand the explanations, however, I am a little surprised that we were asked to bring outside information into an SC question.

Yes, everyone should be aware of the century we live in, however, would the answer have been a different one if the question was posed in 1999?

Regards,
Chris
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Can you give thorough explanation for this sentence. Thanks.
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Hi,
It is still not clear why the past perfect tense is incorrect here. Isn't "predicted that democratic insti. ..." the action/verb in the past that occurs after the growth of democracy following industrial development? So the growth occurred first in the 20th century, and then we predicted.

Thank you for your help!
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions wil 05 Dec 2019, 02:09
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Hi,
It is still not clear why the past perfect tense is incorrect here. Isn't "predicted that democratic insti. ..." the action/verb in the past that occurs after the growth of democracy following industrial development? So the growth occurred first in the 20th century, and then we predicted.

Thank you for your help!
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Can some please explain why the usage of past perfect is wrong.(predicted and followed both are past)

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mahi816
Can some please explain why the usage of past perfect is wrong.(predicted and followed both are past)
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Hi! Believe you are referring to option C.

The sentence does not use predicted, but have predicted. That's present perfect.

For the latter part of the sentence, according to the intended meaning, following is the sequence of the events:
i) industrial development
ii) growth of democracy

So, even if a case is made for use of past perfect, it will be for the earlier of the two events: industrial development

In C however, past perfect (had followed) is used for growth of democracy. That is incorrect.

You can watch our video on Past Perfect Tense here.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Past perfect tense, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.
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Many analysts have recently predicted that democratic institutions will develop in China, as the growth of democracy has generally followed industrial development in other countries throughout the 20th century.

A) has generally followed industrial development -> As the activity continued, we got hint from "throughout the 20th century", this option is incorrect. "has followed" means, activity ended just now. It is not the intended meaning.

B) generally followed industrial development -> Simple past is better.

C) had generally followed industrial development -> Do we have two actions, to say, "had followed". It is incorrect.

D) generally follows industrial development -> We need past tense.

E) followed general industrial development -> Meaning changed.

So, I think B. :)
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