Of all the vast tides of migration that have swept through history

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
Concepts tested here: Tenses + Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• The simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.
• The simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.
• "more A than B" is the correct, idiomatic comparison.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "is" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature. Further, Option A incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "more A as B"; remember, "more A than B" is the correct, idiomatic comparison.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "is" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature. Further, Option B incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "more A as B"; remember, "more A than B" is the correct, idiomatic comparison. Additionally, Option B uses the passive voice construction "it may be that none is", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "is" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature. Further, Option C uses the passive voice construction "it is none that is", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

D: This answer choice uses the passive voice construction "it is none that was", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the simple past tense verb "was" to refer to an action that concluded in the past. Further, Option E correctly uses the idiomatic construction "more A than B". Additionally, Option E is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Of all the vast tides of migration that have swept through history, maybe none is more concentrated as the wave that brought 12 million immigrants onto
American shores in little more than three decades.

(A) maybe none is more concentrated as
(B) it may be that none is more concentrated as
(C) perhaps it is none that is more concentrated
than
(D) maybe it is none that was more concentrated
than
(E) perhaps none was more concentrated than

Say option C is "perhaps it was none that was more concentrated than" - I believe tense wise it is correct. correct me if wrong

Guys my question is what's wrong with C,D(purely from IT prospective). as the explanation tells for sentences like 'It is clear that'...IT acts as a place holder . How different is the current construction.


Gurus can u please put some laws where IT acts as a placeholder and where IT acts like a pronoun.

No points for guessing ans. (OG12/Q4)

Your example "It is clear" is a perfectly logical (though I would be interested to see some examples from the OG where that construction is used). The issue with answers C & D has more to do with concision than pronouns. "it is none" and "none" have the same meaning (though you would argue that "it is none" is awkward). Since the meaning can be conveyed more concisely (and more clearly) with "none", you will eliminate the answer choices using "it is none".

KW

Thkx a lot for reply. Yes I do agree from concision point we can eliminate C,D.(Even I did the same).
But still i m not yet sure why for option C and D OG said IT does not have correct antecedent. My question is which are the cases where I should search for an antecedent of IT and which are the cases where i can ignore for checking pronoun issue.

lets draw an anlogy :

We want to say : Many answers were posted on the forums .................. not a single one was satisfactory

Putting it in Gmat form : Of all the answer posts that have swept through Gmatclub forum, .......................... ( What will we fill in the blank to complete the sentence in a logical way?) : lets check

B : ..............It may be that none is satisfactory

C : ..............It is none that is satisfactory

D : ..............It is none that was satisfactory

Does B / C / D at all makes sense ( keping aside Grammar rules / pronoun ambiguity / tense prob etc ) .........

Does it in any way appears / sounds better and can score over A n E

Guess NO = Thus B / C / D Elimination zone

Left with E n A : just a minor adjustment in tense ( Such as WAS in E ) will complete the logical flow

E : ..............None was satisfactory : WAS scores over IS
A : ..............None is satisfactory = Eliminated

Leading to E , my take

That is the explanation I would expect from the GMAT. For pronoun issues, the GMAT is surprisingly tolerant of pronoun ambiguity (having multiple possible antecedants but one most likely antecedant) but the GMAt doesn't like when no antecedant exists, like in this example. That is why I asked if you had OG examples where "it" was used as a placeholder. I'm not familiar with OG problems that used "it" without a recongizable antecedant.

When you see "it" in a sentence, you should check for the antecedant to see 1) if there is one 2) if it's logical 3) if it agrees in number. I woldn't worry about "it" as a placeholder.

KW

@Kyle,
I got one example where OG uses IT as placeholder.(Correct me if wrong) OG12#52 .

To Josephine Baker, Paris was her home long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, and she remained in France during the Second World War as a performer and an intelligence agent for the Resistance.

Also in the correct option D they are using IT as placeholder

D. Long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Josephine Baker made Paris her home

Now Kyle my question still remains unanswered is there any structure where I can rest in peace that IT will not have any antecedent.

Waiting for ur valuable inputs.

one event that occured in the past is being compared to all the events that have occured till now.
So the past event is denoted with a simple past . This past event (ie. one specific event that has occured in the past- that event that got 12 million immigrants) is compared to all the events until now( ie all the events in the past and all the events till now. so what tense is needed for an event has started in the past and is applicable even today? That is the reason why we denote all the other events in the present perfect!)

Consider a KUDOS if you find this post useful

Of all the vast tides of migration that have swept through history, maybe none is more concentrated as the wave that brought 12 million immigrants onto American shores in little more than three decades.
(A) maybe none is more concentrated as
(B) it may be that none is more concentrated as
(C) perhaps it is none that is more concentrated than
(D) maybe it is none that was more concentrated than
(E) perhaps none was more concentrated than

My answer was (C). Now I understand "it is none" is slightly wordy but what's wrong with the tense? The first part of the sentence has a present perfect tense, and describes all the tides from a distant past till the the present time. So by that logic shouldn't it convey the meaning that until now no wave is more concentrated than the wave ... Then why wouldn't (C) be the correct choice?

I think the answer is E

My logic- As the sentence is talking about a wave that happened in the past, so you have to use past tense to signify the change in tone.

See example maybe this helps:
Of all of Maroon5 performances, none was as memorable as the one performed at the Emmy's. ( Correct tense usage)
Of all the Maroon 5 performances none is as memorable as the one performed as the Emmy's ( Sounds weird, right ?)

Hope it helps!

Yeah, that "it is none" phrase should have been a major red flag for you. "It" doesn't have a clear referent and you won't see the GMAT use that phrasing in a correct answer.

I can see how you might be getting confused with the verb tense. The present perfect is used not to show that each wave is still "currently" sweeping, but rather the present perfect is used to show that waves of migration continue to "sweep" through history. The wave that is discussed in this question has come and gone, so we use the past tense to describe that wave.

KW

Kyle or E-GMAT or Mike or anyone,

Please clarify my question/concept.

Present tense is used to describe a fact that is current in the present or is used to describe a general habit/practice.

For example, if the sentence reads - "No other wave is more concentrated than the wave that brought 12 million immigrants to shore"

So there was a wave that brought 12 million immigrants and that wave completed its action. But till now no other wave is more more concentrated ( (a fact that is still current in the present) than the wave in the past (the one that brought 12 million immigrants)

I have major confusion in past tense/present tense concepts. So Please clarify my understanding. I will highly appreciate it.

That's the issue. The moment you say: No other wave is more concentrated, it does not mean there was a wave. It means: there is a wave, which is obviously incorrect, because the wave clearly does not exist any more; it started and finished in the past, and hence, the use of simple past is most suitable.

Yes, and the use of present perfect: Of all the vast tides of migration that have swept through history in the sentence is making it clear that till now no wave has even been more concentrated.

GMATNinja

Why the use of "is" is not correct in (c), since the fact is still true and hasn't changed?

The fact is true, but notice how "is" is used.

The sentence is about "all the vast tides of migration that have swept through history."

Since those tides "swept through history," those tides existed in the past, and no longer exist. So it does not make sense to say that "none" meaning "none of the tides," "that is more concentrated."

It should be "none that was more concentrated."

Hi Experts,

After reading all the explanations, I still do not agree with why in option (E) [perhaps none 'WAS' more concentrated than] the usage of past tense (was) is correct.

The verb WAS is denoted for all the tides of migration that HAVE swept through the history (till today). Therefore, usage of was is incorrect. It should be IS. Because all the migrations are still being compared. If these migrations had been only of the past, then it would have been okay to use WAS.

Please explain what I am missing here.

Thanks

Since all tides happened in the past (of course till today, but before the present time), the usage of present tense (is) would not be a great selection.