With government funding for the arts dwindling, even major orchestras

Let me try

" event started in past but still continues in present " so , the usage of perfect tense is ideal.

whenever in doubt in terms of usage of tense in sentence , just observe and follow what is the tense usage in the non underlined part of the sentence .. trust me it reallly helps

Context is key here. The latter part of the sentence sells us that the major orchestras are already experiencing or have already been experiencing the effects of decreases in government funding. So, we can eliminate A, B, and E.

C or E seem to be decent. Let's read the sentences with them:

With government funding for the arts dwindling, even major orchestras have felt the pressure of trying to meet their payroll and travel costs over the past several years.

With government funding for the arts dwindling, even major orchestras are feeling the pressure of trying to meet their payroll and travel costs over the past several years.

This could be tricky. You could be tempted into trying to match "are feeling" to "dwindling", while clearly "have felt" is the correct answer because it references the past several years.

Answer = C

ans C.... it talks of a period which is ongoing... have felt is correct

Hi,
A. would feel. Would is used to report events that have already passed.
B. will feel. We cannot use 'will' as it is not a future event. Its happening for past several years as per the original sentence.
C. Have felt. Present perfect correctly used to signify the pressure that the orchestra are feeling over the past several years.
D. Feel. Simple present cannot be used as its not a regular activity.
E. are feeling. Since it been going on for several years, we need to use present perfect.

Thanks!

Hi Souvik, the explanantion is well taken, however consider a similar statement (self made):
With the inaction of the governments over past several years, the citizens are bearing the brunt of global warming.
Question: Is"are bearing" i.e. presently suffering wrong here?
I an kind of unable to understand, y is E wrong (although i undstand y C is right)..i mean the pressure is still being felt...so people are feeling...

Hope to get an answer soon, I am not too much of a grammar person, try to identify error based on logic.

Thanx

Hi saurabhsavant ,

Here is the flaw. "Are bearing" means action started now and is in continuous form.

Other examples: I am eating. We are playing. The girls are dancing. Did you see the difference?

"have beared" means it started in the past and have its effect at present as well.

As per the meaning of the sentence, we are told that it started for the past couple of years. Hence, we need to make sure that it started in the past.

Hence, using "are bearing" is completely wrong here.

Let me know in case of any concern.

With government funding for the arts dwindling, even major orchestras would feel the pressure of trying to meet their payroll and travel costs over the past several years.

pay attention to "over the past several years"

(A) would feel
conditional would is wrong
(B) will feel
use of future tense with "over the past several years" is wrong
(C) have felt
Correct
(D) feel
use of present tense with "over the past several years" is wrong
(E) are feeling
use of present tense with "over the past several years" is wrong

With government funding for the arts dwindling, even major orchestras would feel the pressure of trying to meet their payroll and travel costs over the past several years.

(A) would feel - Would is used to show possibility or future tense w.r.t. an event of the past
(B) will feel - We don't need future tense
(C) have felt - Correct.
(D) feel - We don't need present tense
(E) are feeling - We don't need present continuous

Official Solution (Credit: Manhattan Prep)

The sentence makes clear that the timeframe in question is "the past several years." Since the action began in the past but continues to the present, the appropriate tense is the present perfect (for example, "have walked", "have eaten", etc.)

(A) This choice incorrectly uses the conditional tense "would feel," which is inappropriate here to indicate an actual occurrence.

(B) This choice incorrectly uses the future tense "will feel," which is inconsistent with the past and present nature of the event.

(C) CORRECT. The present perfect "have felt" correctly indicates that that the orchestras began to feel the pressure in the past and continue to feel the pressure in the present.

(D) This choice incorrectly uses the simple present tense "feel," which does not indicate that the action began in the past and continues to the present.

(E) This choice incorrectly uses the present tense "are feeling," which does not address the past nature of the sentence.

"Over past several Years " - an action that start in past and still continues.
Only option C has both past and present tenses , hence answer option C.

One of the key strategies for sentence correction is to read the argument completely , sometimes in a rush one just ends ups reading a couple of words before and after the underlined sentence and may miss the essence of the argument , this is a classic example of this point. Even though sometimes question stem is long - ensure to give it a complete read.

Kudos if you agree / comment if you dont.

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