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Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States

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rampuria
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Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 04 Dec 2018, 04:58
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Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were manufactured in China, a country that has the largest population in the world.


(A) Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were

(B) Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year had been

(C) Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year have been

(D) Last year eighty percent of notebook computers were sold in United States that have been

(E) Last year eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States had been
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B

Originally posted by rampuria on 05 Mar 2009, 08:36.
Last edited by Bunuel on 04 Dec 2018, 04:58, edited 1 time in total.
Edited the question.
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icandy
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Re: Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States [#permalink] New post   05 Mar 2009, 09:37
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rampuria wrote:
3. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were manufactured in China, a country that has the largest population in the world.

A. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year were

B. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year had been

C. Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States last year have been

D. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers were sold in United States that have been

E. Last year eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States had been

Please explain


Very subtle issue here in this Q. Initially I chose A but changed to B

Clearly D & E are out as they are not parallel or change the meaning

C is out as it uses present continuous, which is not needed

Between A & B, I initially chose A as we are looking at a past action of last year.

How ever, there are two actions last year, manufactured and sold.

The first action will use a past perfect and the second action will use simple past. Hence B.
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Re: Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States [#permalink] New post   05 Mar 2009, 10:27
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IMO B.

First action manufacture (past perfect) and then the second action sell (past tense).
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Re: Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States [#permalink] New post   30 Dec 2009, 10:47
B is the correct usage of past perfect tense. The computers were manufactured at a point in time in the past which was prior to the sale date, also in the past (last year). E is incorrect because Last year eighty percent of is incoherent with the rest of the sentence.
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Re: Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States [#permalink] New post   06 Jan 2011, 00:16
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In using only one verb tense, were, choice A fails to indicate that the computers were manufactured before sold. Choices C and D use the present perfect tense incorrectly, saying in effect that the computers have been manufactured after they were sold last year. Choice E suggests that the manufacturing of the notebook computers, rather than selling, occurred last year, thus making the sequence of events unclear. Only B uses verb tenses correctly to indicate that manufacturing of the computers was completed prior to the selling.

I find this explanation on https://www.gmatcat.com/yw/Chapter2_SC_02.htm

Hope this helps
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0102ng
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Re: Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States [#permalink] New post   18 Aug 2016, 21:48
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B.............Easy

Ain't the sequence of actions obvious? "manufactured" and "sold" - which one comes first?? Do we really need past perfect tense here?

X cooked the food and served it.

vs

X had cooked the food and served it.

I'd prefer former to latter as it is succinct and clearly expresses the meaning.
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Re: Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States [#permalink] New post   04 Dec 2018, 05:53
Here two actions are in past.
1. Manufacturing
2. Sell

According to rule of past perfect tense, if two action occurred in past then 1st past action is written in past perfect tense and subsequent action in simple past tense.
But if action sequence markers such as after, before and obvious sequence is mentioned, we can use simple past for both actions.

In context of this question we can't sell before manufacturing. So, A is better option than B.
Where I am wrong? Please tell me.
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Re: Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States [#permalink] New post   28 Oct 2021, 09:27
Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

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Re: Eighty percent of notebook computers that were sold in United States [#permalink]
28 Oct 2021, 09:27
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