abhishekmayank wrote:
ExpertsGlobal5 wrote:
abhishekmayank wrote:
E) A newly developed type of manufacturing called 3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, involves futuristic printing machines that can replicate 3-D images and that will lower manufacturing costs considerably by expanding where products can be made and who can make them.
Indeed the OA is less than satisfactory. If it is already developed printing m/c then why will it involve "futuristic" printing m/c?
Hello
abhishekmayank,
We hope this finds you well.
To provide a bit of clarity, something (typically technology) that exists in the present can be described as "futuristic" if it is considered sufficiently advanced in comparison with other things of its type - in this case, printing machines; this is a minor metaphorical convention that is perfectly acceptable on the GMAT.
We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
Hi
ExpertsGlobal5 :
Thanks for your insight. When the futuristic printing m/c is presented in future tense as in option E :
"futuristic printing machines that can replicate 3-D images and that WILL lower manufacturing costs" - it accentuates the idea that we are talking about upcoming m/c having upcoming fallout. The option E creates ambiguity at best whether "futuristic" implies advanced or the upcoming m/c. The ambiguity, which GMAT abhors.
Hello
abhishekmayank,
We hope this finds you well.
To provide a bit more clarity, describing something as "futuristic" does NOT imply that it is "upcoming", only that it is advanced; depending on the verb tenses, the quality of being "futuristic" can take place in the past, present, or future.
For example: "Next year's flagship phones will be very futuristic."
"The company's first smartphone was very futuristic when it first came out."
This sentence quite clearly conveys three things about the printing machines - they are currently futuristic; they currently have the ability to replicate 3-D images, and they will lower manufacturing costs considerably.
"futuristic" is a quality that the machines currently have, and lowering manufacturing costs is an action they will take in the future.
We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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