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Abhi077
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The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance 04 May 2020, 14:30
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

25% (medium)

Question Stats:

67% (01:16) correct 33% (01:19) wrong based on 263 sessions

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The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance strategists, have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.

A. have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.

B. has not been very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.

C. have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since he released his proposal on controversial trade reform.

D. was not very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal

E. has not been very forthcoming to its point of view since he released his proposal on controversial reform in trade

Source- GMATWhiz
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B
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Nowwk
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The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance 05 May 2020, 08:37
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A. have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal. -s-v agreement/ minister is singular -- incorrect

B. has not been very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal. -correct

C. have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since he released his proposal on controversial trade reform.-again s-v agreement---incorrect

D. was not very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.-cannot use was/improper tense here-- incorrect

E. has not been very forthcoming to its point of view since he released his proposal on controversial reform in trade. -s-v agreement is ok but using he is not clear antecedent/ using minister is clear---incorrect

Hence, OA = B
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The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance 05 May 2020, 08:52
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IMO D should be the correct answer.

The usage of "was" does not make the sentence incorrect.

"since" is used as "because".

Any views .
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The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance 05 May 2020, 09:17
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The tenses are not synchronized in option B. Isn't that make D the correct answer?

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The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance 05 May 2020, 09:34
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anjanaputra13
IMO D should be the correct answer.

The usage of "was" does not make the sentence incorrect.

"since" is used as "because".

Any views .
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In choice D, Use of simple past tense 'was' is incorrect. The use of “since” requires the use of the present perfect “has not been”.
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The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance 07 Feb 2021, 21:33
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Quote:
The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance strategists, have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.

A. have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.

B. has not been very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.

C. have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since he released his proposal on controversial trade reform.

D. was not very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal

E. has not been very forthcoming to its point of view since he released his proposal on controversial reform in trade

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KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Step 1: Understanding Intended Meaning


The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance strategists, have not been very forthcoming

SV pair does not agree in number.
The subject is a group noun “council” which is singular. It is separated from the verb “have not been” by the additive phrase “including….strategists”.
But the verb is plural and does not agree with the singular subject.
Correct version: has not been
about their point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.

NP pair does not agree in number
The plural “their” is incorrectly being used to refer to the singular noun “council.
Correct version: “its point of view
Intended meaning:

The minister released his trade reform proposal.
This proposal was controversial.
Since then, the minister’s council of advisors has not been very open about its point of view.
The council includes the minister’s trade and finance strategists.


Step 2: Eliminate choices with identified errors


Checking for five aspects

1. Golden rules

a. SV pair does not agree in number.

b. NP pair does not agree in number

2. Meaning : distorted

3. Lists

a. No error

4. Tenses

a. No error

5. Idioms

Eliminate

The following choice/s have one or more of the errors present in Choice A.

Choice C

A. have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.

Option A Feedback:
Incorrect and Eliminated in Step 2

B. has not been very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.


Option B Feedback:
Fitting in the original sentence

The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance strategists, has not been very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.

✓ Logical

✓ Clear,

✓ Same as the intended meaning

Correct Choice.

C. have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since he released his proposal on controversial trade reform.

Option C Feedback:
Incorrect and Eliminated in Step 2

D. was not very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal

Option D Feedback:
Fitting in the original sentence:

The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance strategists, was not very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.

Incorrect use of simple past tense.
The use of “since” mandates the use of the present perfect “has not been”. The use of “since” indicates that the council was not forthcoming when the proposal was released and it is still not forthcoming.
Incorrect Choice.

E. has not been very forthcoming to its point of view since he released his proposal on controversial reform in trade

Option E Feedback:
Fitting in the original sentence:

The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance strategists, has not been very forthcoming to its point of view since he released his proposal on controversial reform in trade.

“Forthcoming to” is not the correct idiomatic expression.
Per the intended meaning, the proposal caused a controversy.
However, here the meaning conveyed is the “reform” in trade is a controversial one.
Incorrect Choice
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The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance 09 Jan 2024, 10:49
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The minister’s council of advisors, including his trade and finance strategists, have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal.

Option Elimination -

A. have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal. - the subject is "council," which is singular, so we need a singular helping verb "has."

B. has not been very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal. - ok

C. have not been very forthcoming about their point of view since he released his proposal on controversial trade reform. - Same SV issue as in A.

D. was not very forthcoming about its point of view since the minister released his controversial trade reform proposal - since demands "present perfect." And the usage of since means that they were not forthcoming earlier and are not forthcoming now.

E. has not been very forthcoming to its point of view since he released his proposal on controversial reform in trade - "he" needs a noun to refer to but here we just have a positive (which acts as an adjective) and not a noun for he. "his" is a possessive pronoun so it can refer to the possessive "The minister’s".
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