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The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States

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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   07 Jun 2020, 10:26
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JonShukhrat wrote:
I would much appreciate if you could evaluate the line of reasoning below.

Let “the main of source of revenue for the federal government” be the film industry. Then, D would read as follows:

D. The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States until the First World War; before that time the film industry was dependent on tariffs.

The way D is written seems to imply that - not only did the film industry receive tariffs, it also received the personal income tax. So, both tariffs and the tax went into the film industry’s pocket. However nonsesne, I think I would write D to mean exactly this.

Many thanks for your thoughts beforehand!


I feel like I might not be understanding the question you're asking, but if I read the sentence "The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States until the First World War; before that time the film industry was dependent on tariffs," I would interpret that to mean "the film industry depended on tariffs before the War, and after the War it did not, because of the introduction of personal income tax." I'm not sure how personal income tax would have helped the film industry, so that sentence doesn't seem very meaningful to me, but grammatically it's fine, and in theory it could be logical (if the government channeled tax revenue to the industry, say).

I'm not sure if that answers your question though.
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 08 Jun 2020, 15:18
Dear GMATGuruNY VeritasPrepHailey IanStewart AjiteshArun MartyTargetTestPrep GMATNinja,

The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States until the First World War; before that time the federal government had depended on tariffs as its main source of revenue.

If I switched from past perfect to simple past, would it be correct?

I have this doubt since I see a split between past perfect and simple past among choices. Not sure if that split can be used to solve this problem.

Originally posted by kornn on 07 Jun 2020, 19:07.
Last edited by kornn on 08 Jun 2020, 15:18, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   08 Jun 2020, 08:04
IanStewart wrote:

I feel like I might not be understanding the question you're asking, but if I read the sentence "The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States until the First World War; before that time the film industry was dependent on tariffs," I would interpret that to mean "the film industry depended on tariffs before the War, and after the War it did not, because of the introduction of personal income tax." I'm not sure how personal income tax would have helped the film industry, so that sentence doesn't seem very meaningful to me, but grammatically it's fine, and in theory it could be logical (if the government channeled tax revenue to the industry, say).

I'm not sure if that answers your question though.



Dear IanStewart

I. I’m sorry for not articulating my question. Your answer definitely helped. However, I didn’t get the part I highlighted above. For example, if I say:

1. Before John became a painter, he studied music.
2. Before John became a painter, he HAD studied music.

Here, the first merely states which action started first, but doesn’t clarify whether John stopped studying music before becoming a painter. He may have very well continued to study music even after becoming a painter. i.e, he could do both since these actions are not mutually exclusive. The second, in contrast, tells that John STOPPED studying music before becoming a painter. Is my understanding correct? (Question 1)

II. Similarly, if I say:

1. The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States until the First World War; before that time the film industry WAS dependent on tariffs.
2. The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States until the First World War; before that time the film industry HAD been dependent on tariffs.

Isn’t the same true here (Question 2)? The first doesn’t clarify whether the film industry stopped being dependent. Such sentence can be written to merely tell that the industry was dependent on tariffs well before the tax enactment. Alternatively, it may mean that the tariffs and the tax gave the same amount of support so that the industry was dependent on both, and didn’t stop being dependent on tariffs anyway.
On the contrary the second tells that the industry STOPPED being dependent on tariffs.

III. Doesn’t the correct answer use the Past Perfect tense for the same reason – to convey that the government STOPPED depending on tariffs as its main source of revenue? (Question 3) Otherwise, the Simple Past tense could mean that the government didn’t stop depending, and probably there were two main sources that gave equal percents of the revenue.

I couldn’t resist the temptation to ask all the three questions. Thank you very much for your patience.
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   08 Jun 2020, 09:18
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I: yes, I'd read those sentences the same way - the past perfect indicates that the study of music stopped, while the simple past leaves the possibility open that it continued.

II: yes, I'd also interpret those sentences the same way. The sentence using the past perfect indicates that the film industry stopped depending on tariffs.

III: I agree with how you interpret the meaning of the correct answer, but I don't think it's true that the past perfect needs to be used in a correct answer to this question. It's often optional which past tense we use, and while past perfect more precisely conveys a specific meaning (that the dependence on tariffs stopped), there's no way for us to know exactly which meaning we want to find in the correct answer. The original sentence, answer A, does not convey a sensible meaning, so we're just looking for a well-written answer choice that makes logical sense. There's no way to decide whether the meaning we're looking for is "the government used to depend on tariffs and no longer does" or instead is "the government used to depend on tariffs, and perhaps still partly does" until we work out which answer choice is right.
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   08 Jun 2020, 12:18
IanStewart wrote:
There's no way to decide whether the meaning we're looking for is "the government used to depend on tariffs and no longer does" or instead is "the government used to depend on tariffs, and perhaps still partly does" until we work out which answer choice is right.


So, in order to consider the government “dependent” on a certain resource, that resource doesn’t necessarily have to be the biggest one – it can be just one of. I somehow missed this point in my previous post. Such an enlightening answer from you. I much appreciate your posts because I find in them what I strive for – thinking in the most precise manner and being able to articulate it. Dr Jordan Peterson talks about this ability a lot. Not sure whether my genes allow for such preciseness, yet it is still worth striving for.

Thank you very much once again!
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   29 Apr 2021, 11:12
I don't understand why meaning of B is correct.
"the federal government had depended on tariffs as its main source of revenue"

Why the government had depended on tariffs? Should it be revenue of the government depended on tariffs?

AndrewN could you please help ?
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   29 Apr 2021, 11:56
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Tanchat

That modifier at the end is important. How did the government depend on tariffs? It depended on them to provide its main source of revenue. It's like if I said "Humans rely on food as a source of fuel." Our fuel doesn't rely on food; we do! Food is the fuel. Similarly, the revenue doesn't rely on tariffs; the government does. Tariffs are the revenue.
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   07 Jun 2021, 15:38
OE:
Agreement; Logical predication
The First World War is designated as past tense in the opening clause of
this sentence. The relationship between that time and whatever
happened earlier can be most clearly indicated by using the past-perfect
tense for the earlier events. [T ]he federal government is a singular
subject of the second clause, so a singular pronoun, its rather than their,
must refer to it. The phrase was dependent on causes unnecessary
wordiness, as does the passive construction in E.
A. The plural pronoun their inappropriately refers to the singular noun
government.
B. Correct. The pronoun its agrees with the singular subject
government, and the past perfect, active verb had depended refers
clearly to government activity prior to the First World War.
C. This version of the sentence is wordy because of the inverted word
order that makes the subject of the second clause an object of the
preposition on.
D. This version of the sentence nonsensically makes source the subject
of the verb was [dependent on].
E. The plural possessive pronoun their does not agree with its singular
antecedent government. In fact, because of the placement of tariffs
immediately after the opening prepositional phrase, their seems at
first to refer to tariffs, which is illogical. The passive verb form were
depended on is wordy and indirect.
The correct answer is B.
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   14 Jun 2021, 11:09
anox wrote:
The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States until the First World War; before that time the federal government was dependent on tariffs to be their main source of revenue.

Issue: Structure | Verb tense

Analysis:
1. The sentence connects two independent clause using ";". For such structures, the second clause should be independent and follow from previous clause.
2. In the second clause the action "government was dependent on tariffs" occurs before action in first clause "personal income tax did not become permanent...". Hence, we can use "past prefect" form of the verb in second clause..

I have highlighted the errors below:

A. the federal government was dependent on tariffs to be their main source of revenue
- Incorrect verb form
- Pronoun ambiguity

B. the federal government had depended on tariffs as its main source of revenue

C. tariffs were what the federal government was dependent on to be its main source of revenue
- Incorrect verb form
- "were what" (not sure about this but this seems overly complex specially when a better option is present; Can someone explain if this is grammatically correct?)

D. the main source of revenue for the federal government was dependent on tariffs
- Changes the meaning. The sentence seems to indicate that the source was dependent.

E. for their main source of revenue, tariffs were depended on by the federal government
- If you read the whole clause with this option, "before that time for their main source..." has structure issue
- Changes the meaning. The sentence seems to indicate that the source was dependent.

Answer: B.


Hi Experts,
can someone please explain what is the issue with Option C
- Incorrect verb form
- "were what" (not sure about this but this seems overly complex specially when a better option is present; Can someone explain if this is grammatically correct?)
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   14 Jun 2021, 11:35
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r24350 wrote:
tariffs were what the federal government was dependent on to be its main source of revenue

Hi Experts,
can someone please explain what is the issue with Option C


I'm not sure C is grammatically wrong, technically speaking (though some of the shades of meaning are strange). But if you just imagine rewriting C to improve clarity, there are several opportunities:

"Tariffs were what the federal government was dependent on to be its main source of revenue"

--> Tariffs were what the federal government was dependent on as its main source of revenue

--> Tariffs were what the federal government depended on as its main source of revenue

--> The federal government depended on tariffs as its main source of revenue

Each successive rewrite improves the clarity and concision of the sentence. If I find one opportunity to similarly improve an official SC answer choice, I'll immediately suspect the answer is wrong. If I find two or more, I'll be essentially certain I'll find a better answer choice elsewhere. The critical issue with C is the use of a passive construction when an active one much more clearly conveys who depended on what.

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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   30 Jun 2021, 01:13
The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States until the First World War; before that time the federal government was dependent on tariffs to be their main source of revenue.


(A) the federal government was dependent on tariffs to be their main source of revenue ( Government is the subject and it is singular )

(B) the federal government had depended on tariffs as its main source of revenue : Correct use of had as here we have two events, 1st was before wold war, dependency on tariffs )

(C) tariffs were what the federal government was dependent on to be its main source of revenue : Awkward Construction

(D) the main source of revenue for the federal government was dependent on tariffs : Meaning change, It says Revenue was dependent on tariff where as government is dependent

(E) for their main source of revenue, tariffs were depended on by the federal government
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   06 Dec 2021, 11:32
MartyTargetTestPrep DmitryFarber

Between B and C,

B has a redundant past perfect and C is a bit wordy with passive construction.

So, Does Redundant past perfect always trump passive and wordy constructions?

How would you have made a decision between B and C?

(Personally, I have a hard time against questions such as these, in which options that break rules, like pronoun ambiguity or redundant past perfect, trump over correct but passive or wordy constructions. It is especially bad because these questions are usually marked as easy or medium, so getting them wrong has a relatively bigger penalty

Is there a generic approach for above situations?)
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   06 Dec 2021, 15:37
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DrWho wrote:
MartyTargetTestPrep DmitryFarber

Between B and C,

B has a redundant past perfect and C is a bit wordy with passive construction.

So, Does Redundant past perfect always trump passive and wordy constructions?

How would you have made a decision between B and C?

(Personally, I have a hard time against questions such as these, in which options that break rules, like pronoun ambiguity or redundant past perfect, trump over correct but passive or wordy constructions. It is especially bad because these questions are usually marked as easy or medium, so getting them wrong has a relatively bigger penalty

Is there a generic approach for above situations?)

The generic approach is to go with the best choice, which I realize isn't much of an approach.

However, I can add that some flawed structures are considered acceptable, and a sentence that uses the past perfect redundantly as the (B) version of this question does is considered acceptable though not ideal. So, if you see the past perfect used redundantly, the move is to look for other decision points.

In fact, looking for strong decision points is often a way of avoiding worrying about questionable decision points.

In this case, there is actually a strong reason for eliminating choice (C), which is that "tariffs were what the federal government was dependent on to be its main source of revenue," isn't just wordy and awkward. It doesn't effectively convey a logical meaning.

Notice that "dependent on" is not "depending on." We can say, "X was depending on Y to be Z," but it's not logical to say that "X was dependent on Y to be Z." "Dependent on" should be followed by a noun or something acting as a noun, as in "dependent on handouts," not by an action, such as "dependent on handouts to be available."

So, the (C) version is clearly illogical, and therefore we have to go with the less than ideal (B).
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   07 Dec 2021, 12:15
MartyTargetTestPrep

Oh, I see.

'It's not logical to say that "X was dependent on Y to be Z."'
-> Is it due to tense error or a general/idiomatic rule?

Is "X was dependent on Y to had been Z" correct?


MartyTargetTestPrep wrote:
DrWho wrote:
MartyTargetTestPrep DmitryFarber

Between B and C,

B has a redundant past perfect and C is a bit wordy with passive construction.

So, Does Redundant past perfect always trump passive and wordy constructions?

How would you have made a decision between B and C?

(Personally, I have a hard time against questions such as these, in which options that break rules, like pronoun ambiguity or redundant past perfect, trump over correct but passive or wordy constructions. It is especially bad because these questions are usually marked as easy or medium, so getting them wrong has a relatively bigger penalty

Is there a generic approach for above situations?)

The generic approach is to go with the best choice, which I realize isn't much of an approach.

However, I can add that some flawed structures are considered acceptable, and a sentence that uses the past perfect redundantly as the (B) version of this question does is considered acceptable though not ideal. So, if you see the past perfect used redundantly, the move is to look for other decision points.

In fact, looking for strong decision points is often a way of avoiding worrying about questionable decision points.

In this case, there is actually a strong reason for eliminating choice (C), which is that "tariffs were what the federal government was dependent on to be its main source of revenue," isn't just wordy and awkward. It doesn't effectively convey a logical meaning.

Notice that "dependent on" is not "depending on." We can say, "X was depending on Y to be Z," but it's not logical to say that "X was dependent on Y to be Z." "Dependent on" should be followed by a noun or something acting as a noun, as in "dependent on handouts," not by an action, such as "dependent on handouts to be available."

So, the (C) version is clearly illogical, and therefore we have to go with the less than ideal (B).
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   07 Dec 2021, 14:54
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DrWho wrote:
MartyTargetTestPrep

Oh, I see.

'It's not logical to say that "X was dependent on Y to be Z."'
-> Is it due to tense error or a general/idiomatic rule?

Is "X was dependent on Y to had been Z" correct?

That version is not really correct either.

It's a logic/idiomatic construction issue.

"Dependent on" should be followed by a noun or noun phrase, not by an event.

Here's a list of examples. https://ludwig.guru/s/dependent+on
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   24 Feb 2022, 12:55
What is the difference between options A and D?
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   25 Feb 2022, 00:16
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Mridu123 wrote:
What is the difference between options A and D?

I am assuming you want to ask what is wrong with A and D.

A can be eliminated for the reason that the plural pronoun "their" cannot refer to the singular antecedent (noun) "the federal government".

D completely changes the meaning, since it conveys that "the main source of revenue" (and not "the federal government" itself) was dependent on tariffs.
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   25 Feb 2022, 16:26
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Mridu123 wrote:
What is the difference between options A and D?

The first thing that jumps out is that the subject is different: in (A), the federal government was dependent on tariffs, but in (D), the main source of revenue was dependent on tariffs.

The latter doesn't really make sense. It's not the main source of revenue itself that depended on tariffs. Instead, the government depended on the tariffs as its main source of revenue.

In (D), it sounds like the tariffs and the main source of revenue are two distinct things (where the latter depended on the former). But that's not quite right. The tariffs themselves were the main source of revenue, and that's why "as its main source of revenue" makes sense in choice (B).

But the pronoun "their" in (A) allows us to eliminate it right off the bat -- we need "its" to refer to the singular subject, "the federal government". Also, the past perfect (had depended) makes more sense than the simple past (was dependent) since we are talking about an action that took place before a specific moment in the past.

So (B) is our winner.
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   25 Feb 2022, 22:49
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Mridu123 wrote:
What is the difference between options A and D?

Hope my 2 cents might make a small difference to you're better understanding ,

In option A the subject is the fedral government therefore the usage of 'their' is prohibited you might ask why ???
and in addition how is its usage correct right ????

These are constant areas where Gmat makes the subject of the sentence hidden well inside the abyss however in the above sentence it's plain and given as singular noun therefore its prefered

Making us eleminate A, E

For the case of D the sentence itself doesn't make much sense

Now down to B and C , let us take the case C let us leave of the case of akwardness and redudancy and focus on the verb tense instead since the action of tax tariff has been implemented and completed in the past shouldn't usage of past partici0ple more justifiable ,yes exactly what B does

THerefore IMO B
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink] New post   27 Feb 2022, 06:28
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Mridu123 wrote:
What is the difference between options A and D?


Hello Mridu123,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option D commits a blatant meaning-related error through the construction "the main source of revenue...was dependant on tariffs"; the construction of this clause implies that the government's main source of revenue existed independently of tariffs but was dependent on them; the intended meaning is that the federal government dependent on tariffs to be its main source of revenue.

Of course, Option A is also blatant incorrect because it uses "their" to refer to "the federal government", a singular noun.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Re: The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States [#permalink]
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