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655-705 Level|   Subjunctive|      
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Hoozan
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The term Population Attributable Risk has been described as the reduct 19 Feb 2021, 23:08
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B
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55% (hard)

Question Stats:

52% (01:28) correct 48% (01:49) wrong based on 452 sessions

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The term Population Attributable Risk has been described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(A) has been described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(B) has been described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population were entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(C) has been described as the reduction in incidence that would have been observed if the population were entirely unexposed, compared to its current, actual exposure pattern

(D) can be described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(E) could be described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern
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Hoozan
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The term Population Attributable Risk has been described as the reduct 23 Feb 2021, 21:04
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jrk23
Anyone Please explain.... is it really a subjunctive question?

So when we use If... Then we need to be careful about the tenses. We know that when the Condition or the IF aspect is in simple past then the Outcome or the THEN aspect needs to be in simple past or needs a "would"

Now, "would" is conditional... Something that may happen (a hypothetical situation) and we know that when we talk about something hypothetical from a firt person singular context subjunctive is needed.

E.g. If I were the president, I would pass a new law.

So keeping this in mind, the above sentence is talking about a hypothetical situation of a singular entity "The population" and hence we will need a plural verb "were"

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The term Population Attributable Risk has been described as the reduct 19 Feb 2021, 23:32
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The trick is to catch SUBJUNCTIVE
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The term Population Attributable Risk has been described as the reduct 19 Feb 2021, 23:57
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shauryahanda
The trick is to catch SUBJUNCTIVE

True. But could you elaborate how subjunctive works out here? What word triggers subjunctive? and why?
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shauryahanda
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The term Population Attributable Risk has been described as the reduct 20 Feb 2021, 00:13
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Hoozan
shauryahanda
The trick is to catch SUBJUNCTIVE

True. But could you elaborate how subjunctive works out here? What word triggers subjunctive? and why?

Sure, So the way to guess when subjunctive is being applied is when you see the phrase - "IF...WERE.......".

Now it is easy to catch it when it comes in the beginning of the sentence but it may also come in the end of sentence.

Something that might help you further - I use to get confused that does every IF clause instigate SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Simple Answer - NO - ONLY "IF..WERE.."

So ans comes down to B and C
The difference is B uses Would Be
C uses WOULD have

Now Since i do not see any sense of using Future Participle -> I would GO with B
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The term Population Attributable Risk has been described as the reduct 23 Feb 2021, 14:52
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Anyone Please explain.... is it really a subjunctive question?
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The term Population Attributable Risk has been described as the reduct 24 Feb 2021, 18:27
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Hoozan
The term Population Attributable Risk has been described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(A) has been described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(B) has been described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population were entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(C) has been described as the reduction in incidence that would have been observed if the population were entirely unexposed, compared to its current, actual exposure pattern

(D) can be described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(E) could be described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

Is "would have been observed" a passive construction ?
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The term Population Attributable Risk has been described as the reduct 11 May 2023, 08:11
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Hoozan
The term Population Attributable Risk has been described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(A) has been described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(B) has been described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population were entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(C) has been described as the reduction in incidence that would have been observed if the population were entirely unexposed, compared to its current, actual exposure pattern

(D) can be described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

(E) could be described as the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population was entirely unexposed, compared with its current, actual exposure pattern

Looked at the subjunctive and got influenced. Did not observe the other differences/nuances in the options. Chose C since:
1. Missed out on the tense implication of 'would have been'- It is used when the intended meaning is that the event did not occur.
Eg- If the team had gone out for dinner, it would have dined at McD. (The event actually did not occur)
2. False split- Compared to and compared with are both correct. This is just a trap to confuse. https://gmatclub.com/forum/compared-to- ... l#p3209017
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