Since it defines the customer experience, the mobile phone OS is of st

Question

Since it defines the customer experience, the mobile phone OS is of strategic importance to engineers at Nokia, who assume that  if they did not control it, they will not be able to differentiate themselves.

A. if they did not control it, they will not be able to differentiate themselves

B. without controlling it, they would not be able to differentiate themselves

C .they will not be able to differentiate themselves if they did not control it

D. without controlling it, they could not be able to differentiate themselves

E. to be able to differentiate themselves would not be possible, had they not control it

naveenban · Accepted Answer

Since it defines the customer experience, the mobile phone OS is of strategic importance to engineers at Nokia, who assume that if they did not control it, they will not be able to differentiate themselves.

A. if they did not control it, they will not be able to differentiate themselves - Did not is for the Past Tense and Past If cannot have a Future then Part, hence we'll eliminate this option.

B. without controlling it, they would not be able to differentiate themselves - Use of would to represent possibility of a scenario. We will keep this choice.

C .they will not be able to differentiate themselves if they did not control it - Same as A

D. without controlling it, they could not be able to differentiate themselves - Could Refers to an ability someone possessed in the past and no longer has that ability. So we will eliminate this choice.

E. to be able to differentiate themselves would not be possible, had they not control it - Past Perfect had they not control it is not required, as we aren't comparing 2 actions completed in the past.

B is the answer as it's the best solution.

warrior1991 · Answer

Eliminate to avoid redundancy.

We will use  would   here . We are talking about future scenario. 
The intended meaning is:- if we do not control now, we will not be able to differentiate ourselves.
Therefore would is correct.Future but in past.
 Could  is used for past

Past perfect not required at all. Eliminate. Also  had they not control it  is wrong construct

IMO B

sukriti16 · Answer

Please provide an explanation to this question.
Thanks

Posted from my mobile device

icanhazmba · Answer

Although B is the best choice, it still sounds clunky. I believe "would" needs to be replaced with "will" in the sentence to make it flow better.

Posted from my mobile device

sukriti16 · Answer

Yes exactly! That's why I eliminated this choice.

Posted from my mobile device

monk123 · Answer

Since it defines the customer experience, the mobile phone OS is of strategic importance to engineers at Nokia, who assume that if they did not control it, they will not be able to differentiate themselves.
 
POE:
TENSE - 'defines', 'is' in the sentence shows us that present tense should be used.
Eliminate (A), (C) & (E).
Down to two. 'would' vs 'could'. Could refer to the possibility of happening or not happening both. 'Engineers can be or can not be'.
While 'would' refer to the certainty that they will not be able to differentiate themselves.
Eliminate (D)

A. if they  did  not control it, they will not be able to differentiate themselves

B. without controlling it, they would not be able to differentiate themselves -   CORRECT

C .they  will  not be able to differentiate themselves if they did not control it

D. without controlling it, they  could  not be able to differentiate themselves

E. to be able to differentiate themselves would not be possible,  had  they not control it

PoojanB · Answer

Let's quickly eliminate the one which are having definite errors.
word assume in non-underlined part take care of IF. so  A & C can be eliminated on the basis of redundancy. 
 E- unnecessary introduction of Past perfect tense.

Between B & D there is subtle intended meaning difference.
  B- uses would showing future possibility and hence perfectly fits the meaning of the author.
engineers are focusing on OS cause it will differentiate them(their company to be specific) in the market.-a possibility

D- uses could which shows the ability of engineers at nokia.
 which is not the intent of author.OS does not give something to differentiate engineers in the market.it shows a possibility- a chance.Hence use of 'could' is wrong.

B is winner

amitahlawat06 · Answer

Would doe not mean future possibility, it means something was suppose to happen(past of will)
Incorrect logic, rather opposite

amitahlawat06 · Answer

In the correct answer choice, would is used because the situation mentioned is imaginary.
next question is why we think its an imaginay situation?
ans : word "assume" triggers imaginary situation

vichitravir · Answer

Second conditional 
if+simple past+would + verb base form

correct(B)

S1905 · Answer

GMATNinja   generis  
Can you please help with this question? 
Shouldn't we use the first conditional here?
IF/UNLESS simple present, THEN simple future

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Swati1905 ,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe we can help resolve your doubt.

The "if...then" construction would be appropriate here, but the answer choices that utilize it (A and C) both use "will" rather than "would" to refer to a hypothetical situation -- the engineers not being able to distinguish themselves; please remember, "would" is used for referring to hypothetical future actions, and "will" is used for referring to future actions that are sure to happen. Thus, B is a superior choice to both A and C.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

SriTamDas · Answer

Good Question. Even the correct answer sounds awkward to the ear but it's logically and grammatically correct. 
The question is testing  If's conditional usage.

1. If + Present Tense, will/should.
2. If + were, would/could/might.
3. were +(without if), would/could/might.  These 3 are tested mostly. 
4. If + Simple Past, would/could/might.
5. If + Had, would have/ might have/ could have
6. Had + (without if), would have/ might have/ could have

Now coming to options,
 A. If + Did not(simple past, "will" won't work here. Refer to Rule 4 above.

B. CORRECT. without controlling(simple present), would is perfect with simple present. Rule no. 1 above. 
  
 C. Similar to option A, If + Did not(simple past, "will" won't work here
 
 D. without controlling(simple present), Could won't work here. It should be would, being realistic about the future.
 
 E. The conditional rule works but there's no need for Past Perfect as we are NOT discussing 2 past actions.

Thanks.

anshgupta · Answer

Hi Experts,
I understand that both the choices A and C are incorrect since if the 'if clause' is in simple past, then the 'then clause' cannot be in simple future. But can you please explain what is the different between choices A and C?

anish777 · Answer

A and C uses the IF-Then structure, therefore they should use "would" in place of will. D changes the meaning of the original stem unnecessarily. E uses past perfect, but they should be using future perfect conditional tense in that case. We are left with B. Is my analysis correct ?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  anish777 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, your reasoning here is correct.

Kudos.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Since it defines the customer experience, the mobile phone OS is of st

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Since it defines the customer experience, the mobile phone OS is of st

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards