Though the term "graphic design" may suggest laying out corporate

Question

Though the term "graphic design" may  suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging  work, from package designs and company logotypes to signs, book jackets, computer graphics, and film titles.

(A) suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging
(B) suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, it has come to signify a wide range of
(C) suggest corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has signified a widely ranging
(D) have suggested corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has signified a wide range of
(E) have suggested laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging

Thank you for your help!

Dear readers,
 Can somebody support me to understand why "has come to signify" is NOT "present perfect tense"?

In the explanation page of OG, it is said that "The present perfect tense is used inappropriately in Choice C(has signified), D(have suggested....has signified), and E(have suggested) to indicate recently completed rather than ongoing action".

However, I see "present perfect tense" in the right answer, Choice B(has come to signify), don't I ?

egmat · Accepted Answer

Hi there,

Though the term "graphic design" may  suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging work , from package designs and company logotypes to signs, book jackets, computer graphics, and film titles.

Notice the word "may" before "suggest" that fall in the non-underlined portion of the sentence. With "may", "can", "will", we can only use "plural" verb. Hence, even if "term" is singular, because of presence of "may" the verb followed by it must be a plural verb. Hence, option E can be eliminated right away on this basis as use of singular "has" is incorrect after "may".

Here is the detailed solution of this question:

https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Meaning-icon-final.png

Marker though suggests the sentence presents a contrast. “Graphic design” may be thought of as designing corporate brochures and annual reports. However, it encompasses a wide range of work including package design, company logotypes, signs, book jackets, computer graphics and film titles.

https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Grammar.png

• Pronoun error – plural “they” is a wrong referent for singular “term”.

POE:

Choice A:  suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging:  Incorrect  for the reason stated above.

Choice B:  suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, it has come to signify a wide range of:  Correct.

Choice C:  suggest corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has signified a widely ranging:  Incorrect .
a. Per the intended meaning, this term has come to signify or has evolved to signify all scopes of graphic design. 
i. Intended meaning – Although term was meant to do X, it has now evolved to do A,B,C
b. Meaning per choice C – Although term was meant to describe X, it does A,B,C.
c. For example:
i. Per Choice A - Although Mark Z originally created facebook to communicate with his friends, it has evolved as the preferred medium for people worldwide to share their viewpoints.
ii. Per Choice D - Although Mark Z may have created facebook to communicate with his friends, it is the preferred medium for people worldwide to share their viewpoints.
d. Meaning has been changed by changing “has come to do X” to “does X”. This removes the intended meaning of “evolution”.

Choice D:  have suggested corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has signified a wide range of:  Incorrect.  Similar meaning distortion error as in Choice C.

Choice E:  has suggested laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging:  Incorrect.  Use of singular "has" is incorrect after "may". Plural “they” is a wrong referent for singular “term”.

PS:  This question is in OG Verbal Review 2 and answer choice E reads "have suggested..." unlike the answer choice E written by the original poster that reads "has suggested...".

https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Takeaway.png

1. Pronouns must agree in number with their antecedents.
2. The correct answer should communicate the intended meaning.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Supercat · Answer

You are partly misunderstanding the OG explanation. "Has come to signify"  is  indeed present perfect tense, you're right about that, so I see your confusion. But this OG explanation is  not  saying that it's incorrect to use present perfect in the sentence. It's saying the particular usages in choices C, D, & E are incorrect.

Key here is that there is a big qualitative difference between the phrases "has come to signify" and merely "has signified". 

They both show a completed action. But in the first, the completed action is the "coming" (snicker). The act of  coming  is complete, with the result that the state of  signifying  now prevails.

If you say "Bob has come to my house", then Bob is still be at your house, even though the action of coming is completed, right? If you say "X has come to signify", then X still signifies.

But the present perfect verb "has signified" implies that the process of  signifying  is complete, and the subject no longer signifies what it once did. That is not appropriate for what this GMAT question is saying.

That is why C & D are wrong. D & E also are wrong in that the correct present tense  suggest  is inappropriately flipped to the present perfect "have suggested", which changes meaning.

Bottom line, (B)  accurately  uses present perfect.

saxenashobhit · Answer

I agree with B. "Graphic Design" is singular and so we need it has. wide ranging is correct.

I am not clear on use of suggest in all sentences. Isn't "suggest" a plural verb which is incorrect for "graphic design".

agdimple333 · Answer

i have the same Question, about 'suggest' - will someone who knows, explain it?

mejia401 · Answer

(A) suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging  "they" pronoun error; "widely ranging" is awkward and redundant

(B) suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, it has come to signify a wide range of  OK but a better sentence could exist

(C) suggest corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has signified a widely ranging -  brochure seems separate from layout, so there is a definite change of meaning; "widely ranging" is awkward and redundant

(D) have suggested corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has signified a wide range of  Verb tenses "have" and "has" signify that actions occurred in the past but effects are still present, changing the meaning of the sentence. It´s also not clear which action occurred first

(E) has suggested laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging  "they" is pronoun error; "widely ranging" is awkward and redundant

SrinathVangala · Answer

My answer is B..

They is plural so it cannot be used. A and E are out.

C,D refer to the layout..Laying out corporate brochers is different from Corporate brochure and report layout.They both have different meanings.Layout out refers to planning and construction.Brochure layout refers to the format of the brochure

USADream · Answer

Answer choice E is :  have suggested laying out corporate brochures and annual reports. they have come to signify
widely ranging  
 "Hang Tuah" needs to correct his post

anox · Answer

Though the term "graphic design" may  suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging  work, from package designs and company logotypes to signs, book jackets, computer graphics, and film titles.

Issues:  Verb form | Pronoun reference

Analysis: 
 1. The pronoun referring to the term should be singular. Hence "it" is the correct pronoun to use.
2. "widely ranging" is illogical in the context of this sentence.

(A)  suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports,  they  have come to signify  widely ranging 
 - See analysis

(B)  suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports,  it  has come to signify  a wide range of

(C)   suggest corporate brochure and annual report layout , it has signified a  widely ranging 
 - "A term may suggest    " does not appear correct (can someone help me confirm this one?). Idiomatically it should be "A term may suggest  ACTION "

(D)   have suggested corporate brochure and annual report layout , it  has signified  a wide range of
 - "A term may suggest    " does not appear correct (can someone help me confirm this one?). Idiomatically it should be "A term may suggest  ACTION "
- "has signified" is the incorrect form and distorts meaning.

(E)  have suggested laying out corporate brochures and annual reports,  they  have come to signify  widely ranging 
 - See analysis

Answer:  (B)

brightandamen · Answer

Though the term "graphic design" may suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging work, from package designs and company logotypes to signs, book jackets, computer graphics, and film titles.

(A) suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports,  they  have come to signify widely ranging
 (B) suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, it has come to signify a wide range of
 (C) suggest corporate brochure and annual report  layout , it has signified a widely ranging
(D)  have suggested  corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has signified a wide range of
(E)  have suggested  laying out corporate brochures and annual reports,  they  have come to signify widely ranging

proabhinav · Answer

Please can anyone advise why suggests is not being used with graphic design ?

EducationAisle · Answer

Because the sentence uses the construct   may  suggest .

may  suggests   is incorrect in all cases.

adityabhide7 · Answer

My only concern between B) and C) is the way layout has been used.
B says -
The term "graphic design" may suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports. 
This choice makes me feel that graphic design is suggesting the action of laying out instead of the noun phrase - brochure layout which feels more appropriate.

Isn't this a better usage - Though the term "graphic design" may suggest corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has come to signify a wide range of....

AjiteshArun · Answer

This is just a different meaning of  suggest .  Suggest  here means "to bring to mind".

Here  is a more accurate look at  suggest  (1b).

daagh · Answer

"The layout/laying out of a brochure or annual report" is a possessive phrase whereas brochure and annual reports layout is not a possessive phrase. If we want to say the second phrase in the possessive case, then it will be "brochures" or "annual reports'" layout or laying out; this is rather clumsy.

Mostly we use the "apostrophe" possessive when we refer to human beings while we refer the 'of' prepositional possessive to those other than humans. This is more of a custom rather than of any rule.

PriyamRathor · Answer

Hi  KarishmaB   AjiteshArun   EducationAisle

I have a couple of doubts in the above question.

1/ why have suggested is wrong ?
2/what part of speech   laying   is ? Is it a Gerund / modifier ?

Thanks.

AcetheGMAT123 · Answer

KarishmaB   GMATNinja 
 AndrewN

Can you please explain differences between B,C and D in this answer (explaining ALL wrong parts of each sentence)?

KarishmaB · Answer

Think about what the sentence wants to say:

The term 'graphic design' seems to suggest that it stands for one thing - 'laying out corporate brochures and annual reports'
But the term is used for a wide rage of activities - from package designs and company logotypes to signs, book jackets, computer graphics, and film titles

Dependent Clause - Though the term "graphic design" may  suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, 
Main Clause - It has come to signify a wide range of work ...

Though the term "graphic design" may  suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports,  
- We are talking about the singular 'term.' Since we are using modal verb 'may' we use base form 'suggest.'
('I suggest,' 'he suggests,' 'they suggest' BUT 'I may suggest,' 'he may suggest,' 'they may suggest')

Verb - may suggest
laying out C and A - Direct Object of the verb (answers the question 'may suggest what?')
Hence it acts as a noun i.e. gerund.

It has come to signify a wide range of work ...

- We are still talking about the singular 'term' so we must use 'it' not 'they'. Hence options (A) and (E) are incorrect. 
- 'has come to signify' means that this is what it means. It has evolved over time to include other activities too and that makes sense. The term may seem to refer to only 'laying out C and A' but it has evolved to refer to other activities too. 
- 'has signified' means that up to the recent past, it has signified all the activities mentioned. But that meaning isn't correct. There is no reason to believe that today it may not signify all those activities. We need to say that it has evolved to signify other things too and now it does signify those other things too. So signify should not use present perfect. Recall that present perfect of 'come' is 'come'. So the action of what the term means is complete but it still means those other things too. So present perfect 'has come' is fine but 'has signified' isn't correct.

Take a simpler example:
Thought the term lit may suggest glowing in appearance, it has come to signify a wide range of descriptors, from awesome to intoxicated.

(B) suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, it has come to signify a wide range of 
Correct.

(C) suggest corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has signified a widely ranging

The term does not suggest the 'layout of the brochure.' It suggests 'laying out the brochure' i.e. the action. Hence it is not ideal to say 'brochure layout.'
'has signified' is a problem as discussed above.

(D) have suggested corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has signified a wide range of

The term still seems to suggest one thing only. The point is that it means multiple things now. Hence the use of present perfect 'have suggested' is not correct. 
'has signified' is a problem as discussed above.

Answer (B)
 
 PriyamRathor   AcetheGMAT123

VerbalBot · Answer

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Though the term "graphic design" may suggest laying out corporate

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