Should present metal prices continue their sharp rise, the value of th

Question

Should present metal prices continue their sharp rise,  the value of the copper in a penny will soon be greater than the face value of the coin.

(A) Should present metal prices continue their sharp rise,

(B) If present metal prices are continuing their sharp rise,

(C) If present metal prices continue to sharply rise,

(D) Continuation of sharply rising metal prices should mean that

(E) Metal prices’ sharp rise continuing should mean that

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

I am responding to a request from kinjiGC . First of all, let me say: this is NOT a high quality GMAT-like SC question!! If I were going to give this question a grade, I would give it a grade of a C . It's not the worst it could be, but it is far from stellar. Choices (D) & (E) are ridiculous incorrect: they are take-them-out-back-and-shoot-them wrong. Incorrect answer choices on the real GMAT are typically a little more tempting than these. Choice (B) is wrong, because the use of the present progressive is unjustified. This is a legitimate and GMAT-like incorrect answer choice. Choice (C) is considered incorrect purely because of the split infinitive. This is tricky. On the one hand, it appears that the GMAT disapproves of the split infinitive, as many sophisticated writers do, present writer included. On GMAT SC, split infinitives only appear in incorrect answer choices. I have never seen an official question with a split infinitive in the correct answer choice. On the other hand, the GMAT never uses a split infinitive as the sole deciding split that eliminates an answer choice. Wherever a split infinitive appears, there is always some other, more obvious grammatical mistake that eliminates the answer choice: the split infinitive itself is never the only deciding factor. Thus, choice (C) is a particularly un-GMAT-like wrong answer. This leaves us with the OA of (A) . Is (A) correct? Yes, 100% correct. This is a particularly sophisticated structure, a hyper-fancy way to state a conditional. I don't know that I have ever seen this sophisticated structure used on an official question, but it is common in very high quality writing. The use of " should " is a very fancy way to frame a conditional. Ordinary : If you get home before I do, light the stove . Fancy : Should you get home before I do, light the stove . Factual : If you a fan of opera, you will enjoy this novel . Hypothetical : Should you be a fan of opera, you would enjoy this novel . You will notice: the construction is not the factual "if-then" construction of a general rule. This construction, like many in the subjunctive, carries the connotation of something contrary to expectation. In the second statement, I am not at all sure that my addressee is a fan of opera, and I am speaking more hypothetically. Much in the same way, the speaker in the practice sentence above is not sure whether metal prices will continue their sharp rise: the speaker is speculating, speaking hypothetically about an unknown future. Once again, you will see this construction in sophisticated writing, but I do not remember a single question in which " should " is used this way. My guess is that this particular SC question was written by somebody particularly well-spoken who was more or less clueless about the standards the GMAT maintains. Obviously, this does not produce a high quality question. A high quality GMAT practice question can only be produced by someone who is well-spoken and who knows the standards of the GMAT intimately. Here is a high quality GMAT SC practice question: https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3273 Mike :-)

bigfernhead · Answer

I got suckered into C, even know I knew there was something iffy about the last part of sentence.

It's good to learn though that Should  can  replace If.

LiveStronger · Answer

a. Should present metal prices continue their sharp rise, 
 Correct usage - Answer 
b. If present metal prices are continuing their sharp rise, 
 'are continuing' is wrong usage 
c. If present metal prices continue to sharply rise, 
 to sharply rise - split infinitive - wrong 
d. Continuation of sharply rising metal prices should mean that 
e. Metal prices’ sharp rise continuing should mean that

srivicool · Answer

thanks for the explanations...

to make it clear, for GMAT Split Infinitive is wrong correct?

BlitzHN · Answer

A..

in B and C, doesnt the presence of the word 'present' alter the meaning? ideally, should have been if metal prices continue to rise,   ....

vaibhavtripathi · Answer

Do we not use "Should" for a "moral obligation" and not for a "likelihood of an event"? In addition, I remember reading somewhere that "VERB-ing" (gerund) should be avoided as much as possible.

That leaves us only with option C.

I think C it is.

gtr022001 · Answer

I fell for C too, but the guys mentioned "to sharply rise" is a split infinitive, frm what i recall in mgmat sc, that is a big no no... unless you can prove otherwise?

javykhan · Answer

i also picked C.. but then i went and studied split infinitve which is nothing but the to+verb (simple verb) form. Now the rule is that you never split the infinitive that is to+verb so to+modifier+verb is incorrect and to+verb+modifier is the always correct. 
After you apply this rule you eliminate C.

Nice discussion guys.. thank.. i learned something new today
Kudos!!

siddharthharsh · Answer

Exactly my thoughts. A sounds better and there was something off about C. I didn't knew that should can replace if. So chose C - makes me think should I be trusting familiarity/intuition/sound more than rules when down to two options?

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear javykhan and siddharthharsh , I'm happy to respond. :-)

I just want to make clear: the split infinitive is not a B/W issue. It's definitely very gray, with a spectrum of opinions. Grammatical liberals would say that the split infinitive in English is 100% correct. According to this view, it's never a problem. In fact, some of those folks are completely dismissive of this entire debate about it. Grammatical moderates would say that while the split infinitive usually should be avoided, putting an adverb between " to " and the verb is a way to highlight the importance of the verb. According to this view, in the phrase " to boldly go where no man has gone before ," the adverb " boldly " is proper. Most better newspapers and most modern writers hold this view, so don't be surprised to see split infinitives used this way in, say, the New York Times . Grammatical conservatives always disapprove of the split infinitive. According to this view, it's automatically 100% wrong all the time. This is my personal view (in terms of grammar, I am actually an arch-conservative, much more conservative than the GMAT, more conservative that just about anyone else alive!) The GMAT, on this position and on many others, is careful to take an extremely conservative position. On the one hand, a split infinitive never appears in the correct answer of a SC problem. On the other hand, they readily acknowledge that many intelligent people don't have a problem with this structure, so a split infinitive never could be the defining split that makes a choice wrong. Thus, the GMAT appropriate acknowledges its "gray" status in this way. On the larger question siddharthharsh asked, rules vs. familiarity & intuition, it's extremely important, especially if English is not your native language, to develop strong intuition for well-spoken English. Toward this end, I would commend the habit of reading. Only by reading sophisticated writing every day can you develop the intuition that will guide you in these choices. See: How to Improve Your GMAT Verbal Score Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

cledgard · Answer

In Wikipedia, you can find a nice discussion about the Split infinitive. There are many different opinions, and they come from very far in the past. After analyzing all the comments and examples, I have come to the conclusion that split infinitives cannot be ruled out.

Look at these sentences:

She decided to gradually get rid of the teddy bears she had collected.
" Gradually" splits the infinitive "to get". However, if the adverb were moved, where could it go?

She decided gradually to get rid of the teddy bears she had collected.
 This might imply that the decision was gradual.

She decided to get rid of the teddy bears she had collected gradually.
 This implies that the collecting process was gradual.

She decided to get gradually rid of the teddy bears she had collected.
 This sounds awkward, as it splits the phrase "get rid of".

She decided to get rid gradually of the teddy bears she had collected.
 This is almost as unwieldy as its immediate predecessor.

Gradually, she decided to get rid of the teddy bears she had collected.
 This might imply that her decision or the fact that she will get rid of her teddy bears is gradual.

So, I believe that split infinitives are correct, but that they should only be used to improve a sentence.
 To sharply rise  is not better than  to rise sharply ; by splitting the infinitive we get an awkward expression, and we do not improve the phrase.

GittinGud · Answer

I ruled out option A because it sounded like metal prices possess sharp rise. This is not logical at all.
A good example where possessive is used could be: 'Should the players continue their stellar performance, they will reach the finals'. In this case the players do possess the trait of stellar performance.

Experts please help. Thanks!

Timebomb · Answer

I agree. I was looking for a similar question in the thread. It looks like metal prices are themselves continuing the rise.

Posted from my mobile device

VerbalBot · Answer

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Should present metal prices continue their sharp rise, the value of th

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Should present metal prices continue their sharp rise, the value of th

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