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Chethan92
Joined: 18 Jul 2018
Last visit: 21 Apr 2022
Posts: 899
Location: India
Concentration: Operations, General Management
Schools: IIMB EPGP'22 (M)
GMAT 1: 590 Q46 V25
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WE:Engineering (Energy)
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
45%
(medium)
Question Stats:
41% (00:43) correct
59%
(00:56)
wrong
based on 165
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
We didn’t need to work all hours on the presentation as the meeting was canceled at the last minute.
A. We didn’t need to work
B. We needn’t have worked
C. We don’t have to work
D. We mustn’t have worked
E. We don’t need to work
Source: How to pass the GMAT
A. We didn’t need to work
B. We needn’t have worked
C. We don’t have to work
D. We mustn’t have worked
E. We don’t need to work
Source: How to pass the GMAT
We didn’t need to work all hours on the presentation as the meeting was canceled at the last minute.
A. We didn’t need to work - Incorrect - We use "didn't need" to to say that something was not necessary under circumstances where it was not done - In this case the work has been been done.
B. We needn’t have worked - Correct - When we say that someone "needn't have" done something, it means that they did it, but it was not necessary. This conveys the meaning correctly
C. We don’t have to work - Incorrect - The latter half states that the meeting was cancelled so "we don't have to work" does not fit in as the tense is different - Incorrect Tense
D. We mustn’t have worked - Incorrect - This means that they must not have worked - Incorrect meaning
E. We don’t need to work - Incorrect - The latter half states that the meeting was cancelled so "we don't need to work" does not fit in as the tense is different - Incorrect Tense
A. We didn’t need to work - Incorrect - We use "didn't need" to to say that something was not necessary under circumstances where it was not done - In this case the work has been been done.
B. We needn’t have worked - Correct - When we say that someone "needn't have" done something, it means that they did it, but it was not necessary. This conveys the meaning correctly
C. We don’t have to work - Incorrect - The latter half states that the meeting was cancelled so "we don't have to work" does not fit in as the tense is different - Incorrect Tense
D. We mustn’t have worked - Incorrect - This means that they must not have worked - Incorrect meaning
E. We don’t need to work - Incorrect - The latter half states that the meeting was cancelled so "we don't need to work" does not fit in as the tense is different - Incorrect Tense
Why is D incorrect? I marked B but was confused between B and D.
GMAT Focus 1: 745 Q86 V90 DI85 
Posts: 3,004
TBT
"Must" can have more than one meaning when we are talking about the future, but when we are talking about the past, it is used only to indicate the belief that something did/did not happen. So in D, the author is saying "Apparently we did not work all hours on this, because the meeting was cancelled." This doesn't make sense, whereas it makes perfect sense to say that we didn't NEED to work so much, since the meeting did not occur.
Two other notes:
1) When we talk about the present, "must" works similarly: we are saying that something surely IS happening. When we talk about the future, it is different. It means that something is required ("You must not leave the building") or recommended ("You simply must see that new play!").
2) A real GMAT SC question will not be in first person, so we normally won't have someone reasoning about their own behavior. That's part of what creates the funny meaning in D, since surely the author already knows how long they did or did not work, and does not need to guess about it.
_________________
"Must" can have more than one meaning when we are talking about the future, but when we are talking about the past, it is used only to indicate the belief that something did/did not happen. So in D, the author is saying "Apparently we did not work all hours on this, because the meeting was cancelled." This doesn't make sense, whereas it makes perfect sense to say that we didn't NEED to work so much, since the meeting did not occur.
Two other notes:
1) When we talk about the present, "must" works similarly: we are saying that something surely IS happening. When we talk about the future, it is different. It means that something is required ("You must not leave the building") or recommended ("You simply must see that new play!").
2) A real GMAT SC question will not be in first person, so we normally won't have someone reasoning about their own behavior. That's part of what creates the funny meaning in D, since surely the author already knows how long they did or did not work, and does not need to guess about it.
_________________
Manhattan Prep Instructor from 2009-2025
PyjamaScientist
Admitted - Which School Forum Moderator
Joined: 25 Oct 2020
Last visit: 14 Jul 2026
Posts: 1,123
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DmitryFarber
DmitryFarber How do you qualify Option (A)? It seems to convey the intended meaning quite clearly and the grammar looks in place too.
_________________
GMAT Focus 1: 745 Q86 V90 DI85
Posts: 3,004
PyjamaScientist
That's funny--I was so narrowly focused on the question I was responding to that I didn't really take a good look at the full set of answers. Yeah, this is in no way a valid SC question. For one thing, "needn't" isn't really standard usage in the US. Second, you could make a strong case that A and B mean exactly the same thing. The author is probably trying to convey the difference between "this wasn't required" and "it turned out not to have been necessary," but the difference in wording here doesn't actually achieve that. Yet again, we are better off studying real OG questions!
_________________
That's funny--I was so narrowly focused on the question I was responding to that I didn't really take a good look at the full set of answers. Yeah, this is in no way a valid SC question. For one thing, "needn't" isn't really standard usage in the US. Second, you could make a strong case that A and B mean exactly the same thing. The author is probably trying to convey the difference between "this wasn't required" and "it turned out not to have been necessary," but the difference in wording here doesn't actually achieve that. Yet again, we are better off studying real OG questions!
_________________
Manhattan Prep Instructor from 2009-2025
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