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The employees viewed the work-sharing plan with hostility, having fear 21 Aug 2019, 04:55
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15% (low)

Question Stats:

74% (00:47) correct 26% (01:02) wrong based on 199 sessions

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The employees viewed the work-sharing plan with hostility, having feared that it will undermine the seniority system and negatively affect their retirement benefits.

(A) having feared that it will undermine

(B) fearing that it would undermine

(C) having the fear that it would undermine

(D) feared that it would undermine

(E) fearing that it will undermine
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The employees viewed the work-sharing plan with hostility, having fear 21 Aug 2019, 05:41
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Bunuel
The employees viewed the work-sharing plan with hostility, having feared that it will undermine the seniority system and negatively affect their retirement benefits.
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(A) having feared that it will undermine

No reason to say "having feared" instead of the simpler "fearing.."

(B) fearing that it would undermine

Correct

(C) having the fear that it would undermine

"Having the fear" is a gerund and doesn't fit in the structure
+
Very awkward/Un-GMAT phrasing

(D) feared that it would undermine

Fragmented sentence

(E) fearing that it will undermine

Wrong verb tense


(B) vs (E)
Would vs Will


The modifier is modifying a clause in the past, so the verb should maintain the same verb tense.

Quote:
The employees viewed the work-sharing plan with hostility, fearing that it would/will undermine the seniority system and negatively affect their retirement benefits.
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The employees viewed the work-sharing plan with hostility, having fear 30 Nov 2021, 13:38
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Hi egmat GMATNinja

Can you help explain why "would" is correct instead of "will" here? I thought "would" can only be used for hypotheticals or conditionals. Why is the verb tense "will" wrong here? Isn't it logical to say that the workers feared, at the time in the past when they "viewed the business plan", that the plan WILL in the future negatively impact them?
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The employees viewed the work-sharing plan with hostility, having fear 30 Nov 2021, 19:52
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jlo1234
We could certainly make the case that this is a hypothetical, since the plan may not have been enacted yet. However, there's a simpler explanation this time: "would" is also the past tense of "will." So if at the moment I fear that something WILL happen, when I talk about it later I will say "I feared that it WOULD happen."
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The employees viewed the work-sharing plan with hostility, having fear 30 Nov 2021, 19:58
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jlo1234
We could certainly make the case that this is a hypothetical, since the plan may not have been enacted yet. However, there's a simpler explanation this time: "would" is also the past tense of "will." So if at the moment I fear that something WILL happen, when I talk about it later I will say "I feared that it WOULD happen."
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Ahhhh that makes sense, thanks so much!

So DmitryFarber just to clarify again, "would" has 2 uses on the GMAT: 1) for hypothetical conditions, and 2) as a past tense of "will". Are there any other uses for "would"?
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The employees viewed the work-sharing plan with hostility, having fear 30 Nov 2021, 20:04
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Well, if you look it up in a dictionary, you'll see quite a few variations, but those are the main ones.
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The employees viewed the work-sharing plan with hostility, having fear 01 Dec 2021, 07:48
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jlo1234
Hi egmat GMATNinja

Can you help explain why "would" is correct instead of "will" here? I thought "would" can only be used for hypotheticals or conditionals. Why is the verb tense "will" wrong here? Isn't it logical to say that the workers feared, at the time in the past when they "viewed the business plan", that the plan WILL in the future negatively impact them?
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Hello jlo1234,

We hope this finds you well.

Another thing to keep in mind here is that the use of "would" to refer to hypotheticals and "will" to refer to certain actions is more of a preference rather than an absolute rule.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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The employees viewed the work-sharing plan with hostility, having fear 11 Jul 2023, 01:41
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