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29 Sep 2021, 00:03
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A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
5%
(low)
Question Stats:
82% (00:58) correct
18%
(01:22)
wrong
based on 183
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
The three volumes of the author's biography begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate with his years at Stanford University, one of the best universities in the United States.
A) begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate
B) that begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate
C) beginning with his childhood in a small village and culminating
D) have begun with his childhood in a small village and have culminated
E) are begun when he was a child in a small village and culminate
29 Sep 2021, 00:06
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
THE PROMPT
→ verb tense
→ missing verbs
THE OPTIONS
• correct verb tense: we use simple present to talk about things that are true.
• the sentence is not a fragment. The main subject, volumes, is paired with the main verb begin.
We have a full clause (an independent sentence that can stand on its own.)
KEEP A
→ The subject of the sentence is volumes. That subject is not paired with a working verb.
→ When you see a relative pronoun (that, who, which) and relative clause (a that-, who-, or which-clause), start looking for working verbs.
You need at least one verb each for the main subject and for the relative pronoun.
The relative pronoun that is itself a subject that requires a verb and thus that itself "eats up" a verb (or two).
In this sentence, the word that "eats up" the verbs begin and culminate. Those two verbs are paired with the subject that.
So which verb is paired with the main subject, volumes? There is none.
We can remove the that-clause just for a moment to see whether the subject volumes is indeed lacking a verb, this way:
The three volumes of the author's biographythat begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate with his years at [top-rated] Stanford University. [DO WHAT? THE VOLUMES DO WHAT?]
The absence of a working verb for the main subject is fatal.
ELIMINATE B
→ The main subject, volumes, is not paired with a working verb.
• Verbals are not verbs. The words beginning and culminating are not verbs.
They are called verbals. In this case the ___ING words are present participles that act as adjectives—they describe the volumes with adjectives.
Those two words do not give the subject volumes, its own verb.
ELIMINATE C
→ We need simple present tense, not present perfect tense, to talk about the biography volumes whose facts are still true.
→ When we talk about general facts (or scientific truths), we use simple present tense.*
(We use present tense for various situations, including to express habits, general truths, repeated actions, or unchanging situations.)
→ The verbs have begun and have culminated, by contrast, are in "present perfect" verb tense, formed by HAS/HAVE + past participle.
→ present perfect is used to "bridge the past and present."
-- Present perfect is used to describe events that started in the past and that continue into the present, not for describing general truths.
→ For a very good overview of present perfect with examples, please see this excellent resource here.
The usage of present perfect in this sentence is unwarranted and weird.
ELIMINATE D
→ The volumes "are begun" when the person was a child? That sentence makes little sense.
To make sense, we should say that the volumes were begun when the person was a child.
In the previous case, the time periods are lined up.
• passive voice is not ideal
→ Are begun is present tense (passive voice).
If the volumes are begun, they "are begun" by someone. We need an agent.
It's perfectly fine to use passive voice in order to leave the agent out of it, except when we get to a point, such as the one here, at which the volumes are not begun by themselves.
→ "are begun" is unnecessarily in the passive voice, as if the volumes are being acted upon (and if so, by whom?).
• Passive voice is not as effective as "begin" in option A.
Comparing this option to option A leaves no question. Option A is much better.
ELIMINATE E
The answer is A.
COMMENTS
I see some good—if quick—analysis here.
This question is a little slippery. You all handled it well.
** Note about present tense for truths from the past!
We use present tense to talk about truths "from" the past, as long as they are still true.
In fact, present tense for something that happened a long time ago, as long as whatever happened in the past is still true.
That is, if something is true or still true, we use present tense to describe it.
This sentence is correct, despite its two different verb tenses: In 1905, Albert Einstein postulated that the speed of light is constant.
In that sentence, the tenses are "mixed." One verb is in past tense whereas another is in present tense.
The "always true" or "still true" part stays in the present.
* PRESENT PERFECT CONSTRUCTION
Present perfect, active: HAS/HAVE + past participle
-- People who have discarded personal music players as trash often do not realize that the gadgets can be recycled.
Present perfect, passive: HAS/HAVE + BEEN + past participle (verbED)
-- [. . . players, that have been discarded as trash]
**We cannot use present perfect
when the past time is specific and finished.
Specific and finished? Examples: last year/month/week • yesterday, this morning • when he was younger • in [date], in 2013)
Incorrect: I have talked to him on the phone last week.
Correct: I talked to him on the phone last week.
Incorrect: The envelopes have been addressed in July.
Correct: The envelopes were addressed in July.
Correct, time unspecified and NOT finished: The leader has been lying for years.
-- Is the leader still the leader and are we talking about the present?
-- Did he suddenly stop lying? No?
Then this way is incorrect: The leader lied for years.
HERE and HERE are overviews of present perfect.
Do not worry too much about this issue. The area is murky. GMAC will almost always give you another reason to reject the choice if the present perfect is incorrect.
Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)
THE PROMPT
Quote:
• ISSUES
→ verb tense
→ missing verbs
THE OPTIONS
Quote:
• I do not see any errors
• correct verb tense: we use simple present to talk about things that are true.
• the sentence is not a fragment. The main subject, volumes, is paired with the main verb begin.
We have a full clause (an independent sentence that can stand on its own.)
KEEP A
Quote:
• No working verb = sentence fragment
→ The subject of the sentence is volumes. That subject is not paired with a working verb.
→ When you see a relative pronoun (that, who, which) and relative clause (a that-, who-, or which-clause), start looking for working verbs.
You need at least one verb each for the main subject and for the relative pronoun.
The relative pronoun that is itself a subject that requires a verb and thus that itself "eats up" a verb (or two).
In this sentence, the word that "eats up" the verbs begin and culminate. Those two verbs are paired with the subject that.
So which verb is paired with the main subject, volumes? There is none.
We can remove the that-clause just for a moment to see whether the subject volumes is indeed lacking a verb, this way:
The three volumes of the author's biography
The absence of a working verb for the main subject is fatal.
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
• No working verb = sentence fragment
→ The main subject, volumes, is not paired with a working verb.
• Verbals are not verbs. The words beginning and culminating are not verbs.
They are called verbals. In this case the ___ING words are present participles that act as adjectives—they describe the volumes with adjectives.
Those two words do not give the subject volumes, its own verb.
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
• Wrong verb tense
→ We need simple present tense, not present perfect tense, to talk about the biography volumes whose facts are still true.
→ When we talk about general facts (or scientific truths), we use simple present tense.*
(We use present tense for various situations, including to express habits, general truths, repeated actions, or unchanging situations.)
→ The verbs have begun and have culminated, by contrast, are in "present perfect" verb tense, formed by HAS/HAVE + past participle.
→ present perfect is used to "bridge the past and present."
-- Present perfect is used to describe events that started in the past and that continue into the present, not for describing general truths.
→ For a very good overview of present perfect with examples, please see this excellent resource here.
The usage of present perfect in this sentence is unwarranted and weird.
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
• "are begun" creates strange meaning
→ The volumes "are begun" when the person was a child? That sentence makes little sense.
To make sense, we should say that the volumes were begun when the person was a child.
In the previous case, the time periods are lined up.
• passive voice is not ideal
→ Are begun is present tense (passive voice).
If the volumes are begun, they "are begun" by someone. We need an agent.
It's perfectly fine to use passive voice in order to leave the agent out of it, except when we get to a point, such as the one here, at which the volumes are not begun by themselves.
→ "are begun" is unnecessarily in the passive voice, as if the volumes are being acted upon (and if so, by whom?).
• Passive voice is not as effective as "begin" in option A.
Comparing this option to option A leaves no question. Option A is much better.
ELIMINATE E
The answer is A.
COMMENTS
I see some good—if quick—analysis here.
This question is a little slippery. You all handled it well.
** Note about present tense for truths from the past!
We use present tense to talk about truths "from" the past, as long as they are still true.
In fact, present tense for something that happened a long time ago, as long as whatever happened in the past is still true.
That is, if something is true or still true, we use present tense to describe it.
This sentence is correct, despite its two different verb tenses: In 1905, Albert Einstein postulated that the speed of light is constant.
In that sentence, the tenses are "mixed." One verb is in past tense whereas another is in present tense.
The "always true" or "still true" part stays in the present.
* PRESENT PERFECT CONSTRUCTION
Present perfect, active: HAS/HAVE + past participle
-- People who have discarded personal music players as trash often do not realize that the gadgets can be recycled.
Present perfect, passive: HAS/HAVE + BEEN + past participle (verbED)
-- [. . . players, that have been discarded as trash]
**We cannot use present perfect
when the past time is specific and finished.
Specific and finished? Examples: last year/month/week • yesterday, this morning • when he was younger • in [date], in 2013)
Incorrect: I have talked to him on the phone last week.
Correct: I talked to him on the phone last week.
Incorrect: The envelopes have been addressed in July.
Correct: The envelopes were addressed in July.
Correct, time unspecified and NOT finished: The leader has been lying for years.
-- Is the leader still the leader and are we talking about the present?
-- Did he suddenly stop lying? No?
Then this way is incorrect: The leader lied for years.
HERE and HERE are overviews of present perfect.
Do not worry too much about this issue. The area is murky. GMAC will almost always give you another reason to reject the choice if the present perfect is incorrect.
29 Sep 2021, 00:29
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My answer is (A). It took me 36 seconds.
(A) The information about the book is a fact that remain unchanged. The present tense is appropriate.
(B) Not a sentence for lack of main verb.
(C) See above.
(D) To discuss a fact that is externally true, we prefer simple present tense.
(E) The passive voice of "are begun" is not called for.
(A) The information about the book is a fact that remain unchanged. The present tense is appropriate.
(B) Not a sentence for lack of main verb.
(C) See above.
(D) To discuss a fact that is externally true, we prefer simple present tense.
(E) The passive voice of "are begun" is not called for.
