Not trusting themselves to choose wisely among the wide array of inves

Question

Not trusting themselves to choose wisely among the wide array of investment opportunities available in the 1990s, many people  are turning to stockbrokers for help in buying securities that easily could have been  bought directly.

(A) are turning to stockbrokers for help in buying securities that easily could have been

(B) turn to stockbrokers for help in buying securities that could easily be

(C) turned to stockbrokers for help in buying securities that could easily have been

(D) have turned to stockbrokers for help in buying securities that could easily be

(E) were turning to stockbrokers for help in buying securities that easily could have been

(Source: GMAT Ninja)

Kushchokhani · Answer

As per OE stated verbally in 24-hour GMAT marathon, C is selected for the verb tense "turned". However, this choice has "have been" in the end. So this answer is confusing.

PyjamaScientist · Answer

Hey Kush,

Since it's not an OG question I'd like to reserve my comments on it, but, I can direct you to an OG question on which this exact question is based. Click  here . I hope you can learn a thing or two from it.

Best of luck.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Kush.

In "could have been" in the (C) version, the verb that indicates the tense is "could," which is in the simple past tense and thus matches both the context clue "in the 1990s" and the tense of "turned."

So, the tenses in the (C) version make sense.

Kushchokhani · Answer

MartyTargetTestPrep   GMATNinja

'could' is past tense. But should we look 'could have been' together rather than 'could' standalone to determine the verb tense?

I am confused C vs D?
C- 'turned' is simple past vs 'could have been' seems present perfect progressive
D- 'have turned' is present perfect vs 'could be' is conditional tense

In C, 'could have been' indicates that action of buying stocks directly began in past and continues in the present. But could this option be better if 'could be' would have been used instead, if 'could' itself indicates simple past tense as per your explanation?
So does in D, 'have turned' indicates that action of turning to stockbrokers began in the past and continues in the present/ its effects are still ongoing.

I would have chose 'turned' with 'could be', but C and D seems not so clean.

Experts opinion requested.

JonShukhrat · Answer

Hi, could have been bought actually indicates that the buying never happened. Many people could have bought securities themselves but they actually didn't. Instead, they turned to stockbrokers. So, could have verbed is used for the things that had a chance to happen but didn't. For example, you could simply have googled and learn about it by yourslef, but most probably you didn't. Indeed, you have to google such simple grammar staff beacuse you won't have to have wait for the answer. Check here . Could be is used for current or future events that are not real. I like Sara very much. But she is already married. I think we could be the best couple = We are not the best couple right now. I am very hungry but don’t have cash on me to buy hamburgers. I could easily eat ten of them = I can’t eat ten of them because I don’t have money right now . Finally I am a millionaire and flying in my own jet to Monaco. You could be here with me, but you are with another man = you are not with me right now. Could have been is used for past events that are not real. Yesterday I was very hungry but didn’t have cash on me to buy hamburgers. I could have easily eaten ten of them = I didn’t eat ten of them because I didn’t have money yesterday (in the past). Did Sara really come to see me yesterday when I was not at home? How pity. I could have talked to her for hours = I didn’t talk to her for hours because I wasn’t at home yesterday (in the past) Now back to the problem: Not trusting themselves to choose wisely among the wide array of investment opportunities available in the 1990s,... You can see that this event took place in 1990s, that is in the past. So you should use could have bought . If sentence talks about current events, then you can use could be: People can’t choose and turn to brokers even today. They could buy themselves. Also read about subjunctive Mood: https://grammarist.com/grammar/subjunctive-mood/

Kushchokhani · Answer

Bunuel

Please modify the tag for this question- Source: Ukraine Marathon.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

The tenses work fine with each other within choice (C) and within choice (D).

The issue with (D) is that "have turned" doesn't match the context clue "in the 1990s" in the nonunderlined portion, which is meant to indicate that the sentence is about past events, not ones that are continuing in the present.

Bunuel · Answer

______________
Done. Thank you!

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  JonShukhrat . It has been a few months since we last crossed paths. I appreciate your effort to help  Kushchokhani  in the opening paragraph of your response. But, to be honest, I was surprised by the change in tone in the next two paragraphs. What is wrong with someone seeking help from a forum Expert rather than trusting an answer found at large on the web? If Experts want to help, they can, and Marty did take the time to do so. However, I do not think that awarding kudos is obligatory. Some people are simply not inclined to participate as actively in this manner, and that is fine. Moreover, if Experts start to write responses in an effort to earn kudos, then the intent behind the response may not exactly be worthy of kudos, at least in my view. Why worry about what anybody else may be doing, in terms of giving thanks? For all we know, someone could be sending PMs of gratitude to those who have responded to a post. (I know I have received a few of these, and it pleases me that others have taken the time to approach me in this way.)

Please be kind to others. I respect your position, but I think you could have replied in a more constructive manner, and I know from some of your other posts that when you want to give your all to a response, the analysis is top-notch.

- Andrew

JonShukhrat · Answer

Yes, you are right. I edited my post. I'll bear in mind.

kelly_jacques · Answer

Hello! I am confused on the grammatical reasoning for choosing C versus E. The main difference is "turned" versus "were turning". Why is "were turning" incorrect? It indicates the event happened in the past, similar to option C?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  kelly_jacques ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, "were turning" is a simple past continuous tense verb, and its use here is incorrect because it is used to refer to actions that wee ongoing over a period of time in the past; the simple past tense (such as "turned" in the correct answer choice) must be used when referring to an action that concluded in the past and is not continuous in nature.

To understand the concept of "Simple Continuous Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fndw1N0nWXw

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATNTtugB9fM

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

kelly_jacques · Answer

ExpertsGlobal5 Thank you for your response. However, one element that remains unclear in your answer is how are you to evaluate if "an action is not continuous in nature". One could argue in the case above, that people turned to stock brokers in a continuous fashion and thus by your reasoning, the simple past continuous would be correct?

Thank you in advance.

Thank you in advance.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  kelly_jacques ,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, technically, any action can be described as continuous, since all actions take place over a span of time, no matter how small; thus, we must examine the context to determine whether it makes sense to describe the action as continuous.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

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