He forgets most things, but having said that, he is always

Question

He forgets most things, but having said that, he is always remembering my birthday. 

A)....
B) He forgets most things, having said that, he always remembers my birthday.
C)He forgets most things, yet having said that, he always remembers my birthday.
D)He forgets most things, but having said that, he always remembered my birthday.
E)He forgets most things, but having said that, he always remembers my birthday.

Professor · Answer

C) He forgets most things, yet having said that, he always remembers my birthday.

vipin7um · Answer

I think it is E. But seems more appropriate than Yet.

vivek123 · Answer

'C' sounds good to me.

I arrived between 'C' & 'E'.

usage of 'yet' is good here. 

 He forgets most things, yet   having said that ,  he always remembers my birthday

GMATT73 · Answer

This is either C or E. "But" usually indicates a transition in thought, whereas "yet" signals an exception.

I`ll take C.

jinesh · Answer

..I go with C 

I agree with GMATT73
but indicates a transition in thought ...whereas YET signals an exception............Intially I chose "E"

  but   , can any1 explain why B is wrong?????

andy_gr8 · Answer

Its between C and E..

"but" sounds good to me.
Would go for E

ps_dahiya · Answer

OA is E.

GMATT73 · Answer

See what happens when you take three weeks off :beat

b14kumar · Answer

Oopssss Late again... Well, my first call was E but I was convinced and opted C as the answer.

Regards, Brajesh

vivek123 · Answer

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vipin7um · Answer

GMATT73, IMHO your explanation of the usage of 'yet' and 'but' is more appropriate when they are interchanged. Yet is used more as a transition of an idea, while but is used more as a contradiction.

Professor · Answer

agreed. <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_cool.gif" alt="8-)" title="Cool" />

shahnandan · Answer

would it be possible for someone to give an example to make the distinction between 'yet' and 'but' clearer.

watever · Answer

The task was difficult, yet he was able to do it.
He flunks most of his tests, but he passed this one.

"But" illustrates "an exception to common behaviour", yet illustrates "against all odds".

sonfbm · Answer

YET
despite something used for introducing a word or idea that is surprising after what has just been mentioned:
They had plenty of time, yet she felt there was almost none
(source: Mc Millan dictionary)

BUT
used for introducing different idea

rphardu · Answer

I think right answer is E.

But V/s Yet.
"But" just used for "introducing different idea " or Transition. "Yet" is usually used when there's some kind of contrast or surprise involved.
"She's a nurse, but she does cartoon voices part time." (Nothing strange here.)
"She's a nurse, yet she smokes." (It's strange, surprising and paradoxical that a medical person would smoke.)

"He walked in the door, but nobody saw him."
"He shot the man in front of 50 witnesses, yet nobody says they saw it."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Question , Sentence starts with "He forgets many thing", It does not mean that "He forgets every thing" so there is no surprise if he remembers anybody's Birthday. So usage of "but" is correct here.

If sentence is like below:
He forgets every thing,yet having said that, he always remembers my birthday.
Then usage of Yet is correct.

I hope my explanation will help. If yes please give me Kudo.

crick20002002 · Answer

Good explanation of usage of but and yet, rphardu !!

But there is one slight caveat, when you applied the concept to the sentence. The sentence does not use "many", in fact it uses "most". Most implies majority=> close to all(close to everything). Hence there is an element of surprise if "he remembers birthday".

I also read somewhere that yet is often used like although.

Crick

rphardu · Answer

Thanks Buddy to rectify my typo.
I still believe, we can not consider Majority equal to All. This might be exception in common behavior still we are good with "but" , really not a surprise.

We can take one example.
"I passed most of the tests in my life but failed in this one." , This sentence is showing that there might be some test where I failed.
"I passed all tests in my life yet failed in this one." Here it is surprise because I never failed.

Please give me kudos if my explanation helped you.

WishMasterUA · Answer

between c and E/

I vote for E because we need to show the opposition. "BUT" is good here.

He forgets most things, but having said that, he is always

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