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[parveen chaudhary]

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Let me carry on a discussion that originated on the manhattan forums (the topic is locked there)

(Q49 OG V) [deleted by moderator]
When I looked at this problem, I thought this it is a present perfect tense problem and was inclined to pick B. The reasoning I came up in limited time was:
A recent sales slump started some time in past and extended to the current time. This seems to be present perfect.

I know there is one more issue of recently/recently, however, I would like comments from instructors about my approach to recognize verb tense. Is there anyway to make sure whether a present perfect is needed.




Reply by Dan Berstein-Mgmat instructor
The perfect tenses, though used infrequently on the GMAT, often induce this type of confusion. Remember, the present perfect is used when an event began at some time in the past and continues to the present moment, while the past perfect indicates a completed past event that happened before a second completed past event. In the cited example, the verb "said" in the non-underlined section of the sentence is a past tense verb. In order to indicate that the sales slump occurred prior to this past announcement, the past perfect tense is necessary.

A second approach would have been to focus on the recent/recently split. It is nonsensical that a retailer would INTENTIONALLY extend a sales slump. However, this is exactly what is suggested by the adverb "recently," which modifies the adjective "extended." The sentence should instead include the adjective "recent," which correctly describes the slump. Thus, answer choices B and C are eliminated. From there, the its/their pronoun split is relatively straightforward. Since the subject of the sentence is the singular "retailer," the singular pronoun "its" is correct.

The credited response is A.

-dan

NOW I START
Actually I do not agree with dan's first part of the explanation-In the cited example, the verb "said" in the non-underlined section of the sentence is a past tense verb. In order to indicate that the sales slump occurred prior to this past announcement, the past perfect tense is necessary.
If we apply this reasonig than Q40,OG V should have the OA a(if we overlook the parallelism issue)
Let me quote the question and the explanation from the OG V
Q40)

[deleted by moderator]

OA to this quetion is E.OG writes:for action started in the past and continues into the present,it is correct to use the present perfect tense.

One may jump to conclude that there is no "said" in this question-but the verb "found" is analogous to "said".
Let me make my point more stonger-if we use "had been" in Q49,it means the slump has subsided now-then why will the retailer "start a three month liquidation sale in all of the stores"
Any comments???????

[Nauman]

I am not an instructor but a veteran in GMAT - preparing for my 4th attempt :).

IMHO, the first sentence has been set in the past tense (becasue of "said"). And you are right about "recently" also. In the second question the "found" is not a past tense, it's present perfect setting a tone for present tense.

Actually, the first question is a very typical case of GMAT tricks and traps. I have seen that GMAT always leaves a simple hint in even the most difficults of the questions. And here the the hint was "recently". But most of us definitly got trapped with the tense issue. This is true for even CR and RC. There's also one should focus on each and every word in his final 2 choices. One will find that there is a word in one of these choices that hints out-of-scope.

Nauman

[parveen chaudhary]

nauman indeed you are a veteran!!!
Thanks for the explanation.

[esledge]

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