According to a study published by Dr. Myrna Weissman

[RonPurewal]

My first post in MGMAT FORUM!!!!!
I know the OA is A.
In option A six percent had become depressed by age twenty-four
I wanted to understand how come a six percent can become depressed? Can percentage suffer from depression???
I know its really bad to question the OA But I am wanted to understand why my logic is going wrong.Please explain

the good thing about the correct answers is that you can figure them out for yourself!
they're the correct answers, after all -- meaning that everything appearing in them is, well, correct. so, even if you've never seen a particular construction before, you should be able to determine exactly how it works, just by looking at the context.

that sentence says "Of those born before 1955, six percent..."
so, we're talking about 6% of those born before 1955. there it is.
(if "6%" appeared all by itself, it would be nonsense... but it doesn't.)

try writing your own examples of the same construction.
e.g., Of Roberta's three boys, the youngest has the most potential to become a professional athlete
--> again, "the youngest" would be nonsense by itself, but it makes perfect sense along with "of Roberta's three boys".

[ROHITK128]

in option A - after the semicolon - of those born since 1955, six percent had become depressed by age twenty-four .

Who does "those"refer to - ; i was under the assumption that sentence after a semi- colon should be able to stand on its own and if thats the case what iis the antecedent of those -

I apologize to reopen such an old thread but i searched and didnt found a valid answer


=====
RK

[RonPurewal]

the meaning of "those" is clear in context. from context, what can you determine that it means?

when you're talking about a sentence "standing on its own", that means grammatically. it's definitely ok for pronouns to stand for things in neighboring sentences.

[aflaamM589]

Hello Ron,
Couple of questions:
Is since with simple present tense and simple past tense also problematic as is the case in B&C , and E respectively?

(D) major depression is suffered by the age of seventy-five by only one percent of Americans born before 1905, and by age twenty-four by the six percent born since 1955

born (an adjective) is also incorrectly modifying six percent, correct?
Please also comment on since in D as born is not even a tensed verb.

Americans born before 1905 suffer major depression by the age of seventy-five only one percent of the time, but six percent of those born since 1955 did so by age twenty-four

Can did (placeholder verb or whatever it is called) stand for a verb on other side of but?

Thank you very much for your valuable guidance.

[RonPurewal]

Is since with simple present tense and simple past tense also problematic as is the case in B&C , and E respectively?

the use of the present tense in these contexts is clearly nonsense, since we're talking about things that were many decades or even a century ago. there's no need to think about more complex relationships here.

[RonPurewal]

born (an adjective) is also incorrectly modifying six percent, correct?

"six percent" can stand for "six percent of Americans", since another percentage of Americans has already been mentioned.

Please also comment on since in D as born is not even a tensed verb.

i have no idea what "please comment..." means.
please ask an actual question. thank you.

[RonPurewal]

Americans born before 1905 suffer major depression by the age of seventy-five only one percent of the time, but six percent of those born since 1955 did so by age twenty-four
Can did (placeholder verb or whatever it is called) stand for a verb on other side of but?

sure, why couldn't it? (the whole point of these kinds of verbs is that they *can* stand for verbs in another, neighboring clause. if they couldn't, then they would basically be useless)

[aflaamM589]

born (an adjective) is also incorrectly modifying six percent, correct?

"six percent" can stand for "six percent of Americans", since another percentage of Americans has already been mentioned.

Please also comment on since in D as born is not even a tensed verb.

i have no idea what "please comment..." means.
please ask an actual question. thank you.

Can since be used with simple present tense?
It can be used for perfect tenses, but can it be used with simple present tense?
Can the answer choices containing since with simple present tense, thus, be eliminated for incorrect usage of since?

Thanks in advance

[RonPurewal]

you're thinking of a different type of thing entirely—you're thinking of "since xxxx" as a modifier of an entire sentence.
e.g.,
Since January, unemployment has increased by at least 1 percentage point every month.
("since january" describes the whole boldface sentence)

in THAT kind of sentence, you can't have a present-tense verb in the spot occupied by "has increased" there.

__

here, on the other hand, "born since xxxx" just describes a noun. so, no, there is no such issue.

[RonPurewal]

Note also—

If you look at the tense of the FIRST part BY ITSELF (about people born before 1905)...
this timeframe has been over for a long, long time. (at the VERY latest, these people would have reached age 75 by 1980.)
so, clearly, we can't use the present tense—or "has/have ___ed"—here.

that's enough to eliminate ALL FOUR of the wrong answers!