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- RonPurewal
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Re: Re:
Excellent.
- PrashantS209
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Re: individuals who have been blind from birth
found that individuals make motions, and that they will gesture
I understand these two are parallel because both are verbs. However, I do not understand why is it correct to use the future tense ‘will gesture’. If it is because it is their ‘habit’, should we not change “make hand motions” to “will make hand motions” as that is habit too.
I understand these two are parallel because both are verbs. However, I do not understand why is it correct to use the future tense ‘will gesture’. If it is because it is their ‘habit’, should we not change “make hand motions” to “will make hand motions” as that is habit too.
- Sage Pearce-Higgins
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Re: individuals who have been blind from birth
Good question - this is quite a subtle issue. I think that the sentence could be okay without the 'will', i.e, 'they gesture'. My explanation is that we've got a construction following the pattern of 'if I see you on the street, I will wave to you'. Instead of the word 'if', we've got 'when'. Here are a couple of correct examples:
When a chick is born, it will start to cheep.
A dolphin will die young when it is kept in captivity.
Both of these are kinds of conditional phrases; there's some more on this topic in the chapter Extra SC: Pronouns and Verbs in the book 'All the Verbal Companion' (or the SC Strategy Guide, if you have an older edition).
When a chick is born, it will start to cheep.
A dolphin will die young when it is kept in captivity.
Both of these are kinds of conditional phrases; there's some more on this topic in the chapter Extra SC: Pronouns and Verbs in the book 'All the Verbal Companion' (or the SC Strategy Guide, if you have an older edition).
- PrashantS209
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Re: individuals who have been blind from birth
Thanks Sage. However,
Research has shown that when speaking, individuals who have been blind from birth and have thus never seen anyone gesture nonetheless make hand motions just as frequently and in the same way as sighted people do, and that they will gesture even when conversing with another blind person.
So we can say that there are two when, then conditions here:
a) they will gesture even when conversing with another blind person.
b) when speaking, individuals (will)make hand motions
Should a correct sentence not be consistent in using when-then within a same sentence?
Research has shown that when speaking, individuals who have been blind from birth and have thus never seen anyone gesture nonetheless make hand motions just as frequently and in the same way as sighted people do, and that they will gesture even when conversing with another blind person.
So we can say that there are two when, then conditions here:
a) they will gesture even when conversing with another blind person.
b) when speaking, individuals (will)make hand motions
Should a correct sentence not be consistent in using when-then within a same sentence?
- Sage Pearce-Higgins
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Re: individuals who have been blind from birth
Good point. As I mentioned before, I think the construction could work without the will. I don't think this is a "strict" construction of the type 'if...then...'. More than one solution may be possible and on second reading it seems to be a question of emphasis: the first statement about gestures is something general, and the second statement about conversing with another blind person is more specific and surprising. It's as if the author is emphasizing: They make gestures in these situations, and even in these situations!
Although it's great that you've noticed this - it shows that you're questioning sentence constructions and paying attention to nuances of meaning - I'm pretty sure that GMAT will not test you on something so subtle. Note that the distinction between 'will gesture' and 'gesture' isn't being tested here. When you're studying problems from the Official Guide, try to distinguish between "classic" issues, such as opening modifiers and comparison errors, and more "random" issues, such as the one above. Prioritize the classic issues and you will probably improve.
Although it's great that you've noticed this - it shows that you're questioning sentence constructions and paying attention to nuances of meaning - I'm pretty sure that GMAT will not test you on something so subtle. Note that the distinction between 'will gesture' and 'gesture' isn't being tested here. When you're studying problems from the Official Guide, try to distinguish between "classic" issues, such as opening modifiers and comparison errors, and more "random" issues, such as the one above. Prioritize the classic issues and you will probably improve.