MGMAT SC page119 - Because Cole wears a helmet...

[pranabiitkgp]

Original Sentence : Because Cole wears a helmet when he struck on the head by a falling coconut 10 years ago, he escaped injury in that episode.

Manhattan GMAT solution : Because Cole was wearing a helmet when he was struck on the head with a falling coconut 10 years ago, he escaped injury in that episode.

My solution : Because Cole wore a helmet when he was struck on the head by a falling coconut 10 years ago, he escaped injury in that episode.

can you please explain why the simple past form of wear that is wore can not be used . I think simple past is even better as the progressive does not make sense fit well. 'was wearing a helmet' can be true even if the helmet was actually in his hand and he was just lifting his hands towards his head ....i thought you got my line of argument .

[tim]

consider this analogy:

i ate a pizza when i heard the news about Cole.

i was eating a pizza when i heard the news about Cole.

the first one is like your example, but it makes it sound like i heard the news about Cole and then celebrated by eating a pizza. the second example indicates that the news came while i was eating a pizza. think about what the sentence is trying to say about Cole: he didn't wear a helmet as a response to being struck on the head; rather, he was struck on the head while wearing a helmet..

[pranabiitkgp]

Makes perfect sense, Thanks tim for your wonderful direct approach to clarify things .

- Pranab

[jnelson0612]

Once again, excellent example Tim.

[ali.gmat01]

What is wrong with using a PAST PERFECT form of the verb wear?

Using a Present progressive would indicate that the action or its effect is still happening. So, would'nt using a present progressive here mean that he is still wearing the helmet 10 years after the incident?

I feel that wearing the helmet and being struck are two different past events and it would be appropriate to use past perfect here..

Becasue Cole had worn a helmet when he was struck on the head by a falling coconut 10 years ago, he escaped serious injury in that episode.

Where am i going wrong?

[tim]

"had worn" makes it sound like something he did once and finished with before the accident..

[chitrangada.maitra]

Can we use :

Because Cole had been wearing a helmet when he was struck on the head by a falling coconut 10 years ago, he escaped injury in that episode.

[shaw.s.li]

chitrangada

That was exactly what I had written, a past perfect progressive.

The Official GMAT guide says that past perfect progressives are used to "describe an action of some duration that was completed before another past action occurred."

Maybe the problem is that the action of "wearing" the helmet wasn't completed. The past progressive "was wearing" demonstrates that the helmet wearing didn't stop when the falling coconut occurred.

Thoughts?

[tim]

you're right. "had been wearing" indicates the action finished before Cole was struck on the head, which again is clearly not the case..

[shaw.s.li]

Thanks for confirming my thought!

[tim]

my pleasure..