SC: Faulty voting euipment, confusing ballots, voter error,

[RonPurewal]

Sure.

[lindaliu9273]

Hi Ron,

You mentioned that in A, "they" has no reference. But can "A. Faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places " be the antecedent? That's what I think. Please correct me.

Thank you so much!

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,

You mentioned that in A, "they" has no reference. But can "A. Faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places " be the antecedent? That's what I think. Please correct me.

Thank you so much!

they did not count 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast...

Those things don't count votes, so that would be a nonsense interpretation.

[lindaliu9273]

You're right. Thank you so much.

[tim]

:)

[suhasand]

in option (A):

a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election, which estimated...

as it is of same structure " X of Y, which " cant 'which' stand for X(a new study) ?

[RonPurewal]

sure it can.

did someone say it couldn't?

[chengkeh798]

I have a question regarding tense in E.

Does "had not been" located betweeen 4 million and of the 100 million have a problem?

that is problematic, yes. even though the events happened in the order you've indicated, the completed event has no bearing/impact on the later event.
in other words, the result of the election (the # of votes that weren't counted) is most accurately described, in the context of the sentence, as an isolated historical event. such events should be expressed in the simple past tense.

Hi, Ron. I am still confused about the verb tense in D and E
ex
The teacher thought that Jimmy had cheated on the exam
this sentence is correct
A new study has estimated that 4M to 6M votes of 100M votes cast had not been counted
the verb tense in this sentence is wrong

I am so confused, please claify it
Thanks a lot!

[RonPurewal]

"the teacher thought..."
^^ sentence ALREADY TAKES PLACE IN THE PAST.
thus, we use "had ___ed" for an earlier action that was completed by the timeframe of the sentence, but that still had a direct impact on the situation described in that sentence.

__

the timeframe of THIS sentence is "a new study has estimated..."

remember, "has/have ____ed" is narrated from the PRESENT. (it describes something that has happened in the recent past -- and/or something that still has an impact on the present -- but the main point is that these sentences are still NARRATED IN THE PRESENT.)

so, the sentence at hand has nothing to do with the example you're citing.