*The debate over bilingual education centers on the issue of

[help34]

The debate over bilingual education centers on the issue of whether the United States should foster the idea of single common language, an idea, some believe, that has in the past been crucial in binding diverse constituencies together.
(A) been crucial in binding diverse constituencies together
(B) been crucial as a binding together of diverse constituencies
(C) been crucial to bind together constituencies that are diverse
(D) become crucial in binding together diverse constituencies
(E) become crucial to bind together constituencies that are diverse
OA is A. Can you please explain why D is wrong? Is it is a been vs. become thing or a binding x together vs. binding together x thing?

[werd]

I think been is better than become

[guest]

I guess it is the binding x together.

i believe its a kind of diction ..
we never use..I am going tomorrow home....we always say I am going home together...so that verb and corresponding object are near..

[StaceyKoprince]

Choice 1: has been crucial vs. has become crucial

The key to making this choice: the words "in the past." Remember that the "has + past participle" structure indicates something that is still true or still going on today. "been" just indicates that something was a certain way. "become" talks about the state of it becoming that way. Is it still becoming crucial today? No (but that's what "has become" means). It's just true that it has been crucial in the past.

The placement of together is red herring - both A and D are technically fine on this issue.

[Guest]

Stacey

You rock. Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

you're welcome!

[sonu_gmat]

Choice 1: has been crucial vs. has become crucial

The key to making this choice: the words "in the past." Remember that the "has + past participle" structure indicates something that is still true or still going on today. "been" just indicates that something was a certain way. "become" talks about the state of it becoming that way. Is it still becoming crucial today? No (but that's what "has become" means). It's just true that it has been crucial in the past.

what would be the difference between 'was crucial' and 'has been crucial'. I know that choice is not there, just for understanding. If 'in the past' were not mentioned would 'has been crucial' still mean something in the past.

The placement of together is red herring - both A and D are technically fine on this issue.

The placement of 'together' is same in all the choices except A. Can you please explain why D is OK and others are not.

[RonPurewal]

what would be the difference between 'was crucial' and 'has been crucial'.

this difference turns mostly on whether the idea under discussion is RELEVANT TO THE PRESENT. depending on that context, it could actually go either way.

here's an example:
let's say you got your degree in chemistry 10 years ago.
if you're talking to someone at a bar, and the random topic of educational background comes up, you'll say "i earned a degree in chemistry". i.e., the degree isn't relevant to anything that's going on right now, so you use the simple past.
if you're interviewing with a graduate school, or for a job at a pharmaceutical company, then you'll say "i have earned a degree in chemistry" instead. even though it's still the same situation - i.e., you earned the degree 10 years ago - this time it's relevant to what is going on right now, so you use the present perfect.

since this is highly context-dependent, you're not going to have to make this sort of decision absent such context clues.

The placement of 'together' is same in all the choices except A. Can you please explain why D is OK and others are not.

basically, you should think of this as idiomatic.

[redacted -- i made mistakes in my original post]

[destmba]

i don't like taking out the trash --> acceptable (taking is a participle here)

Could you please explain why "taking" is a participle here? Based on my understanding, participles are adjectives and hence they modify nouns. Here "taking" does not seem to modify "trash". Am I missing something?

In the above sentence, "taking" seems to be a gerund.

In the following construction, taking is a participle I think as it modifies the subject.

He walked away, taking the trash with him.

Am I missing something here?

[editor: nope, you're right -- i tend to get confused on grammatical terms, so thanks for pointing this out. --ron]

[pardeep.jade]

Isn't "binding" same as "together" I mean the use of this isn't redundant?

[RonPurewal]

Isn't "binding" same as "together" I mean the use of this isn't redundant?

i don't think so, actually -- "bind together" is a pretty standard usage. furthermore, if you attempt to use "bind" without "together", the meaning is different: by itself, "bind" means "to restrict the movement of", as you would do with e.g. ropes.

i.e., something that binds diverse constituencies together is something that creates unity among those constituencies.
on the other hand, something that binds diverse constituencies would be something that is a severe restriction on many of those constituencies.

--

still, this is a crappy problem, and i have no doubt that it is NOT official. in fact, it has pretty clear indications of having been written by someone whose first language is not english (although it's admittedly pretty well written for a second language speaker).
therefore, i'm going to mark this thread for deletion, or at least lock posting on it -- we're going to kill this thread in the next couple of weeks, unless someone provides evidence that it is an official problem.
i.e., we want to see an actual screenshot from gmat prep.

--

the reasons why i suspect that this is not an official problem:

(1) "the idea of single common language"
this phrase requires an article ("a") before "single common language". the gmat doesn't test articles, but this omission is a mistake that absolutely no native speaker of english would ever make.
(this is also not just a typographical error on this one forum post; i googled the problem, and noticed that the same omission is present wherever the problem appears on the internet.)

(2) "some believe" isn't placed in a logical location; it would be better placed after "crucial".

again, neither of these issues is going to be tested on the gmat (so i'm not going to get into the details of why these mistakes are actually mistakes -- that's irrelevant to your gmat progress), but both of them are clear signs that this problem (a) is almost certainly not official, and (b) wasn't written by a native speaker of english.

so, we're going to kill/lock this thread in a couple of weeks, unless someone comes forward (against all odds) with a screenshot from gmat prep.

[ashish-mohan]

i don't like taking out the trash --> acceptable (taking is a participle here)

Hi Ron, I think taking is a Gerund in this sentence, not a participle.

[RonPurewal]

i don't like taking out the trash --> acceptable (taking is a participle here)

Hi Ron, I think taking is a Gerund in this sentence, not a participle.

you're right -- see edits above