are at risk, will be at risk ?

[Saurabh]

Qs. MGMAT -
A new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that women who exercise regularly and maintained a healthy diet are at low risk of sudden cardiac death during physical exertion that is moderate to vigorous in nature.

maintained a healthy diet are at low risk of sudden cardiac death during physical exertion that is moderate to vigorous in nature
maintain a healthy diet are at low risk of sudden cardiac death during moderate to vigorous physical exertion
maintain a healthy diet will be at low risk of sudden cardiac death during moderate to vigorous physical exertion
maintained a healthy diet were at low risk of sudden cardiac death during moderate to vigorous physical exertion
maintain a healthy diet are at low risk of sudden cardiac death during physical exertion that is moderate to vigorous in nature

Correct Ans (b):- are at low risk ???

I am want to know why C is not right.....
WILL BE AT LOW RISK OF ........
Solution explains :: '(C) This choice incorrectly uses a future tense verb form: "will be." This is inconsistent with the present tense verbs "exercise" and "maintain." '


Can someone better explain why will be is wrong. ?
[/list]

[Amar]

A new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that women who exercise regularly and maintained a healthy diet are at low risk of sudden cardiac death during physical exertion that is moderate to vigorous in nature.

maintained a healthy diet are at low risk of sudden cardiac death during physical exertion that is moderate to vigorous in nature
maintain a healthy diet are at low risk of sudden cardiac death during moderate to vigorous physical exertion
maintain a healthy diet will be at low risk of sudden cardiac death during moderate to vigorous physical exertion
maintained a healthy diet were at low risk of sudden cardiac death during moderate to vigorous physical exertion
maintain a healthy diet are at low risk of sudden cardiac death during physical exertion that is moderate to vigorous in nature

"will be at low risk" distorts the meaning of the original by indicating that those who exercise regularly and maintain a healthy diet will be at low risk. Instead the author’s intention is to indicate that those who exercise regularly and maintain a healthy diet are at low risk.

Moreover studies publish results, which are concrete. So a present tense is preferred over future.

Instructors may shed more light

[RonPurewal]

Amar's explanation is solid.

In short, the study affirms that the women ARE (currently) at low risk. The future tense doesn't make sense unless the women aren't at low risk now but will be at some point in the future (a possibility that's far beyond the purview of a scientific study such as the one described here).

[RubenM342]

As a follow-up, I was also slightly conflicted with answer choice C. I was under the impression that "Present + Future tense" is an acceptable combination given the topic of "Present to Future or Past to Conditional" within Sentence Correction.

How is the phrase "...women who exercise (present tense) regularly and maintain (present tense) a healthy diet WILL BE (future) at low risk.." any different from the example in the book that states "The scientist believes (present tense) that the machine will be (future) wonderful"?

Any insights would be appreciated. I am playing devil's advocate and don't seem to find a clear explanation as to why choice C is entirely wrong. I am assuming the key here has to do with "published results", which implies no time lag while the "present to future" combination implies a time lag (ie. women who exercise regularly and maintain a healthy diet...currently are not at low risk but will be at low risk in the future which makes the sentence confusing).

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Verb tense combinations are pretty confusing in English. There are some special combinations in conditional clauses, but don't be fooled into thinking this is a conditional clause; there's no 'if' or 'when' to indicate that. You're best off going on the meaning: as Ron pointed out above, the study indicates the risk at PRESENT. The same meaning test applies to the example you gave: scientists assume something about the FUTURE.

It's easy to confuse the given sentence for some sort of deduction: "Well, if a woman takes exercise, then she'll have lower risk..." and that's not quite what the sentence is saying. In any case, remember to compare answer choices rather than just thinking "C sounds right, I'll go with that". Having narrowed down to B and C, you can direct your attention to this slippery verb issue.