Even if

[xyin]

For many people, household labor remains demanding even if able to afford household appliances their grandparents would find a miracle.
(GMAT Prep Verbal folder)
A. even if able to afford household appliances their grandparents would find a miracle
B. despite being able to afford household appliances their grandparents would find a miracle
C. even if they can afford household appliances their grandparents would have found miraculous
D. although they could afford household appliances their grandparents would find miraculous
E. even if they are able to afford household appliances which would have been a miracle to their grandparents
What's the difference between "even if" and "although?"
I chose D but the key is C. What's wrong with the question D? and another question is what does "they" stand for? I am pretty confused since household labor is singular. Thanks in advance.

[tim]

"they" of course is "people". D is wrong because "although" conveys a definiteness that "could" contradicts. Also, the tense of "would find" is problematic - the idea is that the grandparents would have found these appliances miraculous if these appliances had existed in the past, not that they would find the appliances miraculous in the present..

[violetwind]

Hi,

Should the "a miracle" in E and A be in plural form ?

What's the problem about E? Thank you!

[saptadeepc]

Hi,

Should the "a miracle" in E and A be in plural form ?

What's the problem about E? Thank you!

I think, "which" is non restrictive and therefore must come after a comma. This might be the problem with 'E'

miracle = ' Affording such household items ', which is singular.

Secondly, 'A' and 'E' are incorrect so they do not use the sentence correctly anyways

[tim]

saptadeepc is right about the "which", but the phrase "Affording such household items" does not appear in any of the five answer choices, so that can't be the "miracle". For the most part, the sentence seems to be referring to the appliances as a miracle, which can't work of course because of the singular/plural issue..

[dudewheysmehemail]

Hello Violetwind & Xyin,

Aside from the weird change in meaning in E (miracle to their grandparents), I chose C over E because E contains "they are able to afford" whereas C uses the simplified/concise "they can afford."

This SC was odd...when first going through it, I eliminated "For most people" as a warmup and considered household labor as the subject. Because of this, I got confused when I saw they/their in the last part of the sentence. I thought to myself, incorrectly, that the pronoun can't reach inside of the prepositional phrase "For the people" and refer to people...so the sentence is wrong! (This is the rational for Subject/Verb agreement, not pronouns).

So then, one by one, I eliminated each option, looking for one without "they/their"...and then I reached the end! So I figured that I was wrong, as one of the sentences must be correct, and started looking for other things to eliminate.

A sounds awkward, like it's missing important words -- not coherent at all.
B also sounds like it's missing something. Doesn't explain who is able to afford the appliances.
D changes the meaning by using although. This is saying that despite the fact that they can afford household appliances the labor is demanding, instead of saying whether or not they can afford the appliances the labor is demanding. Although shows that they definitely can, whereas even if shows that hypothetically can.
E, in addition to what I explained above, changes the meaning from the grandparents finding the appliances miraculous to the grandparents finding the ability to buy the appliances miraculous.

Hope this helps clarify some more,
--Rishi

[tim]

let us know if you have any further questions..

[sunruiapply]

"they" of course is "people". D is wrong because "although" conveys a definiteness that "could" contradicts. .

hi,tim
i don't understand why although and could contradict, can you expliain in detail for me?

i guess like this:
"could" can be use in two ways:
1) past tense of can;
2) subjunctive mood;
you indicate that "although conveys a definiteness that could contradicts", so i guess you refer to the second use. this is because "can" in "can afford" means the capabitily, not the possiblity, it past tense means capability either.
do i get your point?

that's what i infer from your explanation. if that's your thought, please let me know.

but then I want to ask if "could" is used as subjunctive, the idiomatic expression "can afford"(afford usually follows can, which means capability) seems broken. what's the explanation here?


and here is another similar prep question:
For most consumers, the price of automobile insurance continues to rise annually, even if free of damage claims and moving violations.
(A) even if
(B) despite being
(C) even if they are
(D) although they may be
(E) even if remaining

oa is C
is D wrong because although is definite, while may is indefinite, so they can't be together?

please reply, thank you very much

[sunruiapply]

hi, tim
please answer my last post. and can "even if " and "although "be interchangable?

thank you

[tim]

First, be careful bumping questions. Every time you do that it puts the question at the absolute end of the queue for us to answer. Bumping a question is the most effective way to cause a delay in getting your question answered.

It sounds like you have the right idea here, and your second example involves the same issue. "Although" is more definite, whereas "even if" remains hypothetical. Since "could" is hypothetical, it shouldn't be placed with the definite "although" in either example.