Neither of my aunts

[HemantR606]

Neither of my aunts, both of whom visited Venice last spring, want to return.

(a) visited Venice last spring, want

(b) have visited Venice last spring, want

(c) had visited Venice last spring, want

(d) visited Venice last spring, wants

(e) have visited Venice last spring, wants

The answer is (d), but I am confused why 'have visited', in (e) is wrong. If we use 'have visited' the sentence means - my aunts went to Venice last spring. They are still in Venice and neither of them wants to come back. What is wrong in this interpretation?

[RonPurewal]

"Has/have ___ed" has a present point of view, and so cannot ever be used with a specific past timeframe ("last spring").

(Also, a year-long move is not "visiting".)

[Meerak869]

"Has/have ___ed" has a present point of view, and so cannot ever be used with a specific past timeframe ("last spring").

(Also, a year-long move is not "visiting".)

Ron,

can you please explain this concept further.
u said has/have has a present point of view and so cannot be used with a specific past time frame.

is the below sentence wrong?
We have completed our painting work at museum last year.

[RonPurewal]

yes, that sentence is wrong (should just be "completed").

the point of 'has/have __ed' is that it matters NOW that something has occurred.
i.e., all that matters is that something has happened; it does not matter WHEN that thing happened.

e.g.,
If you have read the book, you already know how the movie will end. (it makes no difference when you read the book—if you have read it, at any point, then you know the story)

try putting a timestamp on 'have read' here, and you'll quickly realize why that would lead to nonsense.

[RonPurewal]

–––THE STUFF IN THIS POST IS VERY, VERY UNLIKELY TO BE RELEVANT TO THE GMAT EXAM–––
If you find this post confusing, stop reading—it's not worth the risk of compromising the more fundamental concepts posted above.

--

it IS possible to combine 'has/have __ed' with a timeframe—but only if that timeframe is a range of times when something may have happened. "the exact time of the event doesn't matter" must still hold, as long as the event is within the specified range.

e.g.,
If you have declared bankruptcy within the last seven years, you will find it nearly impossible to obtain a credit card with a reasonable interest rate.
note that "within the last seven years" is NOT a point in time when you declared bankruptcy. it's a whole interval—and, within that interval, it makes no difference when you declared bankruptcy, whether it was 6.5 years ago or just yesterday.

[JasonL437]

Hi,

In regards to the question below, why is verb "wants", in the singular form? I would expect it to be plural considering the noun, "aunts", after neither is plural. I was hoping the answer was A but am confused as to why it is D.

Thanks for the help.

[JbhB682]

Neither of my aunts, both of whom visited Venice last spring, wantS to return.

Hello experts - In the above sentence quoted - per the the OA -- the subject is Neither. Hence the verb has to be singular

But in a sentence like this --

Neither Sam nor my friends want to return.

Why can't the subject be no longer Neither in this sentence i made up ? I believe the subject is friends. Is it because perhaps the nouns in my sentence are no longer in prepositional phrases perhaps ?

[esledge]

Your sentence is correct. In the neither X nor Y structure, the noun closer to the verb dictates whether the verb should be singular or plural. Neither...nor is a correlative conjunction, not a noun, so by definition it's not the subject: Sam and my friends are.

All of the following are correct:

Neither Sam nor my friends want to return. (Match the number of the verb and the closest noun.)
Neither my friends nor Sam wants to return. (same as above)
My friends or Sam wants to return. (same rule for or in the subject)
Sam or my friends want to return. (same as above)
Sam and my friends want to return. (Plural because and makes a compound subject, regardless of noun order.)
My friends and Sam want to return. (Plural because and makes a compound subject, regardless of noun order.)


The original aunts example was fundamentally different: neither wasn't act as a conjunction, it was acting as a pronoun, so neither was the subject, not aunts, which were just the object of the preposition. This really is more of an answer to Jason, the poster above you, but the way to read it is:

Neither (one) of my aunts ... wants to return.

Wants is singular there because one aunts wants to never return, and neither does the other one!