Manhattan SC Question

[gunjan_infy]

The original sentence is:

After the fact that the test format has changed, scores decreased by more than 25

And correct answer is:

After the changes were made in the test format, scores dropped by more than 25%.

Could you please help me in understanding what is the problem with the original sentence? I got this question incorrect because I didn't uderstand why the original sentence is not correct.

Thanks in advance!

[Guest]

Gunjaan,

Please post all choices. How can you expect someone to help if you don't post all choices?!?

Regards,
Guest

[StaceyKoprince]

If this is from the strategy guide section that doesn't have answer choices, please just let me know which chapter it's from (that is, what it is testing). Verb tense, maybe?

If it is from a full question, though, please post the full question and choices.

Also, just in general, "has changed" is present perfect, which means something that started in the past but is still going on today. "Decreased" is past tense. So you're saying that after one thing that is still going on in the present, something else happened in the past - that doesn't make logical sense.

[gunjan_infy]

Yes, it is from the strategy guide.

It is from the "Style" chapter. The original sentence has poor style and correct answer have better style.

There was small error in typing the question. Sorry for that.

Exact question is:

After the fact that the test format was changed, scores decreased by more than 25%.

And correct/modified answer is:

After the changes were made in the test format, scores dropped by more than 25%.

Thanks in advance!

[RonPurewal]

the original sentence is wrong because it doesn't make literal sense (and, remember, literal sense is the only kind of sense that matters on the gmat).

to wit: when you use the word 'after', it must be followed by an event: an actual occurrence, after which something else could actually occur.

a 'fact' is just that - a fact. facts don't occur; in other words, you can't place facts themselves on a timeline, although you can place the subject material of historical facts on a timeline.

this is somewhat subtle, but let me try to illustrate:
japan's official surrender in world war ii (an event) occurred at noon, japanese standard time, 15th august 1945.
the fact that japan surrendered did not 'occur' at noon on 15th aug 1945 (whatever that would mean); that fact is a fact, not an event, and is therefore timeless (i.e., it's as true today as it was then).

--

ONE-OFF EXCEPTIONS TO THE ABOVE RULE

i can conjure 2 different situations in which 'after' can be paired appropriately with 'fact':
(1) the idiomatic expression after the fact, meaning, roughly, 'too late'
and
(2) if you're talking about the order in which facts are presented in a book, paper, speech, etc.: the book lists all of roberto clemente's baseball statistics after the fact that he died in a plane crash.