While the stock market was bouncing back from its 2002 low, U.S. families are still reeling from the recent recession; between 2001 to 2004, typical household savings plummeted nearly 25% and the median household debt rose by a third.
A) was bouncing back from its 2002 low, U.S. families are still reeling from the recent recession; between
B) bounced back from its 2002 low, U.S. families are still reeling from the recent recession, from
C) has bounced back from its 2002 low, U.S. families are still reeling from the recent recession; between
D) has bounced back from its 2002 low, U.S. families are still reeling from the recent recession; from
E) bounced back from its 2002 low, U.S. families are still reeling from the recent recession; from

I was able to quickly narrow down the options between D and E, but then got confused. I read the official explanation. It says, if one sentence is in past then next sentence should also be in past. I undertand that that is totally based on the context. However, in this case, at least to me, even E looked ok - in fact better :). Please explain the tense switch.

Anybody there ???

What is the OA ??

to me it should be 'D'

> has is needed...to show the comparison....WHILE.... etc etc...

From ...to ... is needed... idiom.

It is clearly D = Answer.

You need to sense the main tense of the sentence.
Second part says - "US families are still reeling" - present tense .

hence The whole sentence shall be in present tense -- " has bounced back....."
in this case present prefect.

Just think about E-- stock market bounced .....= past, ---> then families are stil reeling .... => present tense , does not make sence and meaning clear. = wrong.

this is a great explanation.

I think main clue here is the word "while", this word should indicate that to actions are happening in the same time period.

I am doing X, while she is doing Y.

I was doing X, while she was doing Y.

So, "bounced" cant be right here, since families ARE..."

Got this Q wrong, but now see the reason why D is the BEST here.

Nice observation k.tishutina.

_________________
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor

I think there is one more approach to his problem, other than using "while":
1.) ..from its 2002 low.. so this must be "has bounced back" as it states a period of time since 2002 --> C or D
2.) between 2001 to 2004 is wrong (betweend x AND y), hence it's D

Is assumption 1.) correct?

BG

hannes, I can go with that! :-) Nice when we are all in agreement.

_________________
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor