prada wrote:Hey Guys, wouldn't the answer be A since the context and timing is clear? As in since the word BEFORE was used we can omit the HAD BEEN and use the normal WAS? I understood that using HAD BEEN is used when you want to clarify and distinguish between two tenses?

I suspect that the subtle difference between A and C is not something that you will see on the actual GMAT. Still there is a reason why C is better.

In a sense what you said is correct. Often, if the word before is used to indicate that one event occurred before another did, then you don't need the past perfect. So what you said is basically correct, WHEN THE FIRST EVENT HAPPENED AT A SPECIFIC POINT IN TIME.

Here is an example.

Before Amanda baked the cake, she read the recipe from beginning to end.

In that example, Amanda read the recipe at a specific point in time. Contrast that example with the following one.

Before Amanda baked the cake, she had made only pies.

The point of that sentence is not that at some point in time Amanda made pies. The point is that over a period of time before she baked the cake she had made only pies. So the past perfect is necessary.

So while the explanation is not really correct, answer choice C above is correct, because he was a poor locksmith over a period of time rather than at a specific point in time. In fact, what you really have in choice C is the past perfect continuous.

https://www.englishtenses.com/tenses/pas ... continuous

Marty Murray wrote:

prada wrote:Hey Guys, wouldn't the answer be A since the context and timing is clear? As in since the word BEFORE was used we can omit the HAD BEEN and use the normal WAS? I understood that using HAD BEEN is used when you want to clarify and distinguish between two tenses?

I suspect that the subtle difference between A and C is not something that you will see on the actual GMAT. Still there is a reason why C is better.

In a sense what you said is correct. Often, if the word before is used to indicate that one event occurred before another did, then you don't need the past perfect. So what you said is basically correct, WHEN THE FIRST EVENT HAPPENED AT A SPECIFIC POINT IN TIME.

Here is an example.

Before Amanda baked the cake, she read the recipe from beginning to end.

In that example, Amanda read the recipe at a specific point in time. Contrast that example with the following one.

Before Amanda baked the cake, she had made only pies.

The point of that sentence is not that at some point in time Amanda made pies. The point is that over a period of time before she baked the cake she had made only pies. So the past perfect is necessary.

So while the explanation is not really correct, answer choice C above is correct, because he was a poor locksmith over a period of time rather than at a specific point in time. In fact, what you really have in choice C is the past perfect continuous.

https://www.englishtenses.com/tenses/pas ... continuous

Thanks for the answer. I agree and doubt that they would test such a subtle difference and I think it is better to be more clear. I think I was thinking it was a trick question but I don't think that the GMAT tests those type of trick question and most probably not on just that one issue

What is the difference of using was and had been? Isn't it similarly correct in this question?

danielle07 wrote:What is the difference of using was and had been? Isn't it similarly correct in this question?

Using "was" results in the creation a simple past expression.

Using "had been" results in the creation of a past perfect continuous expression.

Since John was continuously a locksmith over a period of time, the past perfect continuous works better in this situation.

For more detail, please see my post above.

As I said in that post, I doubt that you will ever need to notice this subtle difference to get the right answer to a GMAT Sentence Correction question.