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by arghya05 » Fri Jul 22, 2011 6:55 am
Before John won the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.
A) won the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.
B) had won the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.
C) won the lottery, he had been a poor locksmith.
D) won the lottery, he were a poor locksmith.
E) wins the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.

in different forums i have found that before can be linked with simple past or past perfect
so a can be answer
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by VivianKerr » Fri Jul 22, 2011 7:12 am
Make sure you post all SC questions in the SC forum. This is the RC forum. :)

Usually when we use "before", we can get away with simple past tense since the MEANING of the sentence is clear.

EX: Before I did my homework, I went to the store.

It's clear that I went to the store BEFORE I did my homework, so there is no need to clarify with past perfect.

But let's look at the meaning here. John worked as a locksmith for a period of time BEFORE he "won." Since he was a locksmith for a period of time, meaning he worked as a locksmith UNTIL he won the lottery, the past perfect would be nice to clarify. If the event in the furthest past spanned a period of time, use the past perfect.

IMO: C
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by sunnyjohn » Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:37 pm
That is a nice explanation...I got it until A and C and then choose A because of "before".
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