I will go with B for 2 reasons 1. USES person's name only one time 2. uses past perfect tense which is reqired

I will go with B for 2 reasons 1. USES person's name only one time 2. uses past perfect tense which is reqired

B is incorrect use of past perfect because if the sentence has two event happening at different times then we use past perfect for the former event and simple past for the later event. In this case had is used for the later event

My bad. I guess I was in too hurry to ans But anyway still think ans should be B

A: Before already conveys the time infromation so there is no need to use past perfect
B: incorrect tense usage. another problem is modfier problem. If you remove George Eliot from the sentence then there is no pronoun antecedent for SHE
C: same as above
D: is correct. no need to use had because before conveys the time sequence information
E: awkward. and if you remove modifer then original meaning of the sentence is lost

Btw: what is the answer

OA is A but I agree with you and thats why posted the question. Since, Before has been used no need to use the past perfect but it seems Kaplan tends to disagree.

My answer is A

Here is how I look at it. There are two things that happened here over a period of time. First GE was just a translator and that action continued for a while and then she became popular after some time. Both actions happened in the past. To show which action occurred first between the two, I will use Past perfect.

Netizen,

On a side note, your practice test scores are absolutely mind numbing to me. Great scores and keep up the good job

it is simple...
just keep in mind two things
1) If any option is different from others --- it has to be completely wrong or absolutely correct
2) Whenever there is something event past/recognization etc we are trying refer from present....
always try to something with AS.....KNOWN AS/ REFERRED AS....