My take --

there are 2 parts in this sentence, both have happened in the past. Hence this sentence neeeds to be constructed in past perfect.

A -- satisfies this
D -- The sentence is contructed in simple past. The dependency of 1 event on the other has not been highlighted.

Thanks

akahuja143 wrote:I know this has been posted before but I went through complete post but I was not staisfied with the explaination. May be a Kaplan instructor can help me with this

Before George Eliot became the popular and
respected novelist known as George Eliot, she
had been an anonymous translator and essayist of
formidably far-ranging scholarship.
(A) Before George Eliot became the popular
and respected novelist known as George
Eliot, she had been
(B) Before she had been the popular and
respected novelist, George Eliot, she was
(C) George Eliot has been the popular and
respected novelist, George Eliot, after
such time as she was
(D) Before George Eliot became the popular
and respected novelist, George Eliot, she
was
(E) George Eliot, before she was the popular
and respected novelist, George Eliot, had
been
[spoiler]
OA is A why not D?[/spoiler]
Please also explain your answer

Thanks

this qtn is not correctly reproduced from the retired GMAT question and is NOT worth studying....I dont know it its mistake who put this question while typing the qtn or from test prep company

Actual retired qtn had "was" instead of "had been" and this makes a HUGE HUGE difference for learning

Check the qtn here https://www.beatthegmat.com/george-eliiiot-t22156.html and compare options A or google the qtn and see different versions.

The reasons why A as it is currently written is incorrect. with word "before" we already know the sequence of event, so we do not need a past perfect tense, so before appling past perfect teneses, pls check

1. both events are in past ( and NO effect in present)
2. Both are related
3. words like before or after or date, time, which would give you idea about the sequence of events are NOT there

Only if you meet criteria 1, 2 and 3 go for past perfect tense .clearly A is incorrect in this sense... Also, such qtns are TRAP to people who solely bank on the concept that choose an option that has past perfect for the oldest and simple past for the older event...HTH.

iamcste wrote:

akahuja143 wrote:I know this has been posted before but I went through complete post but I was not staisfied with the explaination. May be a Kaplan instructor can help me with this

Before George Eliot became the popular and
respected novelist known as George Eliot, she
had been an anonymous translator and essayist of
formidably far-ranging scholarship.
(A) Before George Eliot became the popular
and respected novelist known as George
Eliot, she had been
(B) Before she had been the popular and
respected novelist, George Eliot, she was
(C) George Eliot has been the popular and
respected novelist, George Eliot, after
such time as she was
(D) Before George Eliot became the popular
and respected novelist, George Eliot, she
was
(E) George Eliot, before she was the popular
and respected novelist, George Eliot, had
been
[spoiler]
OA is A why not D?[/spoiler]
Please also explain your answer

Thanks

this qtn is not correctly reproduced from the retired GMAT question and is NOT worth studying....I dont know it its mistake who put this question while typing the qtn or from test prep company

Actual retired qtn had "was" instead of "had been" and this makes a HUGE HUGE difference for learning

Check the qtn here https://www.beatthegmat.com/george-eliiiot-t22156.html and compare options A or google the qtn and see different versions.

The reasons why A as it is currently written is incorrect. with word "before" we already know the sequence of event, so we do not need a past perfect tense, so before appling past perfect teneses, pls check

1. both events are in past ( and NO effect in present)
2. Both are related
3. words like before or after or date, time, which would give you idea about the sequence of events are NOT there

Only if you meet criteria 1, 2 and 3 go for past perfect tense .clearly A is incorrect in this sense... Also, such qtns are TRAP to people who solely bank on the concept that choose an option that has past perfect for the oldest and simple past for the older event...HTH.

Dude..this is a Famous Kaplan Sentence Correction 1 test No 14 question..and the correct answer is A..

No doubts..The question is very much legitimate and the reasoning is as follows...

From the source :----- Kaplan..

14. A
Don't hypercorrect. About one fifth of sentence corrections
will be correct as is.Many of these sound like
something you'd never say or write unless you were
writing a term paper. George Eliot didn't become
George Eliot, as (B)-(E) have it. She became known as
George Eliot. The word "before" determines the
sequence of events in the sentence. Hence, "Before
George Eliot became. . . she was. . . ."

gmatmachoman wrote: 14. A
Don't hypercorrect. About one fifth of sentence corrections
will be correct as is.Many of these sound like
something you'd never say or write unless you were
writing a term paper. George Eliot didn't become
George Eliot, as (B)-(E) have it. She became known as
George Eliot. The word "before" determines the
sequence of events in the sentence. Hence, "Before
George Eliot became. . . she was. . . ."

akahuja143 wrote:I know this has been posted before but I went through complete post but I was not staisfied with the explaination. May be a Kaplan instructor can help me with this

Before George Eliot became the popular and
respected novelist known as George Eliot, she
had been an anonymous translator and essayist of
formidably far-ranging scholarship.
(A) Before George Eliot became the popular
and respected novelist known as George
Eliot, she had been

Thanks

your explanation has "was" in A, hence its correct, it avoids past perfect

now see option A typed by akahuja143, it had "had been", it makes VAST difference, so no doubt this qtn is correctly put by K but typed incorrectly by the poster.

I made sure again checked the Kaplan premier online, it says had been in the answer choice A ,my take was also D because of the past perfect issue. I was trying to paste the screen short but it does not let me explain tion is something like this

Don’t hypercorrect. About one fifth of sentence corrections
will be correct as is.Many of these sound like
something you’d never say or write unless you were
writing a term paper. George Eliot didn’t become
George Eliot, as (B)-(E) have it. She became known as
George Eliot. You need verbs became and had been to indicate her annoymitry occured before her fame!!!

akahuja143 wrote:I made sure again checked the Kaplan premier online, it says had been in the answer choice A ,my take was also D because of the past perfect issue. I was trying to paste the screen short but it does not let me explain tion is something like this

Don’t hypercorrect. About one fifth of sentence corrections
will be correct as is.Many of these sound like
something you’d never say or write unless you were
writing a term paper. George Eliot didn’t become
George Eliot, as (B)-(E) have it. She became known as
George Eliot. You need verbs became and had been to indicate her annoymitry occured before her fame!!!

OK, this is fine, thanks for rechecking, now that you agree with us, it could be a glitch which K representative can answer

can you PM Stuart Kovinsky