Sentence Correction

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
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

Please explain your answers.

OA: after discussion.

First off, this question does not seem up to the standards of an OG question.

Note that all of the wrong answer choices (B, C, D, E) simply repeat she and George Eliot. Had even one answer
used this rather obvious error it would have been suspect. But all four answer choices to rely on the
redundancy of 'George Eliot' and 'she' shows that you are dealing with content that is...uh, slightly
subpar.

But no worries - just make sure to use OG content, as it'll reflect your score test day.

Sequence of events with time, so tense should in past perfect:
1.she was an anonymous translator ....
2.she became the popular & respected ..

B reverses the sequence of these events. C - very awkward. E, same as B ,by reversing the events.

A or D .

A looks better than D . I'll go for A.

(A) is the answer.. Explanation

The last part of the sentence happened before the first part

So (D) is incorrect

chris@magoosh wrote:First off, this question does not seem up to the standards of an OG question.

Note that all of the wrong answer choices (B, C, D, E) simply repeat she and George Eliot. Had even one answer
used this rather obvious error it would have been suspect. But all four answer choices to rely on the
redundancy of 'George Eliot' and 'she' shows that you are dealing with content that is...uh, slightly
subpar.

But no worries - just make sure to use OG content, as it'll reflect your score test day.

Is this a very bad Q.
I have got it in one of the quizzes of KAPLAN Live Premiere 2012.
The explanation was also not very satisfactory.

OA is A.

"D",

both parts should be in simple past. :

No imskpwr, this is not a bad question at all...
In fact it is testing the usage of past perfect and the past tense.

See the option A properly, you will find that before George Eliott became famous, she had been....

So before the happening of an event i.e famous, she had been something... i.e an anonymous translator and essayist of formidably far-ranging scholarship.

I hope I m right. If I am right, please thank me or rectify my error by giving an explanation!!!

[email protected] wrote:No imskpwr, this is not a bad question at all...
In fact it is testing the usage of past perfect and the past tense.

See the option A properly, you will find that before George Eliott became famous, she had been....

So before the happening of an event i.e famous, she had been something... i.e an anonymous translator and essayist of formidably far-ranging scholarship.

I hope I m right. If I am right, please thank me or rectify my error by giving an explanation!!!

By bad, i mean the level of this question is below par as quoted by Chris.

imskpwr wrote: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
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

Please explain your answers.

OA: after discussion.

In B, C, D and E, we're given the following construction:
George Eliot had been/has been/became/was the popular and respected novelist, George Eliot.
Here, George Eliot is in APPOSITION to novelist.
Nouns are in apposition when they appear side-by-side, with the second serving to explain or define the first.
The implication here is that novelist = George Eliot.
The result is a strange meaning: that George Eliot had been/has been/became/was HERSELF.
Only A conveys the intended meaning: that George Eliot became the popular and respected novelist KNOWN AS George Eliot.

The correct answer is A.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

imskpwr wrote: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
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

Please explain your answers.

OA: after discussion.

In B, C, D and E, we're given the following construction:
George Eliot was/became the popular and respected novelist, George Eliot.
Here, George Eliot is in APPOSITION to novelist.
Nouns are in apposition when they appear side-by-side, with the second serving to explain or define the first.
The implication here is that novelist = George Eliot.
The result is a strange meaning: that George Eliot was/became HERSELF.
Only A conveys the intended meaning: that George Eliot became the popular and respected novelist KNOWN AS George Eliot.

The correct answer is A.

Thanks GMATguruNY.

So you mean to say,

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

But, is it because of the Meaning or the Structure(esp because of appositive nouns) of these sentences.

If it is only structure, then (as per what i understood from your reasoning) in the below mentioned example "Honest" and "World" are Appositive Nouns.

Before I was honest, world was charming .
Before I was honest, world was charming .

But I think this is not the case here.

Please elaborate a bit more on

George Eliot was/became the popular and respected novelist, George Eliot.[/i]
Here, George Eliot is in APPOSITION to novelist.
Nouns are in apposition when they appear side-by-side, with the second serving to explain or define the first.

imskpwr wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:

imskpwr wrote: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
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

Please explain your answers.

OA: after discussion.

In B, C, D and E, we're given the following construction:
George Eliot had been/has been/became/was the popular and respected novelist, George Eliot.
Here, George Eliot is in APPOSITION to novelist.
Nouns are in apposition when they appear side-by-side, with the second serving to explain or define the first.
The implication here is that novelist = George Eliot.
The result is a strange meaning: that George Eliot had been/has been/became/was HERSELF.
Only A conveys the intended meaning: that George Eliot became the popular and respected novelist KNOWN AS George Eliot.

The correct answer is A.

Thanks GMATguruNY.

you mean to say,
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

Correct me, if I am wrong.

You got it.

imskpwr wrote: But, is it because of the Meaning or the Structure(esp because of appositive nouns) of these sentences.

If it is only structure, then (as per what i understood from your reasoning) in the below mentioned example "Honest" and "World" are Appositive Nouns.

Before I was honest, world was charming .
Before I was honest, world was charming .

But I think this is not the case here.

For nouns to be in APPOSITION, they must appear side-by-side and refer to the same thing.
The second noun serves to explain or define the first.
To illustrate, the nouns in red are in apposition:

Dr. Jones, the best pediatrician in the city, has practiced medicine for the past ten years.
John got an A in chemistry, his favorite subject.

In each case, the second noun is the APPOSITIVE of the first because the two nouns are side-by-side and clearly refer to the same thing.
The second noun serves to explain or define the first.

In your example, world cannot be in apposition to honest because honest is not a noun but an ADJECTIVE.

If you need further explanation, I suggest that you google APPOSITION or APPOSITIVE.

I was afraid of this structure,but now its clear.

Thanks again!