I was practicing Sentence correction from Aristotle SC Grail and came across the following question on tenses:
Q: 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.
I thought the correct answer was A but as per the book the correct answer is C.
I choose answer choice A for the following reasons:
1. 2 actions happened in the past - John won the lottery and John was a poor locksmith
2. Since the sentence makes the sequence of actions clear by using the word "before" John won the lottery, there is no confusion as to the sequence of the events and hence the use of past participle "had" is irrelevant.
Q: 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.
I thought the correct answer was A but as per the book the correct answer is C.
I choose answer choice A for the following reasons:
1. 2 actions happened in the past - John won the lottery and John was a poor locksmith
2. Since the sentence makes the sequence of actions clear by using the word "before" John won the lottery, there is no confusion as to the sequence of the events and hence the use of past participle "had" is irrelevant.
