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Nothing quite like this Broadway

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Nothing quite like this Broadway

by aditya8062 » Fri Aug 22, 2014 5:18 am
Nothing quite like this Broadway production has ever been made before, and it proved to be a huge hit, broadcast in 20 different countries and around the world.

A Nothing quite like this Broadway production has ever been made before, and it proved to be a huge hit, broadcast in 20 different countries and around the world.
B This Broadway production, something which has never been made before, proved to be a huge hit, broadcast around the world in 20 different countries.
C Unlike anything that had ever been made before, this Broadway production proved to be a huge hit, broadcasting in 20 different countries and around the world.
D Nothing quite like this Broadway show had ever been made before, and it proved to be a huge hit, broadcast in 20 different countries around the world.
E Nothing quite like this Broadway show was made before, and it had proved to be a huge hit, broadcast in 20 different countries around the world.


my doubt: i read somewhere that :Adverbs that refer to AN INDEFINITE TIME IN THE PAST (ever, never, already, yet) typically require the PRESENT PERFECT. is this question not flouting this rule?
Also the proclaimed answer D introduce two dependent ideas with "AND" parallelism .can this be correct?

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by Jim@StratusPrep » Fri Aug 22, 2014 5:44 am
You are right in your analysis. What is the source?
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by David@GMATPrepNow » Fri Aug 22, 2014 7:38 am
Hi aditya8062

You are right about the use of the present perfect tense when referring to an indefinite time in the past. However, there is another rule about indefinite times that says the PAST PERFECT is to be used when two events happened at some point in the past, with one past action having occurred before the other past action.

In the case of answer D, the two events are the broadway show, and the broadcast of the broadway show. Both events happened in the past (and of course the actual broadway show had to have taken place before the show was broadcast!)

To form the past perfect, use had and the past participle of a verb in one part of the sentence. Often, the regular past tense is used in the other part of the sentence. In answer D, "broadcast" is an accepted past tense of the verb (broadcasted is the other accepted form).

The other answers all have problems with verb tense (has instead of had) and parallelism (-ing verbs instead of the past tense, for example, "broadcasting").

I hope this helps!
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Fri Aug 22, 2014 9:17 am
Aside: If you're interested, we have a free video on all 3 perfect tenses: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... on?id=1178

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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Aug 31, 2014 1:49 pm
aditya8062 wrote: my doubt: i read somewhere that :Adverbs that refer to AN INDEFINITE TIME IN THE PAST (ever, never, already, yet) typically require the PRESENT PERFECT. is this question not flouting this rule?
The past perfect (had + VERBed) can be coupled with a time modifier such as never or already to express an action that takes place at an indefinite moment in the past.
SC92 in the OG10:
NEVER before HAD taxpayers CONFRONTED as many changes at once as they confronted in the Tax Reform Act of 1986.
Here, never before had taxpayers confronted serves to express an action that takes place at an indefinite moment in the past -- a moment prior to another past action (confronted).
Also the proclaimed answer D introduce two dependent ideas with "AND" parallelism .can this be correct?
D: Nothing quite like this Broadway show had ever been made before, and it proved to be a huge hit.
Here, and serves to link an independent clause in the past perfect tense to an independent clause in the simple past tense.
It is extremely unlikely that an OA on the GMAT will employ this construction.
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by EducationAisle » Sun Aug 31, 2014 9:03 pm
aditya8062 wrote: my doubt: i read somewhere that :Adverbs that refer to AN INDEFINITE TIME IN THE PAST (ever, never, already, yet) typically require the PRESENT PERFECT. is this question not flouting this rule?
Basically indefinite time is associated with perfect tenses; whether the correct tense to be used is present perfect or past perfect, depends on the context:

(i) An indefinite time in the past, before current time: Present perfect. For example:

No one has ever won the elections by a margin of more than 600,000 votes.

(ii) An indefinite time in the past, before another time in the past time: Past perfect. For example:

Before Modi won the elections by a margin of 570,000 votes, no one had ever won the elections by such a huge margin.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Perfect tenses, their application and examples in significant detail. If you can PM you email, I can send you the corresponding section.
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by hazelnut01 » Sat Apr 01, 2017 9:30 pm
aditya8062 wrote:Nothing quite like this Broadway production has ever been made before, and it proved to be a huge hit, broadcast in 20 different countries and around the world.

A Nothing quite like this Broadway production has ever been made before, and it proved to be a huge hit, broadcast in 20 different countries and around the world.
B This Broadway production, something which has never been made before, proved to be a huge hit, broadcast around the world in 20 different countries.
C Unlike anything that had ever been made before, this Broadway production proved to be a huge hit, broadcasting in 20 different countries and around the world.
D Nothing quite like this Broadway show had ever been made before, and it proved to be a huge hit, broadcast in 20 different countries around the world.
E Nothing quite like this Broadway show was made before, and it had proved to be a huge hit, broadcast in 20 different countries around the world.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

This question is primarily testing tense and proper timelines. An initial scan of the answer choices shows a choice between "has been", "had been", and "was" - a clear hint that tense is in play. In A, you have an illogical timeline of the present perfect "has been" combined with the past tense "proved". Also it is illogical to say broadcast in "20 different countries" AND "around the world". It should be simply "20 different countries around the world." (B) contains the same tense error and also gets the order wrong in the expression at the end. It was not broadcast "around the world in 20 countries". In (C), the comparison is confusing and illogical. The present participle "broadcasting" is also illogical because it suggests that the production was doing the broadcasting. "Broadcast" is essential because it shows that someone else broadcast the production in other countries. (C) also contains the error at the end referenced previously. In (E), the timeline is illogical as it gets the order of events backwards. Only (D) gets the timeline correct and uses the logical and correct "broadcast in 20 different countries around the world" at the end. Answer is (D).
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