OG 16 Question 27

In the seventh century B.C., the Roman alphabet was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet, which in turn had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet, which itself had been adapted earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet.

A. which itself had been adapted earlier
B. adapting itself earlier
C. itself being adapted earlier
D. having been earlier adapted itself
E. earlier itself having been adapted

Since the adaption event happened way back in the past, there is no place for present or present continuous or present perfect tense.
only A satisfies the criteria of past perfect tense.

Could some one justify the usage of HAD-since had was previously used for Etruscan Alphabet. The Greek alphabet was also adapted in the same period but a little early in the century ?-IS that why the usage of HAD okay?

The list of events timewise
1. In the sixth century(remember previous century in sentence), Greek alphabet had been adapted earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet.
2. In the sixth century, Etruscan alphabet had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet
3. In the seventh century B.C., the Roman alphabet was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet

Neilsheth2 wrote:I am confused with the usage of HAD in OA.

One purpose of the past perfect (had + VERBed) is to express an action completed before another past event.
In the seventh century B.C., the Roman alphabet was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet, which in turn had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet, which itself had been adapted earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet.
Here:
The portion in red serves to express an action completed before the Roman alphabet was adapted.
The portion in blue serves to express an action completed before the Etruscan alphabet had been adapted.
The usage of three time-modifiers -- in the seventh century B.C., in the previous century, earlier in the same century -- makes the sequence of events clear.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

Neilsheth2 wrote:I am confused with the usage of HAD in OA.

One purpose of the past perfect (had + VERBed) is to express an action completed before another past event.
In the seventh century B.C., the Roman alphabet was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet, which in turn had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet, which itself had been adapted earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet.
Here:
The portion in red serves to express an action completed before the Roman alphabet was adapted.
The portion in blue serves to express an action completed before the Etruscan alphabet had been adapted.
The usage of three time-modifiers -- in the seventh century B.C., in the previous century, earlier in the same century -- makes the sequence of events clear.

Dear GMATGuruNY Sir!
I am confused with the use of "itself"in C&E, could you explain it? "Itself" refers to the Greek alphabet? OR It is ambiguous to figure it out? And the "itself+V-ing" modifies which part of the sentence?
Thanks in advance!

so can i say that
had done shows an action which happen before an action presented by had done, have done and did.

One purpose of the past perfect (had + VERBed) is to express an action completed before another past event.
In the seventh century B.C., the Roman alphabet was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet, which in turn had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet, which itself had been adapted earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet.
Here:
The portion in red serves to express an action completed before the Roman alphabet was adapted.
The portion in blue serves to express an action completed before the Etruscan alphabet had been adapted.
The usage of three time-modifiers -- in the seventh century B.C., in the previous century, earlier in the same century -- makes the sequence of events clear.

[/quote]


Hi GMATGuruNY ,

can you please explain that why B is wrong?

Thanks

Hello Everyone!

While there is already some great discussion on this question, let's take a look at it to determine how to answer this question as quickly as possible. That way, you can get to the harder GMAT questions more easily! Before we dive in, here is the original question, with the major differences between each option highlighted in orange:

In the seventh century B.C., the Roman alphabet was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet, which in turn had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet, which itself had been adapted earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet.

(A) which itself had been adapted earlier
(B) adapting itself earlier
(C) itself being adapted earlier
(D) having been earlier adapted itself
(E) earlier itself having been adapted

After a quick glance over the options, the only major difference we see is the verbs, so let's focus on that!

To determine which verb tense we need to use, we first need to figure out the order in which these events happened. Since they all happened in the past, we will need to use a combination of past tense and past perfect tense. Here is how the events in this sentence work in a timeline:

Greek alphabet was adapted from Phoenician alphabet --> Etruscan alphabet was adapted from Greek alphabet --> Roman alphabet was adapted from Etruscan alphabet

The event that happens in the past gets plain ol' past tense, which we see in the original sentence (...the Roman alphabet was adapted from...). This means any event that occurs further in the past requires past perfect tense!

Let's see which options use the correct past perfect tense to show the proper order of events:

(A) which itself had been adapted earlier --> GOOD
(This uses past perfect tense to show that the event happened before another past event, so we'll keep this for later!)

(B) adapting itself earlier --> BAD
(This doesn't work because it turns the phrase "adapting itself earlier" into a modifier for Etruscan alphabet. It also suggests that the alphabet adapted itself, which doesn't make logical sense. An alphabet isn't a person, so it can't change by itself!)

(C) itself being adapted earlier --> BAD
(This also doesn't work because it also suggests that the alphabet adapted itself. It also uses past tense, and we need past perfect tense for it to work.)

(D) having been earlier adapted itself --> BAD
(This option is written using past tense, and it's in passive voice. We're looking for past perfect tense here, so this doesn't work.)

(E) earlier itself having been adapted --> BAD
(This option uses past tense, which isn't what we're looking for. We want past perfect tense instead.)

There you have it - option A is the only one that uses past perfect to show the order of events correctly!


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