Sentence Correction

As the former dean of the school for 25 years, John Smith shook the hand of more than 250,000 graduates.


A)As the former

B)The former

C)Former

D)He was

E)As the


My take "A". OA to follow after some discussion .

There is no reason to use former; it is redundant when you talk about the time span he was the dean...

My pick E

Will go with E...

guerrero wrote:As the former dean of the school for 25 years, John Smith shook the hand of more than 250,000 graduates.


A)As the former

B)The former

C)Former

D)He was

E)As the


My take "A". OA to follow after some discussion .

A - Jim already pointed out the mistake in this option. If you leaver former and read it again, it seems like he[Dean] is a former-dean for 25 year not a dean, who served 25 year and who is no longer hold that position.

B - the former dean...totally absurd and awkward
C - same as above.
D - this make two sentence complete sentence and both of this sentence doesn't make sense together.
E - Bingo!!! right option

Kudos,
Hemant

hemant_rajput wrote:

guerrero wrote:As the former dean of the school for 25 years, John Smith shook the hand of more than 250,000 graduates.


A)As the former

B)The former

C)Former

D)He was

E)As the


My take "A". OA to follow after some discussion .

A - Jim already pointed out the mistake in this option. If you leaver former and read it again, it seems like he[Dean] is a former-dean for 25 year not a dean, who served 25 year and who is no longer hold that position.

B - the former dean...totally absurd and awkward
C - same as above.
D - this make two sentence complete sentence and both of this sentence doesn't make sense together.
E - Bingo!!! right option

Kudos,
Hemant

But I see potential in option E to change the meaning? As the dean for 25 years- could also mean that he is still the dean?

insanejuxtapose wrote:

hemant_rajput wrote:

guerrero wrote:As the former dean of the school for 25 years, John Smith shook the hand of more than 250,000 graduates.


A)As the former

B)The former

C)Former

D)He was

E)As the


My take "A". OA to follow after some discussion .

A - Jim already pointed out the mistake in this option. If you leaver former and read it again, it seems like he[Dean] is a former-dean for 25 year not a dean, who served 25 year and who is no longer hold that position.

B - the former dean...totally absurd and awkward
C - same as above.
D - this make two sentence complete sentence and both of this sentence doesn't make sense together.
E - Bingo!!! right option

Kudos,
Hemant

But I see potential in option E to change the meaning? As the dean for 25 years- could also mean that he is still the dean?

I do agree with you; option E does change the meaning,but our aim is to find best choice among the given choices.

only E is grammatically correct,hence it is our best choice.

As the former dean of the school for 25 years, John Smith shook the hand of more than 250,000 graduates.

I have slightly diff query-
John Smith shook the hand of more than 250,000 graduates.
Which one is correct "hand of" or "hand with"

hand with is probably better, but I would not worry about such things for the GMAT.

As the dean for 25 years....

When the sentence for 25 years, it implies that he was the dean for 25 years and he is no longer the dean and hence we need not use former. Is this thinking right, Jim?