Kaplan Test Confusing SC.

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Kaplan Test Confusing SC.

by rakeshd347 » Sat Sep 14, 2013 9:18 pm
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angeles a world city, yet within twenty years a powerful municipality had made this boast a reality.

yet within twenty years a powerful municipality had made this boast a reality
yet within twenty years a powerful municipality made this boast a reality
yet a powerful municipality within twenty years will make this boast a reality
yet this boast had become a reality within twenty years because of a powerful will municipally
yet within twenty years a municipality will had made this boast a powerful reality

Source Kaplan test

OA A

Can someone please explain why is B wrong and why is A
There is no "will" in the original sentence as I searched this question before and other students said there is "will" before the had but there is none.[/spoiler]

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by [email protected] » Sun Sep 15, 2013 12:50 pm
Hi rakeshd347,

This SC is based on the same rule as your other SC from this CAT: two past events, use the word "had."

Notice the two past tense verbs: "mocked" and "made", so we need the word "had."

Final Answer: A

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by jitsy » Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:17 pm
Agree, but shouldn't the event that occurred first, take the 'had'. Here the claim having been made a realty happened second. Although, I did go with A myself because it just sounded right, I am looking for clarity on the rule. Thx
[email protected] wrote:Hi rakeshd347,

This SC is based on the same rule as your other SC from this CAT: two past events, use the word "had."

Notice the two past tense verbs: "mocked" and "made", so we need the word "had."

Final Answer: A

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by KapTeacherEli » Sun Sep 15, 2013 5:48 pm
Looks like the grammar issue has been resolved. Just to clarify what rakesh meant, though, about "will"--an older version of the problem stated that a "municipal will had made this boast reality." Here, "municipal will" meant the desire of the community, using "will" as in "willpower." But the majority of students read the sentence to have the nonsensical verb-phrase "will had," interpreting it as a malformed version of the future perfect "will have had." So, we changed the question from "municipal will" to "municipality," which is why you will see a different version of this question on older threads.

I hope this helps!
Eli Meyer
Kaplan GMAT Teacher
Cambridge, MA
www.kaptest.com/gmat

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