845

BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

This topic has expert replies

Post new topic Locked

Previous Topic Next Topic

vaivish: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 371; Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:16 am; Thanked: 6 times; Followed by:1 members

845

by vaivish » Thu Aug 21, 2008 11:21 pm

845. The utility company has announced that it will permanently close its Unit I nuclear power plant, the first plant that had been built by private industry and the model for a generation of modern nuclear reactors.
(A) that had been built by private industry and
(B) built by private industry and which was
(C) to be built by private industry and which was
(D) built by private industry and
(E) to have been built by private industry and was

Oa is d. CAn somebody tell me , why are we not using had been here, because the plant was built in the past and now it will get closed by company. Hence while answering had been would be the right choice. BUt it is not the case.

While answering please talk about the usage of had been ...

Quote

Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Thu Aug 21, 2008 11:21 pm

codesnooker: Legendary Member; Posts: 543; Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:01 am; Thanked: 43 times; GMAT Score:580

Re: 845

by codesnooker » Fri Aug 22, 2008 3:31 am

vaivish wrote:845. The utility company has announced that it will permanently close its Unit I nuclear power plant, the first plant that had been built by private industry and the model for a generation of modern nuclear reactors.
(A) that had been built by private industry and
(B) built by private industry and which was
(C) to be built by private industry and which was
(D) built by private industry and
(E) to have been built by private industry and was

Oa is d. CAn somebody tell me , why are we not using had been here, because the plant was built in the past and now it will get closed by company. Hence while answering had been would be the right choice. BUt it is not the case.

While answering please talk about the usage of had been ...

Normally in the sentence we use had been, when we are talking about the time in that action was started in past and ended in the past.

But in the above question, if you re-read the sentence and try to grasp the meaning of sentence then, you will find that it never talked about any action that happened in the past during the construction of the plant (the entire period of construction of plant). So in the above question the usage of had/have been is unnecessary as it does show any corresponding course of action. You can use simple past tense to complete sentence as shown in option (D).

Other usage of Had/Have Been:-

1. It can be used as a auxiliary verb.
Ex:- I have never been to America.

Request: Do not just copy paste your question from the document. Take a little pain to underline the sentence in the sentence correction questions. It will increase the readability of the question.

Thanks,
Code Snooker

Quote

Rashmi1804: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 139; Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:04 am; Thanked: 3 times; GMAT Score:620

by Rashmi1804 » Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:23 am

Why is option B wrong ???

-B) built by private industry and which was

Is it because of WAS or both WHICH and WAS ??

I was wondering whether B would be correct had WAS been IS in option B.

: Unit-I, the first building built by ......and which is the model ....

Quote

anshulseth: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 145; Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:41 am; Thanked: 2 times; Followed by:2 members

by anshulseth » Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:46 am

Somehow I feel its not a good question, OR the answer choices are inappropriate.

Ideally, the modifier should touch the noun.
So, that should rule out all options with 'which'.
As 'which' modifies 'private industry' and not 'plant'.

Secondly, it should sound like 'the plant was a model for the modern nuclear reactors', so using all the options given, i can't arrive at one which uses the tense properly and have "and was".

No answer is the answer from my side.

Asset

Quote

thetrystero: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 154; Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:57 pm; Thanked: 3 times

Re: 845

by thetrystero » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:21 am

vaivish wrote:845. The utility company has announced that it will permanently close its Unit I nuclear power plant, the first plant that had been built by private industry and the model for a generation of modern nuclear reactors.
(A) that had been built by private industry and
(B) built by private industry and which was
(C) to be built by private industry and which was
(D) built by private industry and
(E) to have been built by private industry and was

Oa is d. CAn somebody tell me , why are we not using had been here, because the plant was built in the past and now it will get closed by company. Hence while answering had been would be the right choice. BUt it is not the case.

While answering please talk about the usage of had been ...

I agree with anshulseth that the answer choices given are not satisfactory but if I had to choose, I would go with C. I feel that "which was" is required to link the initial clause with "the model ...".
"built by private industry" sounds odd, but I don't have a grammatical explanation, perhaps someone else can chime in. "built by the private industry" sounds much better to me.