SC Grockit question - need a grammar expert's advice!

Expert replies

sdilmanian: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 25; Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 4:13 pm

by sdilmanian » Thu Jul 14, 2011 9:14 am

Hi everyone, please refer to the following SC question:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/08/ ... ment-12189

I am a little confused about the answer. I had initially chosen answer choice E. I understand now that "which have increased" (in choice C), is more accurate than "with an increase of" (as in choice E). HOWEVER, the tenses used at the end of the two choices makes me prefer choice E: "after HAVING fallen". Is "after having fallen last semester" in this sentence not more correct than "after falling last semester"?

So basically my question is, ignoring the rest of the inaccuracies of the sentence, is tense E better than tense C?

Thanks in advance

Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Thu Jul 14, 2011 9:14 am

GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Thu Jul 14, 2011 10:57 am

sdilmanian wrote:Hi everyone, please refer to the following SC question:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/08/ ... ment-12189

I am a little confused about the answer. I had initially chosen answer choice E. I understand now that "which have increased" (in choice C), is more accurate than "with an increase of" (as in choice E). HOWEVER, the tenses used at the end of the two choices makes me prefer choice E: "after HAVING fallen". Is "after having fallen last semester" in this sentence not more correct than "after falling last semester"?

So basically my question is, ignoring the rest of the inaccuracies of the sentence, is tense E better than tense C?

Thanks in advance

After + having + past participle is an error of redundancy. All on its own, after conveys that the action to follow occurred in the past. Thus, having + past participle -- which also indicates past action -- is unnecessary.

Incorrect: After having fallen...
Correct: After falling...
Correct: Having fallen...

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sdilmanian: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 25; Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 4:13 pm

by sdilmanian » Fri Jul 15, 2011 2:38 pm

Very interesting, I was completely unaware of that. So the construction 'After + having + past participle' is always incorrect?

Thanks GMATGuru

sdilmanian: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 25; Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 4:13 pm

by sdilmanian » Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:12 pm

And is a construction such as "having been cut" also incorrect for the same reason?
e.g. "The trenches, having been cut into a 500-acre site, have yielded..."

aspirant2011: Legendary Member; Posts: 1574; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 amFollowed by: 13 members; Thanked: 88 times

by aspirant2011 » Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:45 pm

sdilmanian wrote:And is a construction such as "having been cut" also incorrect for the same reason?
e.g. "The trenches, having been cut into a 500-acre site, have yielded..."

I don't think so that Having been cut is wrong , might be the second Have is wrong because I feel that only Yielded should have been used instead of Have yielded

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