SC | OG 12

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SC | OG 12

by [email protected] » Sun Nov 04, 2012 12:56 am
She was less successful after she had emigrated to
New York compared to
her native Germany,
photographer Lotte Jacobi nevertheless earned a
small group of discerning admirers, and her
photographs were eventually exhibited in prestigious
galleries across the United States.

(A) She was less successful after she had
emigrated to New York compared to
(B) Being less successful after she had emigrated
to New York as compared to
(C) Less successful after she emigrated to New
York than she had been in
(D) Although she was less successful after
emigrating to New York when compared to
(E) She had been less successful after emigrating
to New York than in
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by Kasia@EconomistGMAT » Wed Nov 07, 2012 6:24 am
The sentence is quite complex. Therefore, you should start from breaking it down into smaller chunks.
1. She was less successful after she had emigrated to New York (questions: who is SHE? less successful compared to WHEN? are the tenses used correctly?)
2. compared to her native Germany - it seems that we are comparing a clause "she was less successful" to a phrase "her native Germany"; also it is incorrect to use "compared to" AND an expression showing contrast ("LESS successful")
3. photographer Lotte Jacobi nevertheless earned a small group of discerning admirers (we need to check whether the underlined part matches the non-underlined part grammatically and stylistically).

The pronoun "she" is used correctly with reference to Lotte but the original sentence compares a clause to a phrase. Answers B and D repeat the same mistake and can be eliminated. We are left with C and E.
Answer C is correct. The sentence uses past tenses correctly to indicate the sequence of events.
Answer E is incorrect because it uses the Past Perfect to talk about an action in the past that happened after and not BEFORE another one. Secondly, sentence E is a run-on. It lacks a conjunction between the first two clauses that would make the structure logical.
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