Your choice (D) in the first question is wrong, because the tense is wrong. The verbal form should not be 'had instituted', because we only want to use the past perfect if we are juxtaposing two actions in the past, one that occurred earlier and one that occurred later. This sentence only presents us with one action and so the Past simple form is adequate. In addition 'controls on prices' is wordy.

In the second question, the answer choice you picked uses the passive 'has been done' - always less preferred on the GMAT.

garima99 wrote:Hi Answer these with reasons and why my answer was wrong

1. No need of "had" in D. If had was not there it could have been the correct answer

Ilana@MasterGMAT wrote:Your choice (D) in the first question is wrong, because the tense is wrong. The verbal form should not be 'had instituted', because we only want to use the past perfect if we are juxtaposing two actions in the past, one that occurred earlier and one that occurred later. This sentence only presents us with one action and so the Past simple form is adequate. In addition 'controls on prices' is wordy.

In the second question, the answer choice you picked uses the passive 'has been done' - always less preferred on the GMAT.

Hi Ilana,

In the second question "they" seems to refer to grapes. What do you think?