The local government has built the school that was----

Expert replies

dddanny2006: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 209; Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:59 pm

by dddanny2006 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:03 am

These are some of the questions in the Manhattan SC guide involving Verb tense,Mood and Voice.

The local government has built the school that was destroyed by the earthquake.

What is not clear in this statement is whether the destroyed school was rebuilt by the local government,or whether the government had built the school that was destroyed by the earthquake,nonetheless my answer was

The School that had been destroyed by the earthquake was built by the local government.

'the school that was'----------------> 'The school that had been'

'has built' ---------------------> was built Simple past

Because the earthquake occurred before the government built the school.I made use of Past Perfect,followed by simple past.

The answer provided by Manhattan-

The local government built/had built the school that was destroyed by the Earthquake.

I hope my answer is correct too.

Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:03 am

Bill@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1248; Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:57 pmFollowed by: 192 members; Location: Everywhere; Thanked: 503 times; GMAT Score:780

by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:59 am

If the school had been rebuilt after the earthquake, then rebuilt would be the verb.

The sequence is:

1)school was built by the government
2)school was destroyed by the government

EDIT: as far as using simple past or past perfect for 'built', either is fine here because the sequence is still clear and logical.

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dddanny2006: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 209; Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:59 pm

by dddanny2006 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:29 am

Is my answer correct?Btw Thanks Bill.

Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:If the school had been rebuilt after the earthquake, then rebuilt would be the verb.

The sequence is:

1)school was built by the government
2)school was destroyed by the government

EDIT: as far as using simple past or past perfect for 'built', either is fine here because the sequence is still clear and logical.

Bill@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1248; Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:57 pmFollowed by: 192 members; Location: Everywhere; Thanked: 503 times; GMAT Score:780

by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:34 am

If the earthquake happened first, then "rebuilt" is the correct verb to use.

The school that had been destroyed by the earthquake was rebuilt by the local government.

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dddanny2006: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 209; Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:59 pm

by dddanny2006 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:38 am

Thank you.I think the sentence is confusing as we don't know for sure what came earlier.

Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:If the earthquake happened first, then "rebuilt" is the correct verb to use.

The school that had been destroyed by the earthquake was rebuilt by the local government.

Bill@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1248; Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:57 pmFollowed by: 192 members; Location: Everywhere; Thanked: 503 times; GMAT Score:780

by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:48 am

That's where paying attention to word choice can be important. On full SC questions, you should be very critical when you notice that answer choices use different verbs because that verb choice can have a dramatic impact on the meaning of the sentence.

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