The NCIED was then, as it is now

gmatdriller wrote:The NCIED was then, as it is now, the first and most successful national
organization solely dedicated to developing American Indian economic self-sufficiency
through business ownership.

A. then, as it is now, the first and most successful
B. first and most successful as a
C. then first and now the most successful
D. the first, and remains the most successful,
E. the first and still the most successful

B - lacks THE; AS A is also incorrect
C - NOW is attached with success, suggesting that NCIED was not MOST SUCCESSFUL in past
E - WAS the first and WAS the most successful. Presence of WAS for the 2nd part of AND changes the intended meaning
A - its unclear what AS IT IS NOW modifies. Can it modify THE FIRST? It has a modifier issue. Ideally it should modify THE MOST SUCCESSFUL. One more comment is IMO use of THEN is not required. When we say SOMETHING WAS FIRST THEN means that is no more first - it does not ma(both in A/C).

IMO d

OA is D...
The problem was the implied "was" in E.
Please could u expatiate more and how does D differ?

gmatdriller wrote:OA is D...
The problem was the implied "was" in E.
Please could u expatiate more and how does D differ?

The NCIED was then, as it is now, the first and most successful national organization solely dedicated to developing American Indian economic self-sufficiency through business ownership.
D. the first, and remains the most successful,
E. the first and still the most successful

D - The NCIED was then ....the first, and remains the most successful, organization (it talks about 2 things The NCIED was then the first organization AND ,The NCIED remains the most successful organization, )

The presence of COMMA makes it non-essential and presence of verb REMAINS makes it parallel with WAS. In other words WAS...AND REMAINS are given as two ideas in D happening at different times.

But in E THE FIRST AND THE MOST SUCCESSFUL are given as two parallel ideas (ie two nouns connected with AND) and therefore verb WAS becomes attached with both of them, distorting the meaning