French refugees

[kaulnikhil]

French refugees who settled in Manakin town had exemption from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than German Protestants who settled in Stafford County.

(A) had exemption from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than
(B) was exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than
(C) had exemption from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than were
(D) were exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than
(E) had exemption and did not pay taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than

[spoiler]Doesnt D have a comparison error??
French refugees who settled in Manakin townwere exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than German Protestants were exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly
2.French refugees who settled in Manakin townwere exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than French refugees were exempted from paying taxes to German Protestants who settled in Stafford County.

[/spoiler]

[reply2spg]

If you do not consider comparison issue then this problem is easy. For few minutes just forget comparison issue. Now between 'exemption' and 'exempted' you need later. So eliminate A, C and E. Now between B and D you need plural verb and B has singular verb, so eliminate B. D is correct.

French refugees who settled in Manakin town had exemption from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than German Protestants who settled in Stafford County.

(A) had exemption from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than
(B) was exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than
(C) had exemption from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than were
(D) were exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than
(E) had exemption and did not pay taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than

[spoiler]Doesnt D have a comparison error??
French refugees who settled in Manakin townwere exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than German Protestants were exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly
2.French refugees who settled in Manakin townwere exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than French refugees were exempted from paying taxes to German Protestants who settled in Stafford County.

[/spoiler]

[hardik.jadeja]

Doesnt D have a comparison error??
French refugees who settled in Manakin townwere exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than German Protestants were exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly

I dont think that there is any comparison error in D.

French refugees are being compared with German Protestants.

I think you have this doubt because this is an elliptical construction. You will see elliptical construction specially in sentences where comparison in involved.

2.French refugees who settled in Manakin townwere exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than French refugees were exempted from paying taxes to German Protestants who settled in Stafford County.

I dont understand your second question. The sentence you constructed here is awkward. You have unnecessarily used "French refugees" twice.

[kvcpk]

Couple of questions to Hardik..

What is meant by elliptical construction?
Why is A wrong in this case.

Thanks in Advance!!

[kaulnikhil]

Couple of questions to Hardik..

What is meant by elliptical construction?
Why is A wrong in this case.

Thanks in Advance!!

French refugees who settled in Manakin town had exemption from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly earlier than German Protestants who settled in Stafford County.

A is wrong because of had. there is no verb in the past tense , hence had doesn't make sense . use past perfect to show that something happened before a past event.
By elliptical construction hardik means to says that a part of sentence is assumed and it is not necessary to write that part of the sentence .The main reason for doing so is that we dont want to write the same words again for example in this question were exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly
is assumed in the second part of the sentence

[kvcpk]

[A is wrong because of had. there is no verb in the past tense , hence had doesn't make sense . use past perfect to show that something happened before a past event.

Thanks for your explanation regarding elliptical construction.. understood that now..

But, As you say, there is no past tense verb in the question.. so we shouldnot choose A.
But the question doesnt contain a Present tense/ present perfect verb too.. how can we decide the verb in this case?

[hardik.jadeja]

[A is wrong because of had. there is no verb in the past tense , hence had doesn't make sense . use past perfect to show that something happened before a past event.

Thanks for your explanation regarding elliptical construction.. understood that now..

But, As you say, there is no past tense verb in the question.. so we shouldnot choose A.
But the question doesnt contain a Present tense/ present perfect verb too.. how can we decide the verb in this case?

French refugees had exemption from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly
French refugees were exempted from paying taxes to the Virginia Assembly

Which one sounds better to you? I guess the second one. "exempted from paying taxes" is a better construction than "exemption from paying taxes". So that rules out A and C.

"had exemption and did not pay taxes" is redundant in E.

Between B and D, B has subject-verb agreement issue.
"French refugees" - plural
B) "was exempted" - Singular verb - wrong
D) "were exempted" - plural verb - perfect answer.

Hence D.

[kvcpk]

D is definetly the right answer..

It also sounds good to the ear comapred to A..

But i wanted to know what is wrong grammatically with A.