Bharati Mukherjee

[vikram4689]

Being a United States citizen since 1988 and born in Calcutta in 1940, author Bharati Mukherjee has lived in England and Canada, and first came to the United States in 1961 to study at the Iowa Writers� Workshop.

(A) Being a United States citizen since 1988 and born in Calcutta in 1940, author Bharati Mukherjee has
(B) Having been a United States citizen since 1988, she was born in Calcutta in 1940; author Bharati Mukherjee
(C) Born in Calcutta in 1940, author Bharati Mukherjee became a United States citizen in 1988; she has
(D) Being born in Calcutta in 1940 and having been a United States citizen since 1988, author Bharati Mukherjee
(E) Having been born in Calcutta in 1940 and being a United States citizen since 1988, author Bharati Mukherjee

OA : C

can someone explain OG's explanation for D & E - the progressive verb forms being born and having been illogically suggest continuous action and fail to establish a logical time sequence. The sentence is wordy and awkward.

[kartikshah]

First of all, I'd say be wary of all sentences that start with 'being' on the GMAT. It is almost always found on incorrect answer choices.

Now, understand the sequence of events that the sentence wants to convey: Was Bharati Mukherjee first born in Calcutta or did she first become a citizen of the United States? If you look closely, you'll be able to establish the order of three events in BM's life:
1940: Born in Calcutta
1961: First visited USA
1988: Became a US citizen

Let's assume you don't know where Calcutta is or whether it is in USA or not. You would at least be aware that (in all normal circumstances) citizenship of a country of birth is granted immediately after being born by virtue of having been born in that country. So, the fact that BM became a US citizen 48 years after being born should tell you that she was not a US citizen at the time of her birth! This analysis is to help you ascertain the order of events.

In option D, the use of two progressive (continuous) verb forms 'being born' and 'having been' suggest that these two actions took place BEFORE the action of living in England and Canada. But it also suggests that the actions were continuous!! However, the years 1940 and 1988 clearly indicate that this would have been impossible. So the sequence of events in time is not properly established and hence the sentence is illogical.

Remember:
Present Participle (being) is used to show action occurring at the same time as that of the verb.
Example: Being told what to do is not pleasant.
(Action of being told and not feeling pleasant happens together.)

Past participle (having been) is used to show action occurring earlier than that of the verb
Example: Having been in similar situations earlier, Jane coped better this time.
(Jane coped better because has already been in similar situations in the past)

Example: Having experimented with several game plans, the coaching staff devised a master strategy.
(The present perfect participle having experimented indicates a time prior to the past tense verb, devised.)

Option E is incorrect because it is wordy and awkward. Let's see what makes it awkward.
As we have seen in the above examples, we use having + past participle more or less to establish a sequence and to convey that one action took place before another. This structure also tells us that Action B took place as a consequence of Action A.

In our current sentence is being born in Calcutta and having become a US citizen later, consequential to the actions of living in England and Canada? No. So it really makes no sense in using these verb forms at the start of the sentence.

I hope this helps! Do let me know if you still have any doubts.

Credits:
Example 1: "Being told what to do is not pleasant" has been borrowed from Engvid.com's website
Example 3: "Coaching Strategy.." has been borrowed from Capital Community College Foundation's website

[vikram4689]

Thanks, 2 questions
1) how will you eliminate A - it does not have being+verbed
Being a United States citizen since 1988 and born in Calcutta in 1940, author Bharati Mukherjee has

2) both being+verbed and having+verbed are present participle but former indicates action happening at same time whereas later indicates an action happening earlier. Why so ?

[GMAT Kolaveri]

Long sentences in GMAT SC are easier to solve if you get the meaning, logical sequence of events and correct placement of modifiers.

D and E are incorrect as they imply a continuous tense.
Being born and having been imply a continuous tense which is not required in this context.

she was born at some point and she because a US citizen at one point. There is no need for a continuous tense for these two independent events.

[CSASHISHPANDAY]

A, D, and E can quickly be eliminate since "being" is an awkward construction and is thus customarily incorrect.

As for choice B, the pronoun "she" in the first independent clause has no antecedent.