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

[dddanny2006]

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.

[Bill@VeritasPrep]

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.

[dddanny2006]

Is my answer correct?Btw Thanks Bill.

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]

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.

[dddanny2006]

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

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]

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.