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After the announcement that London

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by robosc9 » Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:46 am
After the announcement that London would host the 2012 Olympics, the Olympic Committee revealed that Paris had been in competition with London much longer than Madrid
A) been in competition with London much longer than Madrid
B) competed with London much longer than Madrid
C) been in competition with London much longer than had Madrid
D) competed with London much longer than had Madrid
E) been in completion much longer with London than Madrid

[spoiler]OA: D
I got confused between 'had been in competition' and 'had competed'.
Also, between 'much longer than Madrid' and 'much longer than had Madrid'
[/spoiler]
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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:56 am
robosc9 wrote:After the announcement that London would host the 2012 Olympics, the Olympic Committee revealed that Paris had been in competition with London much longer than Madrid
A) been in competition with London much longer than Madrid
B) competed with London much longer than Madrid
C) been in competition with London much longer than had Madrid
D) competed with London much longer than had Madrid
E) been in completion much longer with London than Madrid

[spoiler]OA: D
I got confused between 'had been in competition' and 'had competed'.
Also, between 'much longer than Madrid' and 'much longer than had Madrid'
[/spoiler]
The second verb "had madrid" is needed to indicate who is competing with whom. One problem with A is that the comparison is ambiguos - A could be read as:

Paris had been in competition with london much longer that WITH Madrid (paris competing with London and with Madrid)
OR
Paris had been in competition with london much longer than HAD Madrid (paris and Madrid competing with London).

Generally speaking, look for a fuller, more complete comparison - one that will usually (not always) include a verb in the second part of the comparison.

Once you have that out of the way (eliminate A, B and E because they do not have the verb "had"), The choice between C and D is one of style: both "had competed" and "had been in competition" are fine, but D is more concise and effective than C.
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by dhonu121 » Sun Sep 18, 2011 9:35 am
Hi Geva,
How is had more concise and effective than had been.
Had been tells that the effect still lingers while had tells just the relative positioning of two events in the past.
Isnt meaning more important here ?
Should the answer be C here then ?
Kinldly illuminate.

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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Sun Sep 18, 2011 10:41 am
dhonu121 wrote:Hi Geva,
How is had more concise and effective than had been.
Had been tells that the effect still lingers while had tells just the relative positioning of two events in the past.
Isnt meaning more important here ?
Should the answer be C here then ?
Kinldly illuminate.

THanks.
It's not just "had" - it's "had competed", which is also past perfect. Both of these forms are past perfect had + v3.
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by gunjan1208 » Sun Sep 18, 2011 9:39 pm
Hi Dhonu,

Yes. In fact, the result is out and the wait was done before the result was out. That's how this becomes PAST PERFECT AND D IS THE RIGHT CHOICE for that.
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