tough SC question

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tough SC question

by san2009 » Sat Jun 19, 2010 1:41 pm
why is A correct? Specifically, how come use of past perfect is justified here?

According to a study published by Dr. Myrna Weissman, only one percent of Americans born before 1905 had suffered major depression by the age of seventy-five; of those born since 1955, six percent had become depressed by age twenty-four.

(A) only one percent of Americans born before 1905 had suffered major depression by the age of seventy-five; of those born since 1955, six percent had become depressed by age twenty-four
(B) only one percent of Americans born before 1905 suffer major depression by the age of seventy-five; if they are born since 1955, six percent become depressed by age twenty-four
(C) of Americans born before 1905, only one percent of them have suffered major depression by age seventy-five, but six percent of those born since 1955 do by the age of twenty-four
(D) major depression is suffered by the age of seventy-five by only one percent of Americans born before 1905, and by age twenty-four by the six percent born since 1955
(E) Americans born before 1905 suffer major depression by the age of seventy-five only one percent of the time, but six percent of those born since 1955 did so by age twenty-four
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by hardik.jadeja » Sat Jun 19, 2010 1:51 pm
A) Past perfect tense is used to indicate that one event occurred before another event in the past. Since we are talking about an event that occurred before 1905, it is justified.

B & C wrongly use present tense to talk about an event occurred in the past.

C, D & E are awkward and badly worded.

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by grockit_andrea » Sat Jun 19, 2010 4:17 pm
A is correct because the sentence talks first about people born before 1985 who suffered from depression before they were 75, which would be, at the latest, 1980. Then the sentence mentions people who had become depressed by age 24. In order to know whether those people became depressed by age 24, they would have to already be at least 24. So both of those verbs-- had suffered and had become-- are in the past perfect because they describe something that began in the past and also ended in the past prior to some other event. Here, that other event is the publication of the study; you'll notice that "published" is in simple past tense.
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