Dear Friends,
Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
kapilhede17 wrote:
Explaining that one of its many difficulties had been the recent growing injury list among starting players, the minor league baseball team said it would start a month-long search for better physical trainers and physicians.
(A) its many difficulties had been the recent
(B) its many difficulties has been the recently
(C) its many difficulties is the recently
(D) their many difficulties is the recent
(E) their many difficulties had been the recent
Concepts tested here: Pronouns + Modifiers + Tenses• The past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past".
• The present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.
• An adverb can only be used to modify a verb or an adjective.
• Collective nouns (such as “team” in this sentence) are always singular.
A: Correct.1/ This answer choice correctly refers to the singular noun "team" with the singular pronoun "its".
2/ Option A correctly uses the adjective "recent" to modify the noun phrase "injury list".
3/ Option A correctly uses the past perfect tense verb "had been" to refer to the earlier of two actions that concluded in the past - injury list among starting players being one of the team's meant difficulties and the team saying that it would start a month-long search for better physical trainers and physicians.
B: Trap.
1/ This answer choice incorrectly uses the adverb "recently" to modify the noun phrase "injury list"; remember, an adverb can only be used to modify a verb or an adjective.
2/ Option B incorrectly uses the present perfect tense verb "has been" to refer to the earlier of two actions that concluded in the past - injury list among starting players being one of the team's meant difficulties and the team saying that it would start a month-long search for better physical trainers and physicians; remember, the past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past", and the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.
C:1/ This answer choice incorrectly uses the adverb "recently" to modify the noun phrase "injury list"; remember, an adverb can only be used to modify a verb or an adjective.
2/ Option C incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "is" to refer to the earlier of two actions that concluded in the past - injury list among starting players being one of the team's meant difficulties and the team saying that it would start a month-long search for better physical trainers and physicians; remember, the past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past", and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.
D:1/ This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "team" with the plural pronoun "their"; remember, collective nouns (such as “team” in this sentence) are always singular.
2/ Option D incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "is" to refer to the earlier of two actions that concluded in the past - injury list among starting players being one of the team's meant difficulties and the team saying that it would start a month-long search for better physical trainers and physicians; remember, the past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past", and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.
E:1/ This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "team" with the plural pronoun "their"; remember, collective nouns (such as “team” in this sentence) are always singular.
Hence, A is the best answer choice.To understand the concept of "Past Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
To understand the concept of "Present Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team