Dear Friends,
Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
ritula wrote:
Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he also won the loyalty of its citizens: the invading Danes were well aware of this weakness and used it to their advantage in 893.
(A) Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he
(B) The fact that King Alfred had occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he had
(C) Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean he
(D) The fact that King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean that he
(E) Just because King Alfred had occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean he
Concepts tested here: Tenses + Pronouns + Meaning• 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"; further, if the sentence contains more than two actions in the past, the past perfect tense will be used to refer to all but the latest action.
• One of the acceptable usages of the placeholder pronoun “it” is that it can refer to a that/who/whether clause.
A: The sentence formed by this answer choice incorrectly uses the simple past tense verbs “occupied”, "fortified", and “won” to refer to the earlier of multiple actions that concluded in the past-- King Alfred occupying and fortifying London, King Alfred not being able to win the loyalty of its citizens, and the Danes using this weakness to their advantage in 893; please 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"; further, if the sentence contains more than two actions in the past, the past perfect tense will be used to refer to all but the latest action.
B: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the past perfect tense verbs "had occupied", "had...fortified", and "had won" to refer to the earlier of multiple actions that concluded in the past-- King Alfred occupying and fortifying London, King Alfred not being able to win the loyalty of its citizens, and the Danes using this weakness to their advantage in 893. Further, Option B correctly uses the pronoun “it” to refer to only one referent, “this weakness”.
C: The sentence formed by this answer choice incorrectly uses the simple past tense verbs “occupied”, "fortified", and “won” to refer to the earlier of multiple actions that concluded in the past-- King Alfred occupying and fortifying London, King Alfred not being able to win the loyalty of its citizens, and the Danes using this weakness to their advantage in 893; please 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"; further, if the sentence contains more than two actions in the past, the past perfect tense will be used to refer to all but the latest action. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the pronoun “it” as both a placeholder pronoun and to refer to the noun “this weakness”; please remember, a pronoun can only have one referent in a sentence.
D: The sentence formed by this answer choice incorrectly uses the simple past tense verbs “occupied”, "fortified", and “won” to refer to the earlier of multiple actions that concluded in the past-- King Alfred occupying and fortifying London, King Alfred not being able to win the loyalty of its citizens, and the Danes using this weakness to their advantage in 893; please 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"; further, if the sentence contains more than two actions in the past, the past perfect tense will be used to refer to all but the latest action. Further, Option D incorrectly uses the pronoun “it” as both a placeholder pronoun and to refer to the noun “this weakness”; please remember, a pronoun can only have one referent in a sentence.
E: The sentence formed by this answer choice incorrectly uses the simple past tense verb “won” to refer to the earlier of multiple actions that concluded in the past-- King Alfred occupying and fortifying London, King Alfred not being able to win the loyalty of its citizens, and the Danes using this weakness to their advantage in 893; please 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"; further, if the sentence contains more than two actions in the past, the past perfect tense will be used to refer to all but the latest action. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the pronoun “it” as both a placeholder pronoun and to refer to the noun “this weakness”; please remember, a pronoun can only have one referent in a sentence.
Hence, B is the best answer choice.To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):
To understand the concept of "Past Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team