Opened in 1683, the Ashmolean was the first public museum in Great Bri

daagh ; the correct answer here is option C ; but option C has co relative conjunction error shouldnt it be .. just as x.. so y.. so is missing in in the sentence ..

a little confusing question ! the first non-underline is not action is just linking verb (am-is -are) but the second part we must use "had" which indicate preceding action ....... it has not any sing of using past participle too. !?
please help

daagh

daagh GMATNinja egmat Souvik

Hi,

Slight confusion.

Doesn't the construction 'has been' or 'had been' convey the meaning of something that was true once and is not true any more.

I mean to say that the library was the first public library and will always be. If I say that it had been the first library then doesn't the sentence construction give a hint that the library once was first and some other library has taken its place.

Will appreciate a response please.

Thanks.

in choice a
"while" can not show a contrast because meanings are not opposite. "while"can not show simultaneous action because "earlier" exists.
so, "while" is wrong. "has been" can not be earlier than "was".
in choice e.
being take time of "was". but "earlier" require "had been". so, it is wrong

Hi folks,

Underlined part of question mentions the word "earlier" . Due to this reason, I thought past perfect was not required as earlier action is specifically mentioned using time phrase word like earlier. but as per OA, option C uses past perfect.

I thought option E could be the answer as being is used as noun for Bodleian.

Pl clarify the doubt.

But both the past events have to be connected in order for us to use the past perfect tense right? In this case both should be in simple past, but there is no such option here. Am I missing something?

Opened in 1683, the Ashmolean was the first public museum in Great Britain, while earlier the Bodleian has been the first truly public library.

Meaning: the fact that Ashmolean was the first public museum in GB is similar to the fact that in earlier time, the Bodleian had been the first public library

(A) while earlier the Bodleian has been the thing should happen in the past, so no reason to use "has been"
(B) where the Bodleian earlier is also, no reason to use simple present
(C) just as earlier the Bodleian had been Yes. "just as" is the connecting word showing similarity. "Had been" is also correctly used to show something happened before something else in the past
(D) as the earlier Bodleian has been "has been" is wrong in verb tense
(E) the Bodleian earlier being no connection word --> meaning corrupt

Doesnt the presence of earlier in option C make the past perfect used redundant?

Hello Experts,

I immediately discarded option C because of the use of past perfect is not justified. As per my understanding, we can use the past perfect tense where there are two related events, one which happened earlier than the other.

For the earlier event we use the past perfect tense and for the later we generally use a simple past tense.

Is my understanding correct? Can anyone pls throw some light here.

I am no expert but I agree with what you said. I only picked C because the others were worse. Also, if GMAT ninja says this OA is dodgy, it's best not to think twice about it.

the Bodleian still exists tho, it's the old dome in oxford

The first World was has been the first World war . Right?
There can be no first World war again.

I cannot say. The first war had been the first World war. If i use had, it conveys there's a new first World war? Which is technically not possible.
Similar. Had been the first library? There cannot be another first library.

Why does the OA not make sense.

GMATNinja VeritasKarishma

Posted from my mobile device

Fair point. We can use past perfect for a state in the past but that state needs to be over in the past (at the time of the second action).
Bodleian will always remain the first truly public library.
I doubt the question is from OG. Please check the source.

Opened in 1683, the Ashmolean was the first public museum in Great Britain, while earlier the Bodleian has been the first truly public library.

(A) while earlier the Bodleian has been
(B) where the Bodleian earlier is
(C) just as earlier the Bodleian had been
(D) as the earlier Bodleian has been
(E) the Bodleian earlier being

I understand that the one of the uses of the present simple to express facts.

The fact here is "Bodleian IS the first library". So if we're talking about facts then we should use the present simple, that is if the library still exists or the past simple if it doesn't exist anymore.

However to use the past perfect for this question would be to state that the "Bodleian" was maybe constructed before the other or the that Bodleian was a private library then it became public before the Ashmolean museum.

why are we even comparing a library to a museum?

I am really confused. I know how and when to use the past perfect tense but I am really confused here.

Have you tried reviewing this post?

GMATNinja

Yes I have, and I fully understand your justification.

What was confusing was that the library still exists, but I get now that the use of Had been was to relate the library to the museum. Also, as you said
"For whatever it's worth: a lot of these old "1000 series" questions are pretty dodgy and aren't necessarily from an official source. So please don't worry too much about this one. Just be careful not to confuse "has been" and "had been." Otherwise, I think you're spot-on." I think such question may not be on the GMAT with that vague structure.

Thank you for the continuous support