Most information-technology executives in the late 1980s

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Most IT execs OF the late 1980s is idiomatic.

The sentence is referring to individuals OF that time not IN that time.

Not sure why the past perfect tense was required though.

A. in the late 1980s and early 1990s had either followed a standard career path, progressing from business analysts to directors, or were
'had' before the beginning of the idiom 'Either X, Or Y' means --had either followed a standard career path.. OR had were accounting professionals. This seems nonsensical, so eliminate A

B. in the late 1980s and early 1990s either followed standard career paths, ranging from business analysts to directors, or had been

the first part of the idiom is in simple past whereas in the second part of the idiom(or else had been) is in past-perfect, making it seem like that action happened before, which is not correct. Usage of 'had' is not required as both the actions took place in the same time range.So, eliminate B.

C. of the late 1980s and early 1990s either had followed a standard career path, progressing from business analyst to director, or were
The usage of had is acceptable here,since they first followed a carrer path, which later progressed

D. in the late 1980s and early 1990s had followed standard career paths, and had progressed from business analysts to directors, or else were
usage of had twice in the first part of the idiom violates the usage of past participles w.r.t. time. So, eliminate D.

E. of the late 1980s and early 1990s followed a standard career path, ranging from business analyst to director, or else had been
the correct idiom is Either X, Or Y. But here, its Either X, or else Y--which seems incorrect.
the first part of the idiom is in simple past whereas the second part(or else had been) is in past-perfect, making it seem like that action happened before, which is not correct. So, eliminate E.

Seems like we're left with C
Hence, C is the correct option

Tough one. Will work through the splits in this one. I noticed many splits here. 1) of vs in 2) progressing vs ranging 3) -ing modifier vs non-ing modifier.

I start with #3. Logically, we need an -ing modifier to modify the "standard career paths" or a relative clause modifier such as "that", an option that has not been provided. Notice choice D here.

D. in the late 1980s and early 1990s had followed standard career paths, and had progressed from business analysts to directors, or else were -- Incorrect. These are not two separate actions by the executives i.e. "had followed" and "had progressed". The second action provides us with further description of the first and hence using a parallel action form here is incorrect. Eliminate.

#2 - ranging vs progressing - Notice the modified entity "standard career path". One progresses on a path as one walks along. Ranging is preferably used for options. It doesn't make sense in the current context when we pit it against "progressing".

B. in the late 1980s and early 1990s either followed standard career paths, ranging from business analysts to directors, or had been
E. of the late 1980s and early 1990s followed a standard career path, ranging from business analyst to director, or else had been

Eliminate both B and E. We are left with A and C now.

A. in the late 1980s and early 1990s had either followed a standard career path, progressing from business analysts to directors, or were -- Parallelism error. Notice the parallelism marker "either..or". The rule is that whatever comes before the parallelism marker has to be repeated before the second parallel marker. So in this case we have.. 1) had followed..... and 2) had were (clearly is incorrect!) -- Eliminate.

C. of the late 1980s and early 1990s either had followed a standard career path, progressing from business analyst to director, or were -- This choice fixes the error in A by bringing the tense inside the parallel element.. now the two elements read as 1) had followed...... and 2) were.... --- Correct choice.

career usage requires plural form so path should be the right usage

THerefore D and B are out
ranging vs progressing , the latter makes sense since the the jump from analyst to director requirer progress

Left with A and C
buisness analysts and directors vs buisness analyst and director , the latter should be used since we are talking about plural folks

Therefore IMO C

[quote="Maldonado"]Most information-technology executives in the late 1980s and early 1990s had either followed a standard career path, progressing from business analysts to directors, or were accounting professionals with systems experience.


A. in the late 1980s and early 1990s had either followed a standard career path, progressing from business analysts to directors, or were

C. of the late 1980s and early 1990s either had followed a standard career path, progressing from business analyst to director, or were

is the elimination based on "in the" vs "of the" or "had either" or "either had" ?