After the Civil War, contemporaries of Harriet Tubmans maintained that

1. Contemporaries of Tubman’s is double possessive and wrong; It should be either contemporaries of Tubman or Tubman’s contemporaries.

2. Past tense verbs -maintained and had(possessed) -are required to describe a simple past event

So D

I have a question about whether or not it's fair to ask this question on the test....

Sentence Correction Q. #99 asks:

After the Civil War, contemporaries of Harriet Tubman's maintained that she has all of the qualities of a great leader: coolness in the face of danger, an excellent sense of strategy, and an ability to plan in minute detail.

(A) Tubman's maintained that she has
(B) Tubman's maintain that she had
(C) Tubman's have maintained that she had
(D) Tubman maintained that she had
(E) Tubman had maintained that she has


Obviously A, B, and C are incorrect since it's redundant to use the possessive with "of". Now, onto D or E...

What if you didn't know that Harriet Tubman was dead during or shortly after the Civil War? Does the sentence somehow imply that she's dead at the time of the contemporaries post-Civil War, because they wouldn't have had to maintain a viewpoint/recollection of Tubman, if Harriet Tubman herself, if alive, would maintain those qualities through her existence?

But, if she were still alive, then maybe her contemporaries would maintain that she has the qualities of a great leader, perhaps for a different leadership role pertinent to their present. Or, perhaps her contemporaries are recalling her leadership qualities in general, and relating it back to how she is a great person at their present time.


Edit: The correct answer shown in the book is D.

So it seems like "had maintained" is incorrect in E... and that to use "had maintained" with "has" is nonsensical (something ongoing that occurred in the past is mutually exclusive and not necessarily relevant to the present). I guess then it's just a process of elimination. But, part of the reason the book gave is that "Since Tubman died long ago, she had, not has, the qualities of a great leader." That was why I was confused. If (E) read "Tubman have maintained that she has", I think the question is unfair.

Yes, it's the "had maintained" that makes E really wrong, since that uses the past perfect tense, which we use when we're talking about something that happened earlier than some other past event in the sentence. There's just no such event in the sentence, so the past perfect isn't right.

I agree with you that if you change the verb tenses, you can create other meaningful sentences - sentences with different meanings than that in the correct answer, but logical meanings all the same. I think I've only once seen one SC question where I thought two answers were perfectly written, and conveyed logical (but different) meanings. Unfortunately that question appeared on my last real test, and there may well have been some subtlety I didn't spot. It was also a question where, by changing verb tenses, you could create correct sentences with different meanings. Fortunately such questions are extremely rare, so you most likely won't ever see one!

Hi rakesh22,

Thank you for your question. To tackle this question, let's look at the two main differences between each answer:

1. Tubman's / Tubman
2. she had / she has

If we start by looking at how each answer begins, we see that there is a difference between Tubman's / Tubman. By saying "contemporaries of Harriet Tubman's," it means that these are contemporaries of something Tubman owns or has - not Tubman herself. Therefore, we can rule out answers A, B, & C because the extra 's changes the meaning.

Now that we have it narrowed down to two possible answers, let's look at how they stack up to #2 on our list:

(D) Tubman maintained that she had
This is the CORRECT answer because it uses the past tense "she had," which indicates that she died, which is true.

(E) Tubman had maintained that she has
This is INCORRECT because it uses the present tense "she has," which indicates that Harriet Tubman is still alive somehow. She is not, so using present tense doesn't make logical sense.

There is no need for the apostrophe after ‘Tubman’ – the sentence already says ‘contemporaries’.

Eliminate Options A, B and C.

Now, between D and E, you will notice that the difference is in the use of tenses.

E uses ‘has’ to denote something that happened in the past. Eliminate.

Option D is the right answer.

Hope this helps!

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
Concepts tested here: Tenses + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• The simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.
• 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.
• 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.
• The past perfect tense (marked by the use of the 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".

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "has" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the 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. Further, Option A redundantly uses the possessive noun "Harriet Tubman's" alongside the preposition "of"; this usage is redundant, as both convey a sense of possession.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "maintain" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the 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. Further, Option B redundantly uses the possessive noun "Harriet Tubman's" alongside the preposition "of"; this usage is redundant, as both convey a sense of possession.

C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the present perfect tense verb "have maintained" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the 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. . Further, Option C redundantly uses the possessive noun "Harriet Tubman's" alongside the preposition "of"; this usage is redundant, as both convey a sense of possession.

D: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the simple past tense verbs "maintained" and "had" to refer to actions that concluded in the past. Further, Option D is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

E: his answer choice incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "has" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the 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. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the past perfect tense verb "had maintained" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past, and 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".

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" 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 minutes):



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

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