Although she had signed a pledge of abstinence while being an adolescent , Frances Willard was 35 years old before she chose to become a temperance activist. (A) while being an adolescent (B) while in adolescence (C) at the time of her being adolescent (D) as being in adolescence (E) as an adolescent https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/14/books/do-everything-she-said.html She organizes her narrative within well-titled chapters: ''Choices,'' ''Commitment,'' ''Career,'' ''Celebrity,'' ''Reformer,'' ''Christian,'' ''Politician.'' With grace and energy the author portrays a woman who was in command of her life choices. Willard chose not to marry, breaking an engagement to a domineering Methodist minister because she preferred the independence and intimacy of female friendships. (Ten years later, when her former fiance became president of Northwestern University and she was head of its women's college, he forced her out.) Although she had signed a pledge of abstinence as an adolescent , Frances Willard was 35 years old before she self-consciously chose to become a temperance activist and a woman's organizer in 1874, and went on to become a local, statewide and national leader of the W.C.T.U. Rather than contradict prevailing attitudes about ''woman's place,'' Willard presented a continuum to justify the involvement of women in social issues: the protectors of the home needed ''home protection.'' In a similar linkage, Willard argued that religious teaching legitimized rather than limited women's roles.

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Although she had signed a pledge of abstinence while being an

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GMATNinja

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23 May 2020, 13:12

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saby1410

GMATNinja generis GMATNinjaTwo ChiranjeevSingh abhimahna VeritasKarishma AnishPassiTGC

Can you explain why options A,B,C & D are incorrect

when usage of being is allowed or for what purpose being is used and what role of being does play in question.

Harsh2111s and VeritasKarishma covered this beautifully, but saby1410, you also might want to check out this post.

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hi
GMATNinja
is the option B wrong for the reason that we can not find another phrase starting with "in..." to understand the full meaning of the phrase "while in adolescence.

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Is it right to say that in Option B , ''while'' is wrong because it should always be followed by a clause. What is the exact reason for eliminating Option B ?

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VIGHNESHKAMATH

Is it right to say that in Option B , ''while'' is wrong because it should always be followed by a clause. What is the exact reason for eliminating Option B ?

"while" is just not needed.

Would you say:

i) I played a lot in childhood.

Or

ii) I played a lot while in childhood.

p.s. You are correct that every instance of while need not be followed by an explicit clause. For example, following is correct:

While driving, Peter met with an accident.

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noboru

Although she had signed a pledge of abstinence while being an adolescent, Frances Willard was 35 years old before she chose to become a temperance activist.

(A) while being an adolescent
(B) while in adolescence
(C) at the time of her being adolescent
(D) as being in adolescence
(E) as an adolescent

A and B use "while" which is incorrect phrasing

C is wordy and using "being", which is an incorrect verb tense here

D is very incorrect, the phrase would sound like "a pledge as being in adolescence"

E is the correct idiom

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18 Oct 2022, 06:39

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'while' as a contrasting subordinating conjunctions

v/s

'while' to show two simulataneous actions

Could you please share few examples to identify which roles does 'while' play?
and can 'while' take up both the roles in a single sentence.

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I am still not sure why B is wrong. Is it the usage of while or the absence of tense?

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05 Oct 2023, 03:50

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noboru

egmat, KarishmaB, GMATNinja, Other Experts

(E) "as an adolescent..." seems to be ambiguous as it could be either role-playing or making a comparison

(A) or (C) seems to be better. Could you please help me understand why E is correct? and why A and C are wrong?

Ref: E-GMAT "Like" vs "As"
https://gmatclub.com/forum/as-vs-like-c ... 33950.html

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05 Oct 2023, 22:16

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SlowTortoise

noboru

Check here why (A) and (C) are wrong:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/although-she ... l#p2520244

Check this post for the use of 'being': https://anaprep.com/sentence-correction ... s-part-ii/

'As' is used to show a role/position - when she was an adolescent
There is no comparison here so 'as' is not comparing anything.

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06 Oct 2023, 01:35

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KarishmaB

saby1410

Use of being to show a state/role is incorrect. Being is used in case of a temporary state.

She was an adolescent at that time; she was not being an adolescent.
We can say 'she was being irrational' to show a temporary state.

Check this post:
https://anaprep.com/sentence-correction ... s-part-ii/

KarishmaB

Do you think the following reasoning is correct based on your explanation?
…when she was an adolescent (Correct) vs. …when she was being an adolescent (Wrong - as it conveys that she was “acting” as an adolescent but wasn’t actually one)

If not, could you please help me rectify it

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saby1410

Yes, correct.
Though it is better to write 'as an adolescent' instead of 'when she was an adolescent' since the former is concise and clear.

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