Although she was initially recruited by the American government as an

I am novice in SC, My reasoning to answer might be correct

one of the first of the intelligence community’s female operatives securing a high ranking position within : One of the first of the doesn't make any sense
(B) one of the intelligence community’s first female operatives securing a high ranking position from: means there are many first female operatives who secured high ranking : Not correct
(C) among the intelligence community’s first female operatives to secure a high ranking position from : position from doesn't make sense
(D) among the intelligence community’s first female operatives who have secured a high ranking position from: same as C
(E) among the first of the intelligence community’s female operatives to secure a high ranking position within :

Experts' Global Official Explanation:

Verb Forms + Parallelism + Meaning + Idioms + Redundancy/Awkwardness

Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that Gina Haskell was among the first of the intelligence community’s female operatives to secure a high ranking position within the Central Intelligence Agency.

• Any elements joined by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.
• The simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.
• The present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is only used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.

A. This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between “one of the first of the… securing” and “the first woman to serve”; please remember, any elements joined by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel. Further, Option A uses the needlessly wordy phrase “one of the first of the”, leading to awkwardness.

B. This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between “one of the intelligence community’s first … securing” and “the first woman to serve”; please remember, any elements joined by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel. Further, Option B alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “high ranking position from”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that Gina Haskell was among the first of the intelligence community’s female operatives to secure a high ranking position from the Central Intelligence Agency; the intended meaning is that Gina Haskell was among the first of the intelligence community’s female operatives to secure a high ranking position within the Central Intelligence Agency.

C. Trap. This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between “among the intelligence community’s first…” and “the first woman…”; please remember that any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel. Further, Option C alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “high ranking position from”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that Gina Haskell was among the first of the intelligence community’s female operative to secure a high ranking position from the Central Intelligence Agency; the intended meaning is that Gina Haskell was among the first of the intelligence community’s female operatives to secure a high ranking position within the Central Intelligence Agency.

D. This answer choice incorrectly uses the present perfect tense verb “have secured” to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please 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 only used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present. Further, Option D fails to maintain parallelism between “among the intelligence community’s first…” and “the first woman…”; please remember that any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel. Additionally, Option E alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “high ranking position from”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that Gina Haskell was among the first of the intelligence community’s female operatives to secure a high ranking position from the Central Intelligence Agency; the intended meaning is that Gina Haskell was among the first of the intelligence community’s female operatives to secure a high ranking position within the Central Intelligence Agency.

E. Correct. This answer choice maintains parallelism between “among the first of the…to secure a high ranking position” and “the first woman to serve as the agency’s Director”. Further, Option E uses the phrase “position within…”, conveying the intended meaning- that Gina Haskell was among the first of the intelligence community’s female operatives to secure a high ranking position within the Central Intelligence Agency. Additionally, Option E correctly uses the simple past tense verb phrase “was…to secure” to refer to an event that concluded in the past.

E is the best answer choice.

hello - i notedd there are also different meanings between D) among the intelligence community’s first female operatives and first of the intelligence community’s female operatives
can someone explain more about this - i have a hunch as a non native english speaker but would love to get help if someone can explain this!

Hello rdrdrd1201,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, in this context "among the intelligence community’s first female operatives" and "among the first of the intelligence community’s female operatives" convey the same meaning.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global team

Hi,

In this SC question, the knowledge of parallelism is being tested.

Option A: securing...to serve: not parallel & wordy
Option C: securing...to serve: not parallel
Option D: have secured...to serve: not parallel

Tough options are option B & Option E
Option B: securing...to serve: not parallel

I am kind of confused here, Umm, there is " the first woman" before to serve, so how can we talk about the parallelisn between securing and to serve?

Also, i believe there is a paralleism here already as:

1) the intelligence community???s first female------noun
2) the first woman--------noun

Experts' Global Video Explanation: