Hey All,

I got asked to take this one on by PM, so here I am! Yay!

As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and a board member for 28 years, Joan Philkill attended more than 400 meetings and reviewed more than 700 rezoning applications.

A. As the former
PROBLEM: The "as" part is correct (See answer choice E), but you can't be a former chair for 18 years. Also, she didn't do these things AS the FORMER chair. She did them AS the chair, and NOW she is the former chair.

B. The former
PROBLEM: Technically, this could be called okay, because we have a really long noun modifier ("the former chair...") modifying another noun, "Joan Philkill." However, answer choice A simply makes more sense, considering the definition of "As" given above.

C. Former
PROBLEM: We need the article "the" here. We use it to refer to a person or thing that is unique. Obviously we're talking about a unique chair of the board here (Joan).

D. She was
PROBLEM: Now, we end up with two independent clauses separated by a comma. This isn't allowed.

E. As the
ANSWER: The preposition "as" can be used to to mean "during the time of being (the thing specified)." For example, I could say "As a child, I was often sick." In this sentence, we're told that "During the time of being the former chair...Joan attended more than 400 meetings..."

Hope that helps!

-t

I did not pick up B because, I think if we use 'The former chair' , the sentence should be :

the former chair of the planning board..and a former board member

Unless I interpret it differently, "As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and a board member for 28 years" is not a subordinate clause. It is a modifier clause for "Joan Philkill". Hence, "As" seems irrelevant".

Hence, I will go for "B". Also, if As is relevant, then the modifier should look like "As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and as a board member for 28 years"

Very diff Q.

@BFH,

Why would some one attend meetings as former chair ?

E is my answer

Many of you are mentioning the meaning as a primary reason for one choice or another--try to avoid meaning issues until you have first eliminated choices with grammar problems.

Those of you advocating C, take a close look at the comma found later in the sentence. What is it's role? Try to label the words around that comma with their roles (e.g. subject, verb, modifier (type? of what?), etc.)

By adding that comma after the name Joan Philkill, you seem to have caught my meaning. Without that comma, "J.P. attended...meeting and reviewed...applications" is the main clause of the sentence. That implies that the stuff before the comma in the sentence as written must be a modifier. In turn, that implies that the correct choice uses "as," creating an adverbial modifier. (Jade3--nice catch on this!)

If we were free to add that comma after Joan Philkill, then the name/person would be a noun modifier, and the sentence outside of the commas would be the main clause. In that case, (B) comes close to correct grammar, though I still think the modifiers "for 18 consec years" and "for 28 years" are awkward.

(B)/(C) would require multiple edits to work: The former (move: planning board) chair (cut: for 18 consecutive years) and (cut: a) board member (cut: for 28 years), Joan Philkill, attended more than 400 meetings and reviewed more than 700 rezoning applications.


(D) is not exactly like this example, because (D) begins "She was" = Subject Verb, which is not a modifying phrase, but rather an independent clause. "An eminent physicist and an orator" is a noun modifier.

Bumping for review and further discussion*.

*New project from GMAT Club!!! Check HERE

As is used to compare clauses
When the person worked for 18 consecutive years.. How he/she can work as a former
So Eliminate ABC
E

As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and a board member for 28 years, Joan Philkill attended more than 400 meetings and reviewed more than 700 rezoning applications.

(A) As the former
(B) The former
(C) Former
(D) She was
(E) As the

In this question, it is important to understand the original meaning of the sentence and stick with it. So, even if you come across an answer choice that is grammatically correct, it will be wrong if the intended meaning is not as per the original meaning of the sentence.

A is wrong because JP did not attend meetings as the former chair. She was very much active when she attended those meetings. B & C are incorrect because the intended meaning of the sentence is lost. The original sentence intends to convey that As a role, she attended meetings.

Eg:
As a mother, Jean takes care of her kids.
A mother, Jean takes care of her kids.

Hence, E is the answer.

Understand the difference between the two?

Thanks.

I think this is the best explanation. An easy way to see the illogical nature of A is to truncate the extra parts of the sentence:

As the former X and a Y, JP did Z in the past

vs.

As the X and a Y, JP did Z in the past


I think it's confusing because something like this is actually correct:

In her former roles as the chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and a board member or 28 years, Joan Philkill attended more than 400 meetings and reviewed more than 700 rezoning applications.

Now "former" is part of a adverbial prep phrase at the start is modifying the action "attended"

MikeScarn, GMATNinja, GMATNinjaTwo, hazelnut, generis please confirm highlighted!