Before the Civil War, Harriet Tubman, along with other former slaves

Question

Before the Civil War, Harriet Tubman, along with other former slaves and white abolitionists, helped create what  had become known as the Underground Railroad, and were  responsible for leading hundreds, if not thousands, of slaves to freedom.

(A) had become known as the Underground Railroad, and were

(B) would become known as the Underground Railroad, and were

(C) had become known as the Underground Railroad, and was

(D) has been becoming known as the Underground Railroad, and was

(E) would become known as the Underground Railroad, and was

The original sentence contains two flaws. First, "what had become known as the Underground Railroad" is incorrectly in the past perfect tense ("had become"). The  past perfect  is used to describe a  past event  that  occurred before another past event . In this case, however, the "Underground Railroad" did not become known as such (or known as anything at all) until after it was created, and there is no past action that occurs afterward that would justify the use of the past perfect tense. Second, the subject of the sentence is "Harriet Tubman" only; phrases such as "along with," "accompanied by," and "as well as" do not create plural subjects (only "and" allows for the formation of a plural subject). Yet, the verb used in the original sentence is "were," which suggests a plural subject. Instead, the correct verb form " was " is necessary in order to agree with the singular subject "Harriet Tubman."

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) This choice corrects the verb tense by replacing the past perfect with the conditional "would become known" (used to express the future from the point of view of the past: "I said yesterday that I would go to the store today.") However, it does not correct the subject-verb agreement problem (retaining "were").

(C) This choice does not correct the verb tense issue, retaining the incorrect past perfect tense. It does correct the subject-verb agreement by replacing "were" with "was."

(D) This choice uses the incorrect and awkward verb phrase "has been becoming," which incorrectly suggests that the labeling of the Underground Railroad continues to the present day. However, it does correct the subject-verb agreement by replacing "were" with "was."

(E) CORRECT . This choice corrects the verb tense by replacing "had become" with " would become ." Moreover, it corrects the subject-verb agreement issue by replacing "were" with "was."

killthegmatavi · Accepted Answer

Before the Civil War, Harriet Tubman, along with other former slaves and white abolitionists, helped create what had become known as the Underground Railroad, and were responsible for leading hundreds, if not thousands, of slaves to freedom.

A. had become known as the Underground Railroad, and were
B. would become known as the Underground Railroad, and were
C. had become known as the Underground Railroad, and was
D. has been becoming known as the Underground Railroad, and was
 E. would become known as the Underground Railroad, and was

>>>
Stripping the sentence of the modifiers we get the sentence:
Harriet Tubman helped creat what ....... , and was responsible......
Singular subject , along with xxx needs singular verb : hence was
eliminate a,b
Options c, d ,e are contender
>>>
Meaning.
the usage of known should be logical
had become known: implies that it is known before it's creation
Past perfect(had) means the knowing is before helped(helped create)

Which is wrong
eliminate c

has been becoming known as : the effect of knowing has not completed , which is not the meaning
also this structure is redundant
eliminate d

So ANSWER IS E

KINDLY HIT KUDOS

hanumayamma · Answer

Singular subject “Harriet Tubman” requires singular verb – eliminate A and B
Between C, D and E:
C: Illogical past perfect – implies become known occurred before create
D: no need to have present perfect (progressive)
E: Holds good

Answer: E

icandy · Answer

Subject is HT means was is correct. A & B are out.

D is continuous tense and wrong.

C is wrong because it uses had.

We need to reflect the future in the past (Eww!) For lack of better words. IMO, E is correct

Bisebee · Answer

A) had become known as the Underground Railroad, and were 
(B) would become known as the Underground Railroad, and were 
(C) had become known as the Underground Railroad, and was 
(D) has been becoming known as the Underground Railroad, and was 
(E) would become known as the Underground Railroad, and was

A and B are wrong because were is wrong.
C - Wrong . Because it means that when it was getting constructed it had become known. Changing the meaning of sentence.
D - been becoming - is wrong. This cannot be progressive verb.
E - Correct

Abhishek009 · Answer

Create Railroad ---------> Civil War -------->Underground Railroad Harriet Tubman, along with other former slaves and white abolitionists = X along with Y and Z Requires a singular Verb since the later part of the sentence claims : .......responsible for leading...... ( This must logically refer to Harriet Tubman, along with .......) A. had become known as the Underground Railroad, and were - Incorrect. B. would become known as the Underground Railroad, and were - Incorrect. C. had become known as the Underground Railroad, and was Had become refers to completed Action Before Something in the Past which is logically not true. D. has been becoming known as the Underground Railroad, and was " Has been " refers to duration from the Past Until Now / Recently/Lately which logically doesn't fint into the context of the sentence.. E. would become known as the Underground Railroad, and was Would become correctly refers to future actions of the past... Plz guide me if I am wrong. :-D

bonke88 · Answer

Hi all,

I understand that 'were' is incorrect here, but my question is why ?

When you use the condition: if 'past simple' then --> 'would' you should use "were" instead of "was".

It wasn't enforced here because there is no condition, just a description of the past ?

Thanks

Abhishek009 · Answer

Consider this part -

.......... Harriet Tubman ,  along with   other former slaves and white abolitionists ,............

Refer S-V agremment, whenever the phrase along with is present in a sentence the verb must agree with the Noun precceeding the phrase along with...
   
Hence, was is correct...

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi bonke88m, indeed, you might be confusing this with (what's called)  hypothetical subjunctive , wherein you need use  were . However, this is not that case.

As you rightly mention, this is just a description of the past and so, will follow the  regular  rules of Subject-verb agreement.

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  Subjunctive , its application and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

devikeerthan · Answer

E

"were" is wrong....hence A and B are out. Also, between C, D and E, "would become" is required and hence E is the answer.

Skyline393 · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION FROM MANHATTAN

The original sentence contains two flaws. First, "what had become known as the Underground Railroad" is incorrectly in the past perfect tense ("had become"). The past perfect is used to describe a past event that occurred before another past event. In this case, however, the "Underground Railroad" did not become known as such (or known as anything at all) until after it was created, and there is no past action that occurs afterward that would justify the use of the past perfect tense. Second, the subject of the sentence is "Harriet Tubman" only; phrases such as "along with," "accompanied by," and "as well as" do not create plural subjects (only "and" allows for the formation of a plural subject). Yet, the verb used in the original sentence is "were," which suggests a plural subject. Instead, the correct verb form "was" is necessary in order to agree with the singular subject "Harriet Tubman."

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) This choice corrects the verb tense by replacing the past perfect with the conditional "would become known" (used to express the future from the point of view of the past: "I said yesterday that I would go to the store today.") However, it does not correct the subject-verb agreement problem (retaining "were").

(C) This choice does not correct the verb tense issue, retaining the incorrect past perfect tense. It does correct the subject-verb agreement by replacing "were" with "was."

(D) This choice uses the incorrect and awkward verb phrase "has been becoming," which incorrectly suggests that the labeling of the Underground Railroad continues to the present day. However, it does correct the subject-verb agreement by replacing "were" with "was."

(E) CORRECT. This choice corrects the verb tense by replacing "had become" with "would become." Moreover, it corrects the subject-verb agreement issue by replacing "were" with "was."

sonalchhajed2019 · Answer

Hi,

Please let me know if the use of "would become" is correct here. We are refering to an action that occured in the past. Then how is this use correct.

Please help me understand.

Thank You 
Sonal

dcummins · Answer

Past perfect in c implies it was known as the underground before it was constructed... take note of the 'before' at the beginning of the sentence.f

sheldongeorge · Answer

Hi

Could someone please explain why "had" in (C) is incorrect?
Doesn't  Before the Civil War  count as an event in the past before which the naming "had" happened?

GMATNinja   VeritasKarishma   DmitryFarber   BillyZ   mikemcgarry   Sajjad1994

MBAB123 · Answer

sheldongeorge ,  Before the civil war  sets the timeline for creation, but  Had  puts a dent to it as  had  is used to describe the earlier of the 2 related events - creation and coming to be known. Has makes the timeline clearer.

KarishmaB · Answer

Before the Civil War, Harriet Tubman, ..., helped create ... and was responsible for ...

The sentence talks about something that happened before the civil war. What had happened before the civil war? Harriet Tubman had helped create something. Since we are using "before", the timeline is clear and hence past perfect is not necessary. That is why the sentence uses "helped create" and not "had helped create". This is the non-underlined part.

Now, in the underlined part, we want to say that this "something" that Harriet Tubman helped create later became known as "Underground Railroad". When he created it, it is not possible that it had already been known as "Underground Railroad" because it had not been created yet. Hence use of past perfect here is incorrect. 
So what we need is something that talks about future in the past because it would become known as "Underground Railroad" in the future. Hence we use "would".

Answer (E)

sheldongeorge · Answer

Thank you Brian and Karishma!  Brian123   VeritasKarishma

VerbalBot · Answer

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Before the Civil War, Harriet Tubman, along with other former slaves

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Before the Civil War, Harriet Tubman, along with other former slaves

Prep Toolkit

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