Bob Wilber became Sidney Bechet’s student and protégé when he was nine

a: ...came close as anyone has ever come [close]
b: had is wrong here. had [past participle] implies the event ended... you want to express that nobody has yet come close... i.e., the event still in play...

also, had been ... had been what?
c: same as b. i believe it'll be correct to say "as anyone has ever done"

There are 2 distinguishing points between A and B.

1. Use of present perfect in A and past perfect in B
By using past perfect in B the original meaning is slightly distorted. (removing the possibility of anyone now coming as close to virtuoso performance) In such cases we should try to remain as close to original meaning as possible which is A)

2. The construction of A is better than of B. Please see the difference below:
Bob Wilber ... came as close to X as anyone has ever come. (better)
Bob Wilber ... came as close to X as anyone ever has come. (awkward)

Second one is the format of B with additional diff. of past perfect (already discussed)



Hope that helps,

I think c is best
he come as close to being a carbon coppy as anyone had come

The two elements of comparison are:
1. Bob Wilber came close to being a carbon copy.
2. Anyone (A) has ever come / (C) ever had done.

Past perfect is not the correct choice here. Bob Wilber came close to being a carbon copy in the 1940's. Using past perfect for the second element of comparison implies a comparison with those who came before 1940's. However the sentence intends to compare with those who came until now. Hence present prefect tense is better.

Correct A. ...he came as close to being a carbon copy as anyone has ever come...

C. Bob Wilber... came as close to smth... as anyone ever had done (close to smth). Here ‘had done close to smth’ doesn’t look sensible, but I am not sure. Ron says that ‘done’ is unparallel to anything. But I thought that it is parallel to ‘came’. Anyways, if you read it as ‘done close to smth’ it sounds nonsensical.

B. Bob Wilber... came as close to smth... as anyone ever had been (close to smth). Here ‘been close to smth’ is sensible as Ron says. But B has a meaning shift and the placement of ‘ever’ is worse in B than its placement in A. Adverbs of frequency (always, ever, never, often, seldom..) should be placed between helping verb ‘have/ has/ had’ and the past participle ‘come’, as it is in A.

A. Bob Wilber... came as close to smth... as anyone has ever come (close to smth).
B. Bob Wilber... came as close to smth... as anyone ever had been (close to smth).
The difference between A and B is that A compares Bob with people of all time, before and after 1940, who came close to being... while B compares Bob with people who ever came close to being... before 1940.

Both A and B have a tenable meaning but B loses because of wrong adverb placement and meaning shift.

MartyTargetTestPrep Can you kindly clarify.
A : Bob Wilber came as close as anyone has ever come => BW is compared with everyone till date
B : Bob Wilber came as close as anyone ever had been => BW is compared with everyone till 1940's

Non-underlined part does not help us to figure out which group shall we refer.
Both are emphasizing on 'ever' from different angles.
Also, both sentences are grammatically fine and meaningful.

In such a scenario how can we decide which one to pick ? Can you throw some light please.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Tenses + Idioms

• 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 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".
• The simple past tense is only used to refer to events that concluded in the past.
• “as A as B” is a correct, idiomatic usage.

A: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the present perfect tense verb "has...come" to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present. Further, Option A correctly uses the idiomatic construction "as A ("close to...in performance") as B ("anyone has ever come").

B: Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses the past perfect tense verb "had been" to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, 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, 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".

C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the past perfect tense verb "had done" to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, 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, 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".

D: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple past tense verb "did" to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, 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, and the simple past tense is only used to refer to events that concluded in the past. Further, Option D incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "as A ("close to...in performance") that B ("anyone ever did"); please remember, “as A as B” is a correct, idiomatic usage.

E: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple past tense verb "came" to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, 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, and the simple past tense is only used to refer to events that concluded in the past. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "as A ("close to...in performance") that B ("anyone ever came"); please remember, “as A as B” is a correct, idiomatic usage.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Present Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Past Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

You have to just go with the version that makes more sense and seems to be what the question writer considered correct.

It makes more sense to (1) compare how close Bob Wilber came with how close other people have "come," rather than with how close other people had "been," and to (2) compare how close Bob Wilber came with how close anyone has come to date, rather than with how close people had been before Bob Wilber came close.

Bob Wilber became Sidney Bechet’s student and protégé when he was nineteen and, for a few years in the 1940’s, came as close to being a carbon copy of the jazz virtuoso in performance as anyone has ever come.

Option Elimination -

(A) as anyone has ever come - as ..as - ok. Present Perfect conveys that, to date, no one else has come close in performance. Ok.
(B) as anyone ever had been - "had been" is wrong as present perfect is used with an earlier past event. Are we saying before the 1940s? No. We are comparing from the 1940s to the present.
(C) as anyone ever had done - we are comparing two in terms of their performance and not in terms of action conveyed by "done." There is no comparison of "done" in the sentence.
(D) that anyone ever did - We need "as ....as"
(E) that anyone ever came - We need "as ....as"