By the time of Fidelio, it became clear

Question

Hi ,
I need some clarification for this ques.
OA: E
but i choose A as ans.Bcoz i thought that first Beethoven's dramatic and emotionally based composition revolutionised the structure then it became clear...
plz correct me if I am wrong..

By the time of Fidelio, it  became clear  that Beethoven's dramatic and emotionally based composition had revolutionised the structure of classical music itself.

became clear
 clarified
 had clarified
 had become clarified
 had become clear

ezhilkumarank · Answer

The answer should contain a past perfect tense and hence answer E.

Time line: Beethoven's dramatic and emotionally based composition had revolutionised --- and by the time or era of Fidelio it already was clear of the former and hence choice E.

tingle15 · Answer

Excerpt from a post by Ron Purewal@ManhattanGMAT.

"basically, if the "later" element is simply a TIME MARKER, and the "earlier" element is an action or state LEADING UP TO that time marker, then you should still use the past perfect." 
Source:  https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/past-perfect-tense-use-t7698.html

Here the time marker is "the time of fidelo" and the earlier action is "becoming clear that Beethoven's dramatic and emotionally based composition had revolutionised the structure of classical music itself." Hence the use of Past perfect.

I hope this helps.

sudhanshushankerjha · Answer

thanx for this nice xplaination :-)

hirendhanak · Answer

can someone give explanation in detail .. this is probably third time i am unable to identify this pattern

thanks

vibhutirs · Answer

E, as it should be past perfect tense.

BlitzHN · Answer

By the time of Fidelio, it became clear that Beethoven's dramatic and emotionally based composition had revolutionised the structure of classical music itself

The time of Fidelio was in the past. the clarification was after fidelio came in but, to us, both of these a sequential events in the past. hence, you got to use past perfect tense with "had"

daagh · Answer

Let us look at this question this way. Use of past perfect is essentially a chronological factor, when two events that started and ended in the past are to be marked with proper tenses. In this scenario, the one that is clearly the earlier, will be in past perfect and the one that is later in simple past. . Supposing there were more than two event the last of one of the series of action will entail a simple past tense, while the all the previous ones will entail use of past perfect.

Thus, to cite an example,

1. I  had woken up  pretty late in the morning and  darted  to the office like a bullet. 
Only two events and hence the last one is in simple past and the earlier one is in past perfect.

2. I  had woken  up, pretty late,  taken  bath quickly,  eaten  my breakfast in a gulp and  darted  to the office like a bullet.
More than two events, only the last one in simple past and all the other earlier ones, though more than one, marked in past perfect.

Now to come to the question, the order of chronology is this:

1. First, Beethoven revolutionized classical music ete, etc. This is the earlier event. and so needs a past perfect-  had revolutionized  
 2. Then by the time of Fidelio, it became clear…… etc, etc. This “becoming clear” is the later event and in this case the last event, because there are only two events. Hence proper grammar usage requires that the earlier Beethoven’s act be marked in past perfect, while, the later “becoming clear”, be marked in simple past, i.e  became clear

How can in that case E be the right answer, with the use of “had become clear.” a past perfect for the last event? Only A can be the right answer IMO. In general, unless there is a simple past, there can not be a past perfect. In other words, the legitimacy of a past perfect is derived from the use a simple past.; Like in Arithmetic, there may any number of zeroes but they all gain strength only when at least a single 1 is there among them. Similarly there can be any number of past perfects but they all become valid when there are accompanied by a simple past.

Our example violates this vital aspect. Hence IMO, E is ungrammatical and I am not convinced about it veracity Please re-check

I am citing the general position on the use of past perfect tense. There may still be some odd examples here and there, thrown up by some bard under some poetic license or some Bertrand Russells under some literary license that violate this grammar. But they are exceptions rather than rules.

sagarbuss · Answer

Request you not to write your queries/answers/opinions in question window. It prevents ppl from analysing the question. The whole purpose of GMAT Club forum goes wasted by doing so.

You have response windows to do all such things.

manhasnoname · Answer

Firstly, I answered "A" and then after reading the posts above I am convinced that "E" is the correct answer.

"By the time of Fidelio" can't this signal a simple past for "became clear ... " part?

Hence, I think "E" is the correct answer.

VerbalBot · Answer

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By the time of Fidelio, it became clear

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By the time of Fidelio, it became clear

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