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Gavan
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 28 Apr 2012, 20:14
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D
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

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65% (hard)

Question Stats:

31% (00:51) correct 69% (00:55) wrong based on 529 sessions

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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning board approved the new housing project before it adjourned

A) Robert and I, the zoning board approved
B) Robert and I, the zoning board had approved
C) Robert and me, the zoning board approved
D) Robert and me, the zoning board had approved
E) Robert and me the zoning board approved
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D
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daagh
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 20 Mar 2016, 09:43
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning board approved the new housing project before it adjourned.

The zoning Board is the subject of the sentence and approved is the verb. The new project is the object. Robert and I are the objects of the preposition. As such, we need to use the object pronoun ‘me’ rather than the subject pronoun ‘I’.

Take away: Subject pronouns will be used to replace subject nouns and object pronouns will be used to replace object nouns.
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 28 Apr 2012, 21:27
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The word BEFORE already indicates the action sequence. I don't think we need past perfect. Should be C.
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning Updated on: 29 Apr 2012, 10:19
Originally posted by gmatfighter12 on 29 Apr 2012, 08:46.
Last edited by gmatfighter12 on 29 Apr 2012, 10:19, edited 1 time in total.
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I am confused here. The action "approve" is before "adjourned". Thus only choice D, B are left. And the argument of Robert and me sounds better to me. So it is D.

E.g She had already told him before I got a chance to give him my version
So why does before indicate that there is no need of past perfect? Thanks.
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 29 Apr 2012, 09:20
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gmatfighter12
I am confused here. The action "approve" is before "adjourned". Thus only choice D, B are left. And the argument of Robert and me sounds better to me. So it is D.
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D cannot be the answer. check MGMAT SC page 110. IMO: the posted OA is wrong.
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 29 Apr 2012, 10:20
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I do not have that book with me. I will look into it but would appreciate if anyone can explain a bit.
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 29 Apr 2012, 10:22
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IMO c...we don't need a past perfect here...
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 30 Apr 2012, 00:04
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There is a discussion here about the use of "before", it's not an ABSOLUTE rule that having the word before deems past perfect unnecessary. However, Past perfect should be used if there is obvious relationship between the two past events.
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 25 Jun 2015, 07:30
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Kindly clarify on this, on some other forums OA is C.

thanks and regards,
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 26 Jun 2015, 05:50
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Abhishek009
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Kindly clarify on this, on some other forums OA is C.

thanks and regards,

I feel the same as well... :stupid2
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The answer should indeed be C.

As stated by few, the use of before clearly indicates that approval happened ahead of adjournment...Since two time periods are clear here, we should avoid Past Perfect and choose Simple past.
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 17 Mar 2016, 11:44
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also, could someone share why 'me' is better than 'I'? When should 'I' be used and when should 'me' be used?
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 21 Mar 2016, 08:18
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C for me as well because of the presence of a time marker "before".
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 13 Jun 2016, 08:42
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daagh
Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning board approved the new housing project before it adjourned.

The zoning Board is the subject of the sentence and approved is the verb. The new project is the object. Robert and I are the objects of the preposition. As such, we need to use the object pronoun ‘me’ rather than the subject pronoun ‘I’.

Take away: Subject pronouns will be used to replace subject nouns and object pronouns will be used to replace object nouns.
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Sir,

What about "had approved" and "approved"? Doesn't the word before clarifies the time preference?
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 13 Jun 2016, 09:47
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techiesam

With regard to the use of simple past and past perfect tense, pl. have a look at what Stacey says.

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... t2008.html


Quote:
Also, for that before/after rule. It's not saying that you cannot have past perfect - only that it's not required any more. Typically, if the meaning of the sentence is "this one thing happened RIGHT before this other thing - very close in time" then I don't generally use past perfect. If they are still widely separated, though, then I may use it.
Stacey Koprince
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As I see it in this case:

1. There is no need to use past perfect since approval must have happened just before the board's adjournment. One may see that the earlier event did not happen fairly deep in the past to entail a past perfect.
2. Even if one were to use the past perfect in this case, it would not be a great mistake and is passable on technical grounds.
Therefore, I would go with C, but I am sure GMAT may not offer such a topic with so thin difference.
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 29 Jun 2020, 02:38
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In this statement 'before' is used, so do we need 'had'. Sometimes I feel using of 'had' with 'before' makes it redundant and sometimes its mandatory to use 'had' with 'before'.
Can someone enlighten me on this issue.
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Despite the legal arguments of Robert and I, the zoning 03 Sep 2023, 02:30
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