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555-605 (Medium)|   Modifiers|   Parallelism|   Parallelism|   Use of Being|            
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thangvietnam
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Dressed as a man and using the name Robert Shurtleff, Deborah Sampson, 28 Aug 2021, 01:00
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imhimanshu
thangvietnam
I agree that "D" is incorrect because "injured" should be "was injuredd"

but in A "had done" happens before "joined". this is not logic

why A can be correct? pls explain.

No, thats not the case over here. It is of supreme importance to understand the meaning before diving into Grammar. Remember, Grammar is nothing but a set of rules to communicate the meaning in a better way

So, what does the sentence talks about i.e Meaning : The sentence talks about a Deborah Sampson and defines a list of 3 items about her. What are they-
1- joined the Continental Army in 1782 at the age of 22,
2- was injured three times, and
3 - was discharged in 1783 because she had become too
ill to serve.

Now, had becomhe is used for doing the sequencing with the action "DISCHARGED", not with the ACTION "joined". If you are still in doubt, check the clause(clause C1) - "because she had become too ill to serve." --> This clause is Subordinate to the Clause (clause C2)- "Deborah was discharged"
i.e Clause C1 is working as an adverbial modifier of the Clause C2

i.e it gives the explanation to why Debrah was discharged, - answer is - because she had become too ill. - this shows that she was ill from a distant past, and then some time in the past(ofcourse after the first event), she got discharged.

Hence, Had become is used to show sequencing with the verb discharged.

Another thought -
Had the sentence been;

was discharged in 1783 because she became too ill to serve. the meaning would have that both the events happened at the same time, and have the same importance.
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your explanation is great. let me generalize the use of had done
in a series of past actions, the action with a specific point of past time is is simple past. the action which contain no specific time and precede an action in simple past is in past perfect. an action is past perfect needs to be precede an action in simple past but dont need to precede any actions in simple past. this is basic grammar rule of past perfect
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Dressed as a man and using the name Robert Shurtleff, Deborah Sampson, 05 Sep 2021, 07:49
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GMATNinja
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(A) 22, was injured three times, and was discharged in 1783 because she had become
I often hear people say that (A) isn’t parallel: “…Deborah Sampson… joined the Continental Army…, was injured three times, and was discharged in 1783…” That’s actually completely fine: we have three parallel verbs, and they make perfect sense, since they are three actions that Sampson performed.

The objection is usually that the three verbs “aren’t in the same form” or “don’t sound the same.” Neither of those are legitimate objections. All that really matters is that they’re three verbs that logically are three actions performed by the subject of the clause. It’s not a problem that one is an action verb (“joined”) and the other two are states of being (“was injured” and “was discharged”).

The only other potential issue is the past perfect tense (“had become”) at the end of the sentence. We can only use past perfect tense to describe an action that happened in the past, but BEFORE some other past action, which is usually in simple past tense. And we have that: she “had become too ill too serve” before she “was discharged.”

So let’s keep (A).

Quote:
(B) 22, was injured three times, while being discharged in 1783 because she had become
My biggest issue is with the phrase “while being discharged in 1783.” Literally, that seems to be saying that she simultaneously was discharged and was injured three times in 1783. And that makes no sense – there’s no way that those things can happen at the same exact time.

Plus, I think we would need an “and” somewhere in here: there are several actions, and at least two of them (“joined the Continental Army” and “was injured three times”) already seem to be parallel. So the “and” is necessary.

That’s enough to eliminate (B).

Quote:
(C) 22, and was injured three times, and discharged in 1783, being
Now this is a weird mess. Sampson “joined the Continental Army… and was injured… and discharged…” Huh? First of all, those three actions (“joined”, “was injured”, and “was discharged”) are logically parallel to each other, so we only need one “and” – not two.

Second, it’s wrong to say that Sampson “discharged in 1783.” We could say that she WAS discharged from the Army, or I guess we could say that she “discharged a weapon” (a semi-obscure way to say that she fired it). But you wouldn’t just say that “Sampson… discharged.”

And “being” is also a mess. It seems to be trying to act as a modifier of some sort, but that’s rarely an acceptable use on the GMAT. (More on “being” here.)

So we have tons of reasons to ditch (C).

Quote:
(D) 22, injured three times, and was discharged in 1783 because she was
(D) isn’t too bad, but it doesn’t make sense to say that Sampson “injured three times.” You can say that she WAS injured three times, or maybe that she injured three enemy soldiers. But you can’t say that she “injured three times.”

And that’s enough to disqualify (D).

Quote:
(E) 22, having been injured three times and discharged in 1783, being
Whenever you see a “having + verb” construction on the GMAT, it generally needs to be the first of two past actions. So you could say something like “having studied all night, Souvik collapsed on the sofa and watched three consecutive Marvel films.” In other words, he studied first, and then collapsed. Fair enough.

But in (E), it sounds like Sampson was injured and discharged first, and THEN she joined the Army. And that makes no sense at all.

We also have a problem with “being”, which is apparently being used as a modifier in (E) – and that’s a use that we almost never see on correct GMAT questions. “Being” isn’t always wrong on the GMAT, but it’s probably wrong here.

But even if you really love “being” in (E) for some inexplicable reason, we still have lots of reasons to eliminate (E). And we’re left with (A).
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Thank you for the explanation! I have a question. I chose D because of the word "because". I feel like if something is the cause of something else, we shouldn't need to use Past Perfect? The reason she was discharged was because she became ill, since becoming ill caused her to be discharged, we know the sequencing and don't need past perfect.

Please let me know if this logic is correct. Thanks!
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Dressed as a man and using the name Robert Shurtleff, Deborah Sampson, 11 Sep 2021, 06:09
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kelbyandrews

Thank you for the explanation! I have a question. I chose D because of the word "because". I feel like if something is the cause of something else, we shouldn't need to use Past Perfect? The reason she was discharged was because she became ill, since becoming ill caused her to be discharged, we know the sequencing and don't need past perfect.

Please let me know if this logic is correct. Thanks!
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When you see the past perfect, your job is to determine whether the timeline makes sense. Did the past perfect verb occur in the past, BEFORE another event in the past?

In (A), the answer to those questions is "yes." The past perfect makes it super clear exactly when things happened -- FIRST Sampson "had become too ill to serve," and THEN she "was discharged."

At that point, you can say that the past perfect passes the test. Is it absolutely, 100% necessary in this context? Honestly, that's not even something that you should be addressing up front -- if the usage is correct and the meaning is clear, then move onto the other answer choices to see if you make strong eliminations based on grammar and glaring meaning issues. Small problems with wording and style only become relevant if you're left with multiple options that are grammatically correct and logically sound.

Luckily, that's not the case here -- (D) has a pretty huge meaning error, as described in our explanation above. So the question of whether the past perfect is totally necessary in (A) isn't something that you need to investigate to get this question right.

In addition, there certainly isn't a rule stating that when you have the word "because" that you shouldn't use the past perfect. In this sentence, the past perfect helps really nail down the timeline, so the use of "because" and a past perfect verb isn't a problem.

I hope that helps!
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Dressed as a man and using the name Robert Shurtleff, Deborah Sampson, 10 Aug 2022, 05:47
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Deborah Sampson (subject)… joined (verb’)…, was injured(verb’’)…, and(parallel marker) was discharged (verb’’’)

This is a classic parallel structure that is respected only by answer A
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Dressed as a man and using the name Robert Shurtleff, Deborah Sampson, 10 Aug 2023, 15:46
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