Until the European Convention on Human Rights came into effect in 2000

Question

Until the European Convention on Human Rights came into effect in 2000,  no law of privacy was as yet acknowledged by British courts .

A. no law of privacy was as yet acknowledged by British courts 
B. British courts did not acknowledge a law of privacy 
C. the courts in Britain had not acknowledged a law of privacy 
D. a law of privacy was not acknowledged by the courts in Britain 
E. there had been no acknowledged law of privacy in Britain

Zarrolou · Accepted Answer

Until the European Convention on Human Rights came into effect in 2000,  no law of privacy was as yet acknowledged by British courts .

We know that an unstated rule of the GMAT is   "avoid passive"  (if possible).
A, D use a passive form.
The past perfect is used to clarify a sequence of events, the latter should be expressed in PP form and the most recent is simple past.

In this sentence the "timing" is already clear, since the sentence begins with " until "; we already know what happened first, so the use of the Past Perfect is not necessary, hence we should go for the most concise answer. All this leaves us with B, that is the best option

B. British courts did not acknowledge a law of privacy

swati007 · Answer

Hi zarralou i believe that option a is wrong because it is a sentence fragment

Zarrolou · Answer

A clause is called a fragment if is a dependent clause without subject / verb, or is not connected to an IC (or a combination of those).

"A. no law of privacy was as yet acknowledged by British courts "  this clearly has both a subject and a verb, so you're saying that is dependent clause... yes, I can agree with that, mostly because the sentence states  "... yet ..."  (when?) so its meaning is not complete on its own (hence is a DC).

AMITAGARWAL2 · Answer

Between B and D, B is better because first clause is in active so it make sense to go with active in 2nd clause...

argha · Answer

Hi All,

What is wrong in (E)? The verb "acknowledged" should precede "came". Hence should it not be "had been no acknowledged"?

Regards

Argha

blueseas · Answer

hi argha,

option E is wrong because it completely changes the intended meaning of the original question.

Until the European Convention on Human Rights came into effect in 2000, no law of privacy was as yet acknowledged by British courts.
 intended meaning : == until 2000,british courts dindnt pass any law of privacy

opton E:
E. there had been no acknowledged law of privacy in Britain ===> UNTIL 2000 THERE WAS NO LAW IN BRITAIN ON PRIVACY.
 USE OF HAD IS ALSO WRONG HERE.YOU CAN EXPRESS WITH SIMPLE PAST ALSO ...
 
I didnt understand what you meant to say with this:

The verb "acknowledged" should precede "came". Hence should it not be "had been no acknowledged"?

hope it helps.

amirfarzam82 · Answer

hi dears
in (B)....>british court=may be consume as a type of court
in (c)......>the court in britain is clear than another

argha · Answer

Hi Shailesh,

If option (E) is plugged into the original question:

Until the European Convention on Human Rights  came  into effect in 2000, there  had been  no acknowledged law of privacy in Britain

Between the two highlighted verbs above, the second one precedes the first. Hence the tense of the second should be PP.

But I presume, when the sequence of events is clear by the usage of "until", then both the verbs should be simple past.

My bad, as I was not aware of this.

Thanks for the explanation anyways.

Regards

Argha

thangvietname · Answer

main error with a is
as yet, redundant

the correct answer must
logic
not ambiguous'
not redundant

all 3 aspects is in meaning point.

mvictor · Answer

agree...b seems the best...C is a nice trap though...

rohitjha12 · Answer

Hi,

Since you are using two simple past tenses because of the presence of "Until", shouldn't we use two simple past tenses when "before/after is used" as before/ater also clarifies what happened first?

For Example : I had eaten before I went to office

Shouldn't it be "I ate before I went to office" as "before" suggests the sequence of events?

Please let me know.

Regards,
Rohit

mohshu · Answer

very close between B and C...

yes past perfect is optional.. but eventhough PP is there,,nothing rong..

to me,,"the courts in britain" sounds better than british courts...

any expert opinion please,,,

longhaul123 · Answer

Why is option D incorrect?? Since the Sentence talks about the past action , using the verb DID which is in present context is incorrect . Am I right??

aditya201819 · Answer

can somebody explain why other options are wrong?
especially E

vinayakvaish · Answer

What does the sentence mean anyway? Until the Human rights convention, British courts did not acknowledge a single law on human rights.

Job of courts is to decide on the basis of established laws not to pass laws.
The sentence does not make sense to me. Which court refuses to acknowledge a passed law?

E, although, not perfect is the only sentence which makes sense. Prior to an event, there had been no acknowledged law in the country.

What do you think  GMATNinja

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Tuputuki · Answer

Why c is wrong? Can somebody please explain

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tinbq · Answer

Hi experts, 
Please help to explain why each choice is either right or wrong. Thank you.

Can,Will · Answer

egmat  please explain this

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Until the European Convention on Human Rights came into effect in 2000

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