Few parents find it difficult to cope with the fact that their

Question

Few parents find it difficult to cope with the fact that their children have become adults; consequently,  they see their children as they were during  their adolescence.

A. they see their children as they were during
B. they see their children as they had been during
C. they see their children as if during
D. their children appear to them as they did in
E. their children appear to them as though in

Abhishek009 · Answer

Nothing wrong with the original sentence, errors in other options marked in Red, answer must be (A)

KanishkM · Answer

Intent of the sentence is that the children are no more adolescents.

A. they see their children as they were during
Correct intent.

B. they see their children as they had been during
nothing is coming from past into the present, they no more are adolescents. -> Out

C. they see their children as if during
There is no condition present -> Out

D. their children appear to them as they did in
Illogical referrer of "their"

E. their children appear to them as though in
They are still adolescents-> this is not the intent -> Out

smlprkh · Answer

Can you please explain why B is wrong and A is right in terms of the verb tenses?

Thank you!

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  smlprkh , option B uses  past perfect  tense ( had been ).

Past perfect is used when there are  two  events, both of which happened in the  past . In such a case, past perfect tense is used to depict the  earlier  of the two events.

That is however,  not  the case here ( they see  is  simple present ). Hence, past perfect is  not  justified.

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  Past perfect tense , its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

pankajpaliitkgp · Answer

Hi Dear,

I would like to make this subtle point of "Were" vs "Had been" more clear as it bothers me also sometimes.

A. they see their children as they  were  during
B. they see their children as they  had been  during

Let's think first that we don't have doubt about tenses here, as , it's quite viable to consider "were during" as "Past continuous" and "Had been during" as "Past perfect continuous" which will create a mess to comprehend meaning vs tenses.

So, first thing, A is using simple past and B is using Past perfect. If you have this doubt, then it's easy to clear confusion between answer choices easily.
How?

Were is in "To be" role in A and Been is in "To be" role in B.
How?

Just consider same answers as below, (If look doesn't suits well, you can replace with appearance. It's only to exemplify.)
 A. they see their children as they  looked  during
B. they see their children as they had  looked  during

Now, just solve the same question. 
"They looked" should be used if we are taking about simple past. That's what exactly we are doing here by talking about their children in present.
"They had looked" should be used if we are talking about this past event(1) to reference it with another past event(2) and show that this event(1) had finished before event(2). That's not the case. So, B is incorrect.

avinashiitp · Answer

Although A is correct, It has pronoun ambiguity. I would not recommend this question.

Few parents find it difficult to cope with the fact that their

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Few parents find it difficult to cope with the fact that their

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards