Georges personal diary and album formed the basis for his

Question

George’s personal diary and album formed  the basis for his book about the places he had visited .

• the basis for his book about the places he had visited.
• the basis for his book regarding the places he had visited.
• the basis of his book about the places he visited. 
• the basis of his book about the places which he had visited.
• the basis of his book about the places he had visited.

sdrandom1 · Answer

I would go with A. Everything seems right with this sentence. What is the OA???

coolshling · Answer

Hmm so what's correct? between "the basis for" or "the basis of".
Just looked up in Longman Dictionary, it gives an example "a lecture series that later formed the basis of a new book"

If the same rule applies, the answer should be E.

So what's the OA? :-D

goldeneagle94 · Answer

I'd go with A.

I'm curious about the OA. I think there is something to learn from this post.

Good question !!

paneer · Answer

Test of idiom and tense

1.   the basis of   is the correct idiom

2. he   had   is required because there are two actions described (that something formed some basis.. and that he visited places). GMAT expects   had   in such cases associated with the first action to clarify on the order of occurrence

So, E it is

chill · Answer

IMO e...
correct use of Past Perfect tense.... one event is clearly followed by the other...
Whats the OA?

vannu · Answer

Is OA C?

I would go for C because the  basis of  is correct and and I think C is precise and am not sure whether the sentence need a past perfect.

OA,please?

ichha148 · Answer

I will go with C as well
If we are using had then it is like he first visited the place and then later he wrote in the diary

perfectstranger · Answer

Correct idiom : basis of we left with c,d,e . d is definitely wrong since a comma is needed to describe places. 
IMO :C since we should avoid using past perfect unless we really need. Here I do not really think we need past perfect.

Why do we need past perfect here ?

Jozu · Answer

OA is C, though it is pretty clear that he formed the diary AFTER visiting the places. Can anyone kindly explain why we do not need a past perfect here?

sdrandom1 · Answer

Jozu, whats the source of this question...so we can atleast have an idea to what extent we can trust the OA...

paneer · Answer

OMG!

Well, George’s personal diary and album formed the basis for his book about the places he had visited While answering this question, I got two things in my mind. As explained earlier, one was the idiomatic correctness and the other, the tense. While the idiomatic problem was solved in a jiffy, I wondered if we require past perfect. Two statements occurred to me- Statement 1: wrote a book on the places he visited Statement 2: wrote a book on the places he had visited a. GMAT expects past perfect on the first action when there are two actions mentioned (I read this rule somewhere) b. He can write a book only on the places he visited prior to writing the book. Now that he has already written a book, if I were to read ...on the places he visited , I could assume places he visited to include the places he visited after writing the book. Even though it is illogical to assume so, grammar has to clear the air in any statement per the basic definition. So, the sentence needs past perfect tense ( ..wrote a book on the places he had visited ) In all these, I've been telling you that a past perfect is required. Somebody can tell me why it is not required? Great learning opportunity for me! And please quote the source

Maulikgmat · Answer

Hi,
A good one...
OA has to be C.
A & B removed as basis of is required.
fight in c,d & e.George’s personal diary and album formed  the basis for his book about the places he had visited 
Here the last part about the places he visited describes the book it has nothing to do with the previous part.
Hence , C.
Had would have been required if for ex:-
formed the basis of his book that he had written.......

paneer · Answer

formed the basis of the book he wrote is correct. Past perfect is not required in this statement and if used, will lead to a fallacy that he wrote the book first and then something formed the basis! and yep! One action has got nothing to do with the other and that is why they are two different actions that occurred in the past. Hence past perfect tense I still don't see anything wrong in using he had visited :shock:

Can somebody help?

sudeep · Answer

IMO C
because
1) we don't know yet what's the status of the book - competed or writed is just getting started.
2) if we use 'had visited', it implies that the book will cover only the places he had visited till he decide the basis of the book; and implies that even if the book is in process he will not include the places he will visit between the decision on the basis of the book and book completion. we don't know that, so simple present make sense to me.

People add your opinion!

aknine · Answer

A good explanation, 'had visited' would add a time frame to the visits. The author might visit places while he is still writing the book.

agdimple333 · Answer

This is a very interesting sentence and i am still not convince with the explanation of using simple past vs. past perfect in this sentence.

In the real test, if such question appears, how will I know that there is no timing sequence here. I can very well think E as the potential right choice for this.

Can expert help and explain how to tackle such sentences?

yogesh1984 · Answer

Well though I choose E at first but consider this- George will write a book about the places he visited only after visiting those places, no ? so the order of events is self evident so use of "had" is kind of redundant I feel.

vix · Answer

Between C and E, latter looks better because it properly takes into account the sequence of events!

vix · Answer

'Basis of' is correct idiom.
In D, we need a comma before 'which'.
'had' is needed for past perfect (2 actions in past, one after other). Hence E.

Georges personal diary and album formed the basis for his

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