I was at the circus for only half an hour when the assailant struck;

2 Actions are taking in the past -

1. Being at the Circus
2. Assailants struck

So, Past perfect continuous works good here , showing something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past.

Further in the present scenario -

1. Act of stabbing in the past
2. State of frighten for that action...

So, Present perfect Continuous works perfect here showing something started in the past and has continued up until now...

So, Answer (E) is correct..

If you are having trouble with Verb Tenses go through this Website -

https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html

Hope this helps...
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imo E.

nice explanation by Abhishek009

Dear Expert!
chetan2u, daagh sir , and magoosh plz help in analyzing the solutions...
unable to choose correct answer
thanks

Hi Celestial09

Ever since is a redundancy, Since is sufficient to state that since event A, B is happening.

That leaves us with only C and E

Along with since, we need a present perfect... since this is a process still in continuation ...

Since.... have been

That leaves us with only E

Other than that, a ';' separates two independent clauses. So look at each event separately

1st clause :

Two events ...

a) I was at the circus
b) the assailant struck

so we need past perfect for event a

From what I understand there are 2 actions:
1. I was at the circus
2. the assailant struck
These 2 are simultaneous actions and do not have sequencing involved hence Past perfect related choices can be ignored. Remaining options: A & B. A is a better option due to the use of simple present to depict a fact( I am terribly afraid of clowns)

Experts - Kindly help

I think answer should be B as past perfect is not needed(E) as sequencing is already clear.

The sequencing is not clear in A and B; After all, there is no timeline marker such as before or prior. For all that I could have been there for half an hour either before or after the event. Therefore, it is vital to use the past perfect as done in C, D, and E.
Among C, D, and E, the use of the present perfect makes the structure in sync
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I was at the circus for only half an hour when the assailant struck; ever since the stabbing, I am terribly afraid of clowns.

A. I was at the circus for only half an hour when the assailant struck; ever since the stabbing, I am terribly afraid of clowns - tense issue - need past perfect - I had been at the circus to show sequencing and since the stabbing, I have been-- present perfect is needed because of 'since' marker
B. I was at the circus for only half an hour when the assailant struck; ever since the stab, I have been terribly afraid of clowns - same as A
C. I had been at the circus for only half an hour when the assailant struck; since the stabbing, I am terribly afraid of clowns - tense issue I have been-- present perfect is needed because of 'since' marker
D. I had been at the circus for only half an hour when the assailant struck; ever since the stab, I am terribly afraid of clowns - tense issue I have been-- present perfect is needed because of 'since' marker
E. I had been at the circus for only half an hour when the assailant struck; since the stabbing, I have been terribly afraid of clowns - Correct

Though I got the question correct, my query is about 'ever since the stab' vs ' since the stabbing'.

Is there any issue with 'ever since the stab' ?

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyMurray , DmitryFarber , daagh , generis , other experts - please enlighten
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Yes. Stabbing is the correct word for the act or incident. Stab as a noun (in this case) is more like the thrust or the wound, and that is not the meaning we want.
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Hello Experts,

AjiteshArun chetan2u RonPurewal GMATNinja VeritasKarishma MagooshExpert egmat and others..

“WHEN” already describes sequencing of events so we need not use past perfect tense in the sentence. It is really not required in the above sentence.

My question is :
If one of the answer choices were "I was at the circus for only half an hour when the assailant struck; ever since the stabbing, I have been terribly afraid of clowns", then would this be the most appropriate answer as compared to the other choices.

P.S - I actually marked answer b because of the redundant usage of past perfect tense, when "when" was already written but later realised after Ajitesh's post that we need Stabbing(action) instead of Stab(noun).

In anticipation of your responses. Kind Regards!

Couldn't agree with you more,

experts Could you please shed some light on this

Hi aalekhoza, for one thing, when does not necessarily depict sequencing of events; when can also show two events happening simultaneously. For example:

When British ruled India, India's economy suffered significantly.

In the above sentence, British ruling India and India's economy suffering were simultaneous actions.

In fact, even when the sequence of events is very clear (for example, as a result of markers such as before), then also, GMAT seems to prefer an explicit usage of past perfect. There are many such official examples:

The personal income tax did not become permanent in the United States until the First World War; before that time the federal government had depended on tariffs as its main source of revenue.
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Thank you EducationAisle for your response.
I was not actually disputing the fact that we cannot use past perfect tense when words such as before, after, when, etc. already define sequencing.

All I meant to say and wanted to ask was if the statement were written that way, that is, in this way :

Would it be the best choice? Maybe because the above choice is succinct?

And I also meant that it is just not required. Usage of past perfect with sequencing words is not incorrect but redundant. Is this true? If yes, then I need not change anything in my notes for GMAT but if it is mandatory to use past perfect anyway, then I might have to change my notes a bit.

Hi! The fact that many officially correction answer choices on GMAT use past perfect with time markers such as before, tells us that GMAT does not consider the use of past perfect redundant in such cases.
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Hi EducationAisle,

In this question, how can we know that assailant struck and being at the circus occurred at the same time or one after the other.

Hi vasanthinidumolu, perhaps an analogy will help:

I had been in US for one year, when World trade center was hit.

Obviously I was in US when World trade center was hit. But the use of past perfect (had been) makes it very clear that by the time World trade center was hit, I had spent one year in US.
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Hi EducationAisle

Thanks for your reply. Just to reiterate that option E conveys the meaning clearly and split "ever since the stab/ since the stabbing "has quite less to decide the answer

Oh yeah..that would be a very (what I call) slippery split, best avoided, since stab can also be used as a noun, denoting the act of stabbing.
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Hi EMPOWERgmatVerbal

I am little confused with the sequence of event. Can you help with this one please.

I was at the circus for only half an hour when the assailant struck;

Isn't sequence of action clear here? when the assailant struck , she was already there. What am i missing here.?