In GMAT, there are some grammar rules that cannot be flouted and there are stylistic guidelines that are optional. Use of past perfects when the timeline is explicitly made clear with the use of earlier, after, before or mention of sequential years falls into the second category. GMAT itself is not as fastidious about this as some of us tend to take it as gospel.
Look at the following examples.
Retailers reported moderate gains in their November sales, as much because
of their sales of a year earlier being so bad as that shoppers were getting a head start on buying their holiday gifts.
(A) of their sales of a year earlier being so bad as that
(B) of their sales a year earlier having been as bad as because
(C) of their sales a year earlier being as bad as because
(D) their sales a year earlier had been so bad as because
(E) their sales of a year earlier were as bad as that
OA: D.
For at least two decades or more previous to when the Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo died in 1770, he was the most admired painter in Italy.
A. For at least two decades or more previous to when the Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo died in 1770, he was
B. For at least two decades before the Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo died in 1770, he had been
C. For at least two decades or more before the Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's dying in 1770, he had been
D. When the Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo died in 1770, for at least two decades previously he was
E. When the Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo died in 1770, having been for at least two decades before that
OA B
She was less successful after she had immigrated to New York compared to her native Germany, photographer Lotte Jacobi nevertheless earned a small group of discerning admirers, and her photographs were eventually exhibited in prestigious galleries across the United States.
(A) She was less successful after she had emigrated to New York compared to
(B) Being less successful after she had emigrated to New York as compared to
(C) Less successful after she emigrated to New York than she had been in
(D) Although she was less successful after emigrating to New York when compared to
(E) She had been less successful after emigrating to New York than in
OA C
The question under discussion also can be taken as one more such example. It might be prudent for us not to make or break a choice on the use of past perfects on this ground.
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