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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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Why option d is wrong

Having + verb is also used to denote that some action completed before another action completed

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Utkarshsinghinbox
I wanted to ask about option A which has "which itself". isn't itself redundant here? which had been adopted earlier would have been correct sentence. please advise.
Perhaps Utkarsh, but I would like to draw your attention to the fact that all the 5 options use itself. So, redundancy (if at all there is any), is clearly a non-issue here.

The reason I highlight this, is because test-takers do need to develop an eye for quickly figuring out the differences in the five options, so as to evaluate what really matters for that question.
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Keep it simple. The incorrect choices B-E are each terribly wordy.

In the seventh century B.C., the Roman alphabet was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet, which in turn had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet, which itself had been adapted earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet.

(A) which itself had been adapted earlier Correct
(B) adapting itself earlier
(C) itself being adapted earlier
(D) having been earlier adapted itself
(E) earlier itself having been adapted
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past perfect is used to show an action preceding another point of time in the past. if the time point is clear, we dont use past perfect, but simple past. consider

I had passed gmat in 2000
I passed gmat in 2000

the first sentence mean I passed gmat before 2000. the second means I passed gmat in 2000

though choice A is best and I think that this problem dose not test past perfect and I dont like the way gmac uses past perfect in choice A.
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Hey souvik101990 is the usage of past perfect necessary as an earlier time frame is already mentioned in the sentence.

Also is there any article on the double usage of past perfect in a sentence? Help will be appreciated.

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MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, egmat, can you please shed some light on the usage of having been + past participle in choice D and E?
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CrushTHYGMAT
MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, egmat, can you please shed some light on the usage of having been + past participle in choice D and E?

Hello CrushTHYGMAT,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, "having been...adapted" in Options D and E is a participle construction (rather than an active verb phrase); in Option D, it modifies the preceding clause to (incorrectly) convey a cause-effect relationship, and in Option E it modifies the noun "itself", which refers to the noun phrase "a western Greek alphabet".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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One can use "Had" only once in a sentence to indicate most past event right?
How option A is correct as its using "had" twice? (even if one had is referring to past event than other had)
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YashChavan05
One can use "Had" only once in a sentence to indicate most past event right?
How option A is correct as its using "had" twice? (even if one had is referring to past event than other had)
There's no reason why you can't use past perfect (had + "-ed" verb) more than once in a single sentence.

We have THREE past actions here. The first past perfect verb is used for something that happened before the simple past verb. The second past perfect verb is used for something that happened before the first past perfect verb.

The past perfect basically tells us that the action happened before some other past action/time marker. In (A), we simply do that twice, and the modifiers ("In the seventh century," "in the previous century," "earlier in the same century") help us keep the timeline straight.

In short, the use of two separate past perfect verbs is totally justified here and actually helps to keep things clear.

For more on verb tenses on the GMAT, check out this crusty old video.

I hope that helps!
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KarishmaB GMATNinja
(D) having been earlier adapted itself
1)"Having + verb-ed" at the start of the sentence is used to show the sequence of events. How it is used in D & E. How the usage is different at the end of the sentence. Please help me to understand
2)If "having + verb" modifies the subject of the previous clause, what is the subject? Is it the "Etruscan alphabet" or the main subject "the Roman alphabet"?

(B) adapting itself earlier
In option B, if adapting refers to the subject of the previous clause "Etruscan alphabet", then why can't we say that "adapting" provides more info about the previous clause? Please explain why the meaning wise it's incorrect.
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In the seventh century B.C., the Roman alphabet was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet, which in turn had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet, which itself had been adapted earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet.

(A) which itself had been adapted earlier
(B) adapting itself earlier
(C) itself being adapted earlier
(D) having been earlier adapted itself
(E) earlier itself having been adapted

Roman Alphabet

(A) CORRECT

(B) Modifier / Meaning (adapting)

(C) Modifier (being)

(D) Modifier (having; earlier)

(E) Modifier (earlier; having)

First glance

The underline starts with the word which, which is a modifier marker. The other choices change but also use various modifier forms, so modifiers are an issue in this problem.

Issues

(1) Modifier / Meaning: adapting; being; having

The original sentence contains a nested modifier: the first which marker describes the noun Etruscan alphabet (just before the comma). The second which modifier is underlined. What had been adapted earlier from [another] alphabet?

Logically, the Greek alphabet had been adapted from another, even earlier alphabet. The modifier, then, should be in the form of a noun modifier, as it refers to the noun just before the comma (Greek alphabet).

Which signals a noun modifier, so the form in answer (A) is fine. An –ing word, such as adapting in answer (B), creates a comma –ing modifier, which modifies the main subject and verb of the clause (sentence) to which it is attached. In this case, the main clause is the Roman alphabet was adapted. The second modifier is not talking about the Roman alphabet; it should be referring to the Greek alphabet. Answers (C), (D), and (E) repeat this error (using the –ing words being and having, respectively). Eliminate (B), (C), (D), and (E).

Note that these four choices also contain a tense error. Comma –ing modifiers take on the tense of the verb in the main clause. In this case, the main verb is was adapted, the simple past tense. The sequence of the various events is as follows: In the past, the Roman alphabet was adapted; prior to that, the Etruscan alphabet had been adapted; prior even to that, the Greek alphabet had been adapted. Because the Etruscan adaptation is described using the past perfect, the Greek adaptation also must take the past perfect; if the Greek adaptation is described in simple past, then it would have to have occurred after the Etruscan adaptation.

(2) Modifier: earlier

In the different answer choices, the word earlier moves around. Earlier is an adverb: a modifier that modifies something other than a straight noun. What happened earlier?

The adaptation took place earlier in the same century. The most clear placement is right before that prepositional phrase in the same century. Answer (D) places earlier in the middle of the verb form and answer (E) places it before the verb entirely. The placement in (E) is definitely too far from in the same century; the placement in (D) might arguably be acceptable if a more clear version were not available; even then, the placement in (D) is shaky.

The Correct Answer

Correct answer (A) properly uses a noun modifier form (which) to refer to the noun Greek alphabet. It also correctly places earlier next to in the same century.


Main clause:
the Roman alphabet was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet

Relative clause modifying 'Etruscan alphabet' - which in turn had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet, which itself had been adapted earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet

Within this relative clause is another relative clause modifying 'western Greek alphabet' - which itself had been adapted earlier[/u] in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet

Focusing on the relative clause modifying 'Etruscan alphabet'

'Etruscan alphabet' had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet, which itself had been adapted earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet

All makes sense.

(B) adapting itself earlier

'Etruscan alphabet' had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet, adapting itself earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet

'adapting' cannot modify the entire previous clause (comma + verb-ing) because it makes no sense. It must modify Greek alphabet only.
Also the 'Greek alphabet' had not adapted itself. It had been adapted from Phoenician alphabet (by people). We need passive usage.
Hence this is incorrect.

(C) itself being adapted earlier
'being adapted' shows a progressive action. Incorrect.

(D) having been earlier adapted itself
(E) earlier itself having been adapted


Use of 'having been adapted' is incorrect here. It is perfect participle which shows that an action was completed (may show recency) before the action of the main clause. It often shows why the action of the main clause took place. When it appears at the end of the previous clause, it modifies the subject of the previous clause. So 'having been adapted' would modify 'Etruscan alphabet' and that doesn't make sense.

Since all we want is to talk about the western Greek alphabet without linking it to the previous action, it is best to use a relative clause.
Answer (A)
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