Ioan Culianu, a historian of religion, eventually became a professor

Why not (E)? We have 2 past events.

Official Explanation:

Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:

The order of events in this sentence is unclear. A citizen of one country does not usually become a professor in another country until after he has defected from his native country—or at least immigrated to the new country. So look for an answer choice that puts first things first. Furthermore, in the original, “eventually” can confuse the reader into thinking, at least momentarily, that both the professorship and the defection were eventual. The more likely case is that the defection eventually led to a professorship.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:

(A), (B), and (C) keep "became a professor" and "defected" in the original order, retaining the ambiguity. (D) and (E) clear things up by moving "became a professor" to a later part of the sentence.

Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:

(A), (B), and (C) fail to make the order of events clear, so they can be eliminated.

(E) makes the sequence clear but adds the unnecessary words "had" (before "defected") and "he" (before "eventually").

(D) makes the order of events clear without inserting redundant words. Therefore, it is correct.

TAKEAWAY: If the events in a sentence must have happened in a particular order, choose the answer that presents them in that order without making any additional errors.

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