Ironically, before he shot and killed Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatr

Question

Ironically,  before he shot and killed  Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre, John Wilkes Booth had performed in front of the president in the very same venue.

(A) before he shot and killed
(B) before the shooting and killing of
(C) before he had shot and killed
(D) prior to when he shot and killed
(E) prior to the shooting and killing of

This question is a part of QOTD Question Collection

carcass · Answer

Please guys, give your own explanation of the question NOT only the answer. And kudo if the question is also useful.

Thank you

Jerald · Answer

IMO C.

Reason: Parallelism

Ironically, before  he had  shot and killed..... John Wilkes Booth had  performed....

Kurtosis · Answer

(A) before he shot and killed - Correct

(B) before the shooting and killing of - Incorrect. Tense error.

(C) before he had shot and killed - Incorrect. Sine we have a time indicator 'before', there is no need to use past perfect.

(D) prior to when he shot and killed - Incorrect. Awkward.

(E) prior to the shooting and killing of - Incorrect. Tense error.

Answer: A

JanGMAC · Answer

Agree its A:
- Less wordy than D
- Rest is wrong tense, as before shows that it succeeds the "had performed" - so simple past has to be correct. 
- E and B does not tell that John shot the president.

sobby · Answer

A is the answer...

kuddos to  carcass

susheelh · Answer

Just for the record, here is the official explanation from Veritas.

This Tense/Timeline problem highlights the most important verb tense of all on GMAT, the past perfect ("had shot"). Note that "had performed" is already in the non-underlined portion, situating the performance of John Wilkins Booth further back in time before he shot the president. This means that A correctly conveys the timeline by putting "shot and killed" in the simple past tense - still back in the past but after past perfect. B is incorrect because it doesn't provide a past-tense event, which is required in order for the past-perfect to exist in the later sentence. C is guilty of the same error, as is E. And choice D is redundant - "prior to" doesn't need the word "when" after it, because the idea of time is already inherent in "prior to". So D is incorrect, as well, and choice A is the proper answer. (Sidenote - this isn't really "ironic", but in a nod to Alanis Morrissette we'll let the question stand)

abhinav2892 · Answer

(A) before he shot and killed --- ( Verb sequence proper ) ( correct answer)
(B) before the shooting and killing of - (usage of "he" is necessary to make the sentence sensible) 
(C) before he had shot and killed --- ( unnecessary use of had , as the sequence of events is clear with the usage of "before")
(D) prior to when he shot and killed --- ( awkward & usage of "he" is necessary to make the sentence sensible )
(E) prior to the shooting and killing of  --- ( same as D )

kapstone1996 · Answer

My thought process:

A - before he shot and killed - hold on to
B - before the shooting and killing of - "ing" wrong tense
C - before he had shot and killed - The use of "had" indicates past perfect tense, and the shooting of Abe occurred after Booth's performance, not before.
D - prior to when he shot and killed - redundant wording and awkward 
E - prior to the shooting and killing of - same as B

A seems like the best choice.

kornn · Answer

Dear  AnthonyRitz   IanStewart   GMATGuruNY   DmitryFarber   VeritasPrepBrian   ccooley ,

Why is choice D. wrong? It is very similar to choice A.
Is "prior to when" always wrong?

VerbalBot · Answer

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Ironically, before he shot and killed Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatr

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Ironically, before he shot and killed Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatr

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