It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of the Washington

No -- the wording in red is nonsensical.
It seems to suggest that the act of becoming belongs to two distinct people: Katharine Graham and its publisher.
The intended meaning is that ONE PERSON (Katharine Graham) assumed a particular ROLE (publisher of the Washington Post).
This meaning is conveyed clearly by the following clause in the OA:
Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post.

Note the following split:
OA: Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post
E: Katharine Graham's becoming its publisher
Whereas the OA employs a VERB (became), option E employs a GERUND (becoming).
In most cases, a verb will be preferable to a gerund.
Given that the original sentence is error-free and employs a verb rather than a gerund, eliminate E and pick A.
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Hello Mavisdu1017,

We hope this finds you well.

To provide a bit of clarity regarding this question, we would like to point out that Option E is actually stylistically inferior to Option A; the construction "Moving into the first rank of American newspapers only after Katharine Graham's becoming its publisher in 1963" is needlessly indirect, and "Katharine Graham's becoming its publisher" is a passive construction; the GMAT does not favor possessive noun constructions or gerunds; it prefers direct, active sentences, even if they are longer.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Thank you for your contributions! They are helping me a lot.

GMATGuruNY, regarding (C), what are your thoughts on COMMA+ Having specifically ?

Is "Having" used in the same a present participple is used

example
I fell down, scaring the cats

I think "Having" in (C) is NOT used in the same manner like "Scarring" is used

I am reading actually "having killed" is NOT THE present participle but the PERFECT participle

Thoughts ?

Hi egmat - could you elaborate on the "Yellow highlight" ?

I dont think it is the case that case (c) implies that The Washington Post first won the praise and then moved to the first rank.

In the phrase "comma + having", is having a present participle ?

Example -
John left the house, eating breakfast
John left the house, having breakfast

Here "Eating breakfast" | "having breakfast" are both taking place AT THE SAME TIME AS John left the house per my understanding.

Thoughts ?

addedumdum #2 - i think "Having killed" is NOT A PRESENT participle but a completely different grammar term, not used on the GMAT (perfect participle)

Your understanding is correct: having + VERBed expresses an action that PRECEDES the modified action.

SC21 in the OG12:
Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of knowledge, are now drawing solid conclusions.
Here, the action in blue (having amassed) PRECEDES the action in green (are drawing).

C: Only after that did it move into the first rank of American newspapers, having won high praise under her command.
As in SC21 above, the action in blue (having won) precedes the action in green (did move).
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Hi GMATGuruNY - thx for confirming.

So are there other ways to create perfect participles OUTSIDE OF having + VERBed ?

I dont think so.

I think i am struggling to figure out how can one quickly figure out if "VERB+ING" is a present participle or a perfect participle.

(i) Present participle : I fell down the stairs, scaring the cat
(ii) Perfect pariticple : I fell down the stairs, having breakfast

Both the verbs in the blue above are followed by a comma
Both the verbs FINISH in "ing"

But (i) is present participle whereas (ii) is perfect participle

Hello jabhatta2,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, perfect participles always follow the construction "having + past participle", so (ii) is not actually a perfect participle because "having" is not followed by a past participle.

(ii) would be past participle if it read "I fell down the stairs, having had breakfast." - or, "I fell down the stairs, having eaten breakfast."

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Hi - i think you meant - "perfect participle" instead of "past participle" in the yellow ?

The two expression in the blue are perfect participles.

Both the blue have the expression - having + verb ed

It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and it was under her command that the paper won high praises for its unrelenting reporting of the Watergate scandal.

Option Elimination

(A) It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and it was under her command that the paper won high praises -
Clause AND Clause - parallel
It was (It is a placeholder), and it was (it as a placeholder) - parallel
It was ....that it (refers back to Washington Post) and it was ....its (refers back to Washington Post) - parallel

(B) It was only after Katharine Graham's becoming publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and under her command it had won high praises - "Katherine Graham's becoming" is wired "Katherine Graham BECAME" is better. The use of "had won" is incorrect. There is no other action in the past. Even if "becoming" is Became, it'll still not make sense - did it become popular even before she became a publisher - not the intended meaning.

Let me also share why "Katherine Graham's becoming" is wired.
In the English language, the possessive forms are typically used to show possession or ownership. In some instances, it can be used to indicate a relationship or association as well.
When we say "John's car," we mean the car that belongs to John. Here, when we say "Katherine Graham's becoming," - "becoming" is no possession or ownership by "Katherine Graham."

Let me share one more example if we need to use ING.
"The success of the company is attributed to Satya's leadership." Here, the possessive form "Satya's" is used correctly to show that the leadership belongs to Satya. However, if we were to use a gerund, we would say: "The success of the company is attributed to Satya becoming the leader." We wouldn't use the possessive form "Satya's" before "becoming" because it doesn't express possession or ownership in this context.

(C) Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963, and only after that did it move into the first rank of American newspapers, having won high praise under her command - "that" is a pronoun, and here it is referred to an action of becoming a publisher - pronoun will refer to a noun and not an action. Wrong. Moreover, the usage of "having been" - the present perfect participle, is a wired here. Normally, the structure is "Having finished his work, John went for a walk" - the action of finishing work happened before John went for a walk. Present perfect participle is used to indicate an action that occurred before another past action (different from past perfect - in past perfect, the action has been completed in the past before another past action, but in present perfect participle, the effect of that action (that occurred before another past action) is present). Here, after "Having won," there is no other action.

(D) Moving into the first rank of American newspapers only after Katharine Graham became its publisher in 1963, The Washington Post, winning high praise under her command. - No verb. Just fragment.

(E) Moving into the first rank of American newspapers only after Katharine Graham's becoming its publisher in 1963, The Washington Post won high praise under her command - her can refer to Katherine Graham's - red herring. The use of "Katharine Graham's becoming" is wired, of course as explained above. Moreover, the modifier structure is a bit weird - Modifier 1 - Moving into the first rank of American newspapers, Modifier 2 - only after Katharine Graham's becoming its publisher in 1963 - both are modifying the Washington Post. Better construction would be - After KG became its publisher, The WP moved into the first rank of American newspapers and won high praise under her command for its unrelenting reporting of the Watergate scandal."