Last visit was: 19 Nov 2025, 07:38 It is currently 19 Nov 2025, 07:38
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
User avatar
hemanthp
User avatar
Joined: 31 Jul 2010
Last visit: 19 Jul 2016
Posts: 150
Own Kudos:
1,363
 [97]
Given Kudos: 104
Status:Keep fighting!
Affiliations: IIT Madras
WE 1: 2+ years - Programming
WE 2: 3+ years - Product developement,
WE 3: 2+ years - Program management
Posts: 150
Kudos: 1,363
 [97]
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 30 Sep 2010, 06:18
10
Kudos
Add Kudos
87
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
00:00
Start Timer
Pause Timer
Resume Timer
Show Answer
Hide
Show
History
A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

95% (hard)

Question Stats:

29% (01:21) correct 71% (01:23) wrong based on 1815 sessions

History

Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angeles a world city, yet within twenty years a powerful municipal had made this boast a reality .


A. yet within twenty years a powerful municipal had made this boast a reality
B. yet within twenty years a powerful municipal made this boast a reality
C. yet a powerful municipal within twenty years will make this boast a reality
D. yet this boast had become a reality within twenty years because of a powerful will municipally
E. yet within twenty years a municipal will had made this boast a powerful reality
ShowHide Answer
Official Answer
A
Most Helpful Reply
User avatar
KapTeacherEli
User avatar
Kaplan GMAT Instructor
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
Last visit: 03 Oct 2013
Posts: 610
Own Kudos:
682
 [18]
Given Kudos: 2
Location: Cambridge, MA
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 610
Kudos: 682
 [18]
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 30 Sep 2010, 13:17
13
Kudos
Add Kudos
5
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
My understanding of this unusual grammatical construction is that we can read 'within twenty years' as 'before twenty years passed'. Thus, focusing only on the second clause after the comma, the earliest event is the boast becoming reality. Since the boast becomes reality before that time finishes passing, the perfect tense is appropriate (though not mandatory).

Hope this helps!
User avatar
KapTeacherEli
User avatar
Kaplan GMAT Instructor
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
Last visit: 03 Oct 2013
Posts: 610
Own Kudos:
682
 [10]
Given Kudos: 2
Location: Cambridge, MA
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 610
Kudos: 682
 [10]
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 30 Sep 2010, 14:55
3
Kudos
Add Kudos
7
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
rafi

OK, so according to that there are two correct answers in the answer choices in this question.
When I see two correct answers like these two and I remember that the GMAT prefers simplicity I will choose answer choice B and not A. So why is A the OA?
Show more
Excellent question, rafi. The answer is that I'm not reading carefully enough! The exception that I cited applies to sentences with specified times, which this sentence lacks. Good catch, and thanks for pointing it out.

That being said, the past perfect tense is used to stress that one event happens before another--again, in this case, before the 20 years passes. The 'had been' past perfect is not limited exclusively to cases where it's omission would make the sentence ambiguous. For that reason, the word 'within' in the past will take the past perfect tense. Here's a couple of examples lifted from periodicals:
Quote:
He won the lottery and moved to California. Within five years, he had filed for bankruptcy.

Within five years he had another congregation at work not far from his home.
Show more
[/quote]If you're not convinced that it's grammatically necessary, then chalk it up to idiomatic language--but the 'had' tense is required here.
General Discussion
User avatar
rafi
User avatar
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Last visit: 23 Oct 2017
Posts: 85
Own Kudos:
799
 [2]
Given Kudos: 43
Concentration: General Management, Technology
Schools: Chicago (Booth) - Class of 2013
GMAT 1: 670 Q47 V35
GMAT 2: 730 Q49 V41
Schools: Chicago (Booth) - Class of 2013
GMAT 2: 730 Q49 V41
Posts: 85
Kudos: 799
 [2]
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 30 Sep 2010, 14:13
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
KapTeacherEli
My understanding of this unusual grammatical construction is that we can read 'within twenty years' as 'before twenty years passed'. Thus, focusing only on the second clause after the comma, the earliest event is the boast becoming reality. Since the boast becomes reality before that time finishes passing, the perfect tense is appropriate (though not mandatory).

Hope this helps!
Show more

This sounds odd. Even if anyone could infer that 'within twenty years' is 'before twenty years passed' it is still (as you mentioned) unnecessary. And as far as I remember perfect is only used when doing otherwise distort meaning or causes and ambiguity regarding the occurrence of events. Both do not happen here, the sentence is perfectly clear when using the simple tense. Correct me if I'm wrong.
User avatar
KapTeacherEli
User avatar
Kaplan GMAT Instructor
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
Last visit: 03 Oct 2013
Posts: 610
Own Kudos:
682
 [1]
Given Kudos: 2
Location: Cambridge, MA
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 610
Kudos: 682
 [1]
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 30 Sep 2010, 14:20
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
rafi
KapTeacherEli
My understanding of this unusual grammatical construction is that we can read 'within twenty years' as 'before twenty years passed'. Thus, focusing only on the second clause after the comma, the earliest event is the boast becoming reality. Since the boast becomes reality before that time finishes passing, the perfect tense is appropriate (though not mandatory).

Hope this helps!

This sounds odd. Even if anyone could infer that 'within twenty years' is 'before twenty years passed' it is still (as you mentioned) unnecessary. And as far as I remember perfect is only used when doing otherwise distort meaning or causes and ambiguity regarding the occurrence of events. Both do not happen here, the sentence is perfectly clear when using the simple tense. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Show more
Hi rafi,

You've got the right idea, but it's too narrow. The perfect tense is only required in those circumstances, but it can still be correctly used if the meaning is clear from other context.



See https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfect.html
Quote:
If the Past Perfect action did occur at a specific time, the Simple Past can be used instead of the Past Perfect when "before" or "after" is used in the sentence. The words "before" and "after" actually tell you what happens first, so the Past Perfect is optional. For this reason, both sentences below are correct.

Examples:

She had visited her Japanese relatives once in 1993 before she moved in with them in 1996.
She visited her Japanese relatives once in 1993 before she moved in with them in 1996.
Show more
User avatar
rafi
User avatar
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Last visit: 23 Oct 2017
Posts: 85
Own Kudos:
799
 [1]
Given Kudos: 43
Concentration: General Management, Technology
Schools: Chicago (Booth) - Class of 2013
GMAT 1: 670 Q47 V35
GMAT 2: 730 Q49 V41
Schools: Chicago (Booth) - Class of 2013
GMAT 2: 730 Q49 V41
Posts: 85
Kudos: 799
 [1]
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 30 Sep 2010, 14:27
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
KapTeacherEli

Hi rafi,

You've got the right idea, but it's too narrow. The perfect tense is only required in those circumstances, but it can still be correctly used if the meaning is clear from other context.



See https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfect.html
Quote:
If the Past Perfect action did occur at a specific time, the Simple Past can be used instead of the Past Perfect when "before" or "after" is used in the sentence. The words "before" and "after" actually tell you what happens first, so the Past Perfect is optional. For this reason, both sentences below are correct.

Examples:

She had visited her Japanese relatives once in 1993 before she moved in with them in 1996.
She visited her Japanese relatives once in 1993 before she moved in with them in 1996.
Show more

OK, so according to that there are two correct answers in the answer choices in this question.
When I see two correct answers like these two and I remember that the GMAT prefers simplicity I will choose answer choice B and not A. So why is A the OA?
User avatar
rafi
User avatar
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Last visit: 23 Oct 2017
Posts: 85
Own Kudos:
799
 [2]
Given Kudos: 43
Concentration: General Management, Technology
Schools: Chicago (Booth) - Class of 2013
GMAT 1: 670 Q47 V35
GMAT 2: 730 Q49 V41
Schools: Chicago (Booth) - Class of 2013
GMAT 2: 730 Q49 V41
Posts: 85
Kudos: 799
 [2]
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 30 Sep 2010, 15:16
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
KapTeacherEli

Excellent question, rafi. The answer is that I'm not reading carefully enough! The exception that I cited applies to sentences with specified times, which this sentence lacks. Good catch, and thanks for pointing it out.

That being said, the past perfect tense is used to stress that one event happens before another--again, in this case, before the 20 years passes. The 'had been' past perfect is not limited exclusively to cases where it's omission would make the sentence ambiguous. For that reason, the word 'within' in the past will take the past perfect tense. Here's a couple of examples lifted from periodicals:
Quote:
He won the lottery and moved to California. Within five years, he had filed for bankruptcy.

Within five years he had another congregation at work not far from his home.
If you're not convinced that it's grammatically necessary, then chalk it up to idiomatic language--but the 'had' tense is required here.
Show more

Thanks, I now got it. It is the idiomatic language that confused me to thinking that the 'within twenty years' does not represent an event for which it is necessary to define a past perfect when talking about another event.
User avatar
KapTeacherEli
User avatar
Kaplan GMAT Instructor
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
Last visit: 03 Oct 2013
Posts: 610
Own Kudos:
682
 [1]
Given Kudos: 2
Location: Cambridge, MA
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 610
Kudos: 682
 [1]
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 12 Oct 2010, 12:03
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Financier

I alredy figured out my mistake and started to correct my post, but you are faster :) Could you answer my second question about antiquity?
Show more
Sure thing!

I've never heard of such a rule, nor seen it on the GMAT, which means you probably don't need to worry about it. However, English is a fantastically complex language, so it's entirely possible that you're correct; I'd love to see the source of that rule if you can track it down.

Hope that helps!
User avatar
nahid78
User avatar
Joined: 12 Mar 2013
Last visit: 30 Apr 2023
Posts: 286
Own Kudos:
721
Given Kudos: 1,062
Products:
My Reviews
Posts: 286
Kudos: 721
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 11 Oct 2016, 18:31
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
hemanthp
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angeles a world city, yet within twenty years a powerful municipal had made this boast a reality .

yet within twenty years a powerful municipal had made this boast a reality
yet within twenty years a powerful municipal made this boast a reality
yet a powerful municipal within twenty years will make this boast a reality
yet this boast had become a reality within twenty years because of a powerful will municipally
yet within twenty years a municipal will had made this boast a powerful reality
+1 Kudos if you like the question and if you want the OE :) . this is from Kaplan and the OA is indeed correct!
Show more


1. Is my understanding right?

Time sequence: Moked---> had made the boast-----> 20 years.

Is that so, why mocked is not "had mocked" ?

2. Whenever we see Within 20 years/ year 0f 1920/ 5 days (some specific time), should we think of a sequence here? Is within carries the same(almost same) meaning as "BY"? ( By 1920 ... sub + past perfect.)
User avatar
sayantanc2k
User avatar
Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Last visit: 09 Dec 2022
Posts: 2,393
Own Kudos:
15,523
Given Kudos: 26
Location: Germany
Schools:
GMAT 1: 780 Q50 V47
WE:Corporate Finance (Pharmaceuticals and Biotech)
Expert
Expert reply
Schools:
GMAT 1: 780 Q50 V47
Posts: 2,393
Kudos: 15,523
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 16 Oct 2016, 09:23
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
nahid78
hemanthp
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angeles a world city, yet within twenty years a powerful municipal had made this boast a reality .

yet within twenty years a powerful municipal had made this boast a reality
yet within twenty years a powerful municipal made this boast a reality
yet a powerful municipal within twenty years will make this boast a reality
yet this boast had become a reality within twenty years because of a powerful will municipally
yet within twenty years a municipal will had made this boast a powerful reality
+1 Kudos if you like the question and if you want the OE :) . this is from Kaplan and the OA is indeed correct!


1. Is my understanding right?

Time sequence: Moked---> had made the boast-----> 20 years.

Is that so, why mocked is not "had mocked" ?

2. Whenever we see Within 20 years/ year 0f 1920/ 5 days (some specific time), should we think of a sequence here? Is within carries the same(almost same) meaning as "BY"? ( By 1920 ... sub + past perfect.)
Show more

This is one tricky concept in tense chapter - take a look at the comments in this thread:
v12-227178.html#p1747770
User avatar
StudiosTom
User avatar
Joined: 11 Jun 2017
Last visit: 08 Jan 2021
Posts: 113
Own Kudos:
251
 [1]
Given Kudos: 211
Status:In last prep stage
GMAT 1: 630 Q44 V33
GMAT 2: 680 Q47 V37
GPA: 3.2
GMAT 2: 680 Q47 V37
Posts: 113
Kudos: 251
 [1]
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 28 Jul 2018, 22:30
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post

Official Explanation:


Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:



While the original sentence is awkwardly worded, it is correct. Let's check the answer choices just to be safe.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:



Choices (B), (C), and (E) all modify the verb structure. Choice (D) rewords the underlined phrase.

Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains:


Choice (B) incorrectly changes to the simple past tense, "made."

Choices (C) and (E) needlessly break up the subject, thereby changing the meaning of the sentence.

Choice (D) distorts that meaning by making an adverb, "municipally," out of "municipal."

Answer Choice (A) correctly uses the past perfect "had made" as required because there are two past actions, one ending before the other. We use the past perfect for the action that happened first – making the boast a reality.
User avatar
RJ7X0DefiningMyX
User avatar
Joined: 08 Apr 2019
Last visit: 03 Apr 2020
Posts: 98
Own Kudos:
340
Given Kudos: 259
Location: India
GPA: 4
Posts: 98
Kudos: 340
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 25 Jun 2019, 02:04
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
hemanthp
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angeles a world city, yet within twenty years a powerful municipal had made this boast a reality .


A. yet within twenty years a powerful municipal had made this boast a reality
B. yet within twenty years a powerful municipal made this boast a reality
C. yet a powerful municipal within twenty years will make this boast a reality
D. yet this boast had become a reality within twenty years because of a powerful will municipally
E. yet within twenty years a municipal will had made this boast a powerful reality
Show more

egmat why's (B) not the answer? As per what I learned from the concept files, we can only use past perfect with the event that happened earlier while comparing two events, and here, the municipal making that boast a reality is clearly a 'later' event.

Could you please help me understand this?
User avatar
Thelegend2631
User avatar
Joined: 04 May 2020
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 371
Own Kudos:
303
Given Kudos: 308
Status:What goes round comes around, so does Kudos.
Location: India
Schools: Tepper '27 Kelley '27 (D) Kenan-Flagler '27 (D) Jones '27 (WL) McCombs '27 (D)
GPA: 3
WE:Business Development (Retail Banking)
Schools: Tepper '27 Kelley '27 (D) Kenan-Flagler '27 (D) Jones '27 (WL) McCombs '27 (D)
Posts: 371
Kudos: 303
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 20 Jul 2021, 05:20
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
rafi
KapTeacherEli
My understanding of this unusual grammatical construction is that we can read 'within twenty years' as 'before twenty years passed'. Thus, focusing only on the second clause after the comma, the earliest event is the boast becoming reality. Since the boast becomes reality before that time finishes passing, the perfect tense is appropriate (though not mandatory).

Hope this helps!

This sounds odd. Even if anyone could infer that 'within twenty years' is 'before twenty years passed' it is still (as you mentioned) unnecessary. And as far as I remember perfect is only used when doing otherwise distort meaning or causes and ambiguity regarding the occurrence of events. Both do not happen here, the sentence is perfectly clear when using the simple tense. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Show more




One of the main reasons why i always tend to avoid kaplan. But forgot to do so this time.

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
prachisaraf
User avatar
Joined: 03 Jan 2023
Last visit: 31 Jul 2023
Posts: 28
Own Kudos:
4
 [1]
Given Kudos: 299
Posts: 28
Kudos: 4
 [1]
San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angele 16 Apr 2023, 09:56
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
StudiosTom

Official Explanation:


Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:



While the original sentence is awkwardly worded, it is correct. Let's check the answer choices just to be safe.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:



Choices (B), (C), and (E) all modify the verb structure. Choice (D) rewords the underlined phrase.

Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains:


Choice (B) incorrectly changes to the simple past tense, "made."

Choices (C) and (E) needlessly break up the subject, thereby changing the meaning of the sentence.

Choice (D) distorts that meaning by making an adverb, "municipally," out of "municipal."

Answer Choice (A) correctly uses the past perfect "had made" as required because there are two past actions, one ending before the other. We use the past perfect for the action that happened first – making the boast a reality.
Show more

How is 'making the boast' an action that happened first ? I believe the mocking happened first, and then within twenty years someone made that mock a reality. Please clarify ?
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7443 posts
GMATNinjaTwo
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
231 posts
miag
189 posts