Sentence Correction Question

Question

Hello

Could someone please solve this? Question: After having had Ann Boleyn beheaded, the next day King Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane Seymour. (A) After having had Ann Boleyn beheaded, the next day King Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane Seymour. (B) After having had Ann Boleyn beheaded, King Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane Seymour the next day. (C) Having had Ann Boleyn beheaded, King Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane Seymour the next day. (D) On the day after he had Ann Boleyn beheaded, King Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane Seymour. (E) On the day after having had Ann Boleyn beheaded, King Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane Seymour. Posted from my mobile device

sivatx2 · Answer

(D) On the day after he had Ann Boleyn beheaded, King Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane Seymour.

D satisfies the Past Perfect tense rule correctly. When 2 Past event completed, first event should have a 'had'.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  sangeeth0199 . I mostly agree with the post above. Looking at (A) through (C) together, we should ask ourselves whether the presence of  after  (in (A) and (B)) is strictly necessary to convey the vital meaning of the sentence. The answer is no. The beginning of (C) is perfectly functional, even if there may be a better way of expressing the same idea. The original sentence also places  the next day  in a tight spot right after the comma, where we would expect  King Henry VIII  to be instead. That is, the king had his wife beheaded, so we anticipate something more along the lines of  After having  , King Henry VIII  .  Between (B) and (C), the latter is more concise without losing anything in the way of meaning, so get rid of (B). Leave (C) alone for now as the best of that lot.

Between (D) and (E), we have to ask ourselves which sentence better conveys the idea that the king had someone (his wife) beheaded. The placement of  on the day  is a push.  After he had Ann Boleyn beheaded, King Henry VIII    clearly conveys the course of action;  after having had Ann Boleyn beheaded  masks the meaning. Rather than untangle (E), I would disfavor it for (D).

Finally, between (C) and (D), again, (D) proves clearer, easier to follow. The placement of  the next day  at the end of (C) leads us, as readers, to believe that the king married Jane Seymour right after the execution of Ann Boleyn, perhaps within minutes. But then the information about timing seems to muddle the picture, and we have to go back to create a clear sequence of events. Choice (D) clarifies the matter upfront:  on the day after . All points considered, we should favor (D).

One final note:  had  in (D) is in the simple past tense, not the past perfect. The way you can tell is that  beheaded  is not used as a verb. King Henry VIII  had  someone beheaded: he did not himself  behead  someone. The past perfect of  have  would be  had had . It is acceptable to use either the simple past or the past perfect in a sentence with a timestamp in the form of a dependent clause:

1)  After he washed his hands, he ate dinner.

2)  After he had washed his hands, he ate dinner.

You would not be asked to choose between the two sentences above if no other issues separated the two. If you want, I can cite official questions to show that either usage above is fine.

I hope my response proves helpful to you. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

zhanbo · Answer

While D contains "had" in "he  had  Ann Boleyn beheaded", the clause actually uses simple past tense. For past perfect tense, the clause should read "he  had had  Ann Boleyn beheaded".

I also choose (D) because after "after", the temporal relationship between "execution" and "betrothal" is clear without resorting to past perfect tense.

Sentence Correction Question

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