Dear Friends,
Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
nganle08 wrote:
That the new managing editor rose from the publication's "soft" news sections to a leadership position is more of a landmark in the industry than her being a woman.
(A) her being a woman
(B) being a woman is
(C) her womanhood
(D) that she was a woman
(E) that she is a woman
Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is - the fact that the new managing editor rose from the publication's "soft" news sections to a leadership position is more of a landmark in the industry than the fact that the managing editor is a woman.
Concepts tested here: Meaning + Tenses + Parallelism• Actions being compared must be parallel.
• Comparisons must always be made between similar things.
• The simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.
• The simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.
A: Trap.
1/ This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between "That the new managing editor rose from the publication's "soft" news sections to a leadership position" and "her being a woman"; remember actions being compared must be parallel.
B:1/ This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "being a woman is"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the fact that the new managing editor rose from the publication's "soft" news sections to a leadership position is more of a landmark in the industry than
women working in the industry is; the intended meaning is that the fact that the new managing editor rose from the publication's "soft" news sections to a leadership position is more of a landmark in the industry than the fact that
the managing editor is a woman.
C:1/ This answer choice incorrectly compares "That the new managing editor rose from the publication's "soft" news sections to a leadership position" to "her womanhood"; remember, comparisons must always be made between similar things.
D:1/ This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple past tense verb "was" to refer to an action that takes place in the current time frame; remember, the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature, and the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.
E: Correct.1/ This answer choice uses the phrase "that she is a woman", conveying the intended meaning - the fact that the new managing editor rose from the publication's "soft" news sections to a leadership position is more of a landmark in the industry than
women working in the industry is - the intended meaning is that the fact that the new managing editor rose from the publication's "soft" news sections to a leadership position is more of a landmark in the industry than the fact that
the managing editor is a woman.
2/ Option E correctly uses the simple present tense verb "is" to refer to an action that takes place in the current time frame.
3/ Option E maintains parallelism between "That the new managing editor rose from the publication's "soft" news sections to a leadership position" and "that she is a woman".
Hence, E is the best answer choice.To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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