The British sociologist and activist Barbara Wootton once noted as a h

Is "A" the correct answer? It looks like it to me. The original wording of the sentence is awkward, to be sure. But B through E all look even less correct.

One of the things I do with long phrases like this is to shorten them as much as possible. For this one, in my mind I eliminate "The British sociologist and activist Barbara Wootton once noted as" and "as director of adult education for London" to shorten the part of the sentence in question to:

"A humorous example of income maldistribution [was] that the elephant that gave rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo was earning annually exactly what [Barbara] then earned."

This lets me focus on the only part that matters. It doesn't matter that Barbara's last name is Wootton or that she's a British sociologist and activist. It also doesn't matter that her former job was director of adult education for London. All of those extra words just make things more confusing, so I get rid of them.

Using the shortened, easier version of the sentence, we come up with the following when we plug in choices B through E:

"A humorous example of income maldistribution [was] that the elephant, giving rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo, had been earning annually exactly what [Barbara] then earned."

"A humorous example of income maldistribution [was] that there was an elephant giving rides to children at the Whipsnade zoo, and it earned annually exactly what [Barbara] then earned."

"A humorous example of income maldistribution [was] the elephant that gave rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo and was earning annually exactly what [Barbara] then earned."

"A humorous example of income maldistribution [was] the elephant giving rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo and that it earned annually exactly what [Barbara] then earned."

Does looking at it this way help any?

What are the errors in B? Its between A and B

The British sociologist and activist Barbara Wootton once noted as a humorous example of income maldistribution that the elephant that gave rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo was earning annually exactly what she then earned as director of adult education for London.


B. that the elephant, giving rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo, had been earning:::
putting a comma before giving rides to children....==>makes it a non essential modifier...but according to meaning BARBARA is comparing his income with income of of ONLY those elephants THAT gave ride to children....and not with other types of elephants income....so use of THAT is necessary to make it essential modifier.

moreover use of HAD BEEN is wrong...PAST PERFECT TENSE IS USED TO DIFFERENTIATE the time difference.
now when BARBARA NOTED......that time elephant was earning Income....so both action was happening same time...hence use of simple past is correct and not past perfect

hope it helps

We need "that" to start the underline: Wootton noted (the fact) that something is true. Eliminate D and E.

C is passive and separates the two clauses by an "and" when we are actually trying to draw a connection there. Eliminate.

B has a tense problem (had been earning - this should be the simple past like the other verbs in the sentence). In addition, the "giving rides" modifier implies something going on while it's giving rides, but that's not the correct meaning.

The correct meaning is exhibited by A: "the elephant that gave rides" - which elephant? The one that gave rides to kids.

A is correct.

can someone explain why it should not be earned

Not clear why had been is wrong ..

The use of past perfect continuous " had been earning" would indicate that the "earning" of the elephant was hapenning BEFORE the "earning" of Barbara Wootton, which is not the case.

Wootton noted (the fact) that something is true as a humorous example".
Or to make it simpler, "Wootton noted A as B". And because A part is too long, you can write:
"Wootton noted as B that A"

Posted from my mobile device

Ans B notes: "that the elephant, giving....., had been earning. IMO giving states a continues action when we are talking about the past. Additionally, had been earning is a wrong tense because a statement is described in simple pas and the past perfect is indicating an earlier time.

Hi daagh, I think that the key difference b/w (A) and (D) lies in that (D) indicates the distorted meaning that the sociologist noted the elephant ITSELF as an example of income maldistribution. This is the reason why "that" is omitted in (D), hence I think the rest of (D) does not violate parallelism: The sociogist noted AS a humourous EXAMPLE THE ELEPHANT that GAVE.....and WAS EARNING.... Choice (A) avoids that fault by adding "THAT" after "example": the state of affair that the elephant was earning as much as the director is noted as an example of income distribution; the elephant itself can not be logically an example of income maldistribution. So (A).

Here, we have to pay attention to the meaning.


(A) that the elephant that gave rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo was earning

The usual structure of idiom : note something as something. For example,

John notes his mother's care as typical example of motherhood. Yet, the structure in the question is quite inverted:

Barbara Wootton once noted that the elephant that gave rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo was earning annually exactly what she earned as director of adult education for London as a humurous example of income maldistribution.

As you see, how difficult it is to read this sentence with usual structure. Hence, The structure is inverted to make it easier to read.

that the elephant that gave rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo was earning as high as director was a humurous example of income maldistribution.

Answer choice (A) gives the intended meaning clearly and exactly.

(B) that the elephant, giving rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo, had been earning

1) Change in meaning: Note that if there are more than one gramatically correct answer choices, you should go with one that keeps the original meaning. Answer choice (B) does not have gramatical problems, but changes the meaning significantly:

This choice says that when Barbara Wootton noted, the elephant had already stopped earning as high as she earned as a director. Besides, The original meaning is better: Barbara Wootton logiclly compared the amount of money she earned with that the elphant earned at the same time.

(C) that there was an elephant giving rides to the children at the Whipsnade Zoo, and it earned

1) illogical and not intended meaning: Unlike (A), (C) says that there was an elephant giving rides to the children at the Whipsnade Zoo was a humurous example of income maldistribution. Not so. the presence of an elphant is not a humurous example of income maldistribution. Yet, How much that elphant was earning was a humurous example of income maldistribution.

"comma + and it earned": "clause + comma + and + clause" usually shows that those two clauses give different ideas. For example,

There is Tom looking at stars, and he has achieved a perfect score on gmat.


(D) the elephant that gave rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo and was earning

1) Barbara Wootton did not noted the elephant as an example, but how much that elephant was earning. For example,

1) The recent investigation shows that Tom has killed Jerry
2) The recent investigation shows Tom killing Jerry

As you see, (1) says that the investigation shows "what Tom has done", Whereas (2) says the investigation shows "Tom"


(E) the elephant giving rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo and that it earned

1) The same problem as in (D)

2) Error of parallelism: "the elephant giving rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo and that it earned"

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.