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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
5%
(low)
Question Stats:
75% (00:41) correct
25%
(00:43)
wrong
based on 127
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The governor's approval ratings has been extremely high until a series of corruption scandals rocked his administration last year.
A. has been extremely high until
B. have been extremely high until
C. had been extremely high until
D. were extremely high as
E. had been extremely high as
A. has been extremely high until
B. have been extremely high until
C. had been extremely high until
D. were extremely high as
E. had been extremely high as
06 May 2023, 14:00
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Bunuel
KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Step 1: Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors
Whenever a sentence contains an underlined verb, you need to make sure that it agrees with its subject and is in the correct tense. Here, the underlined portion contains a singular verb, “has been,” that disagrees with the plural subject, “ratings.” The verb is also in the wrong tense—“has been” indicates that the ratings are still high, but the sentence contradicts that. You can eliminate answer choice (A) immediately.
Step 2: Scan and Group the Answer Choices
Now it’s time to look for a split in the answer choices. You see that the choices begin with many different verb forms: two “had been,” one “were,” one “have been,” and one “has been.” That’s not a very helpful split. If you don’t find a split at the beginnings of the answer choices, look for a split at the ends. Answer choices (A), (B), and (C) end with “until,” whereas (D) and (E) end with “as”; this is a 3-2 split.
Step 3: Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains
You eliminated answer choice (A) because the subject, “ratings,” is plural, so the singular verb, “has been,” cannot be correct. But verb tense is also at issue here. The correct verb tense is “had been extremely high,” because the past perfect tense is used to indicate that something had already happened in the past before something else happened in the past. Here,the governor’s ratings had been high, until scandals “rocked” his administration. This eliminates (B) and (D). And (E) can be eliminated, since changing the preposition from “until” to “as” loses the sense that the scandals occurred before, and led to, the reversal in the governor’s approval ratings. For the record, note that (D) also contains this error. The GMAT will often give you multiple opportunities to eliminate answer choices. This leaves (C) as the only flawless answer. Read this choice back into the sentence to confirm:
The governor’s approval ratings had been extremely high until a series of corruption scandals rocked his administration last year.
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