The most notorious gang in Venice, California, the Sidehackers,

Question

The most notorious gang in Venice, California, the Sidehackers,   had stayed within neighborhood boundaries until fairly recently, when they began   to claim turf to the north and south.

had stayed within neighborhood boundaries until fairly recently, when they began
 
 stayed within neighborhood boundaries until fairly recently when they began
 
 stayed within neighborhood boundaries until recently as they began
 
 had stayed within neighborhood boundaries until fairly recently, when they had begun
 
 had stayed within neighborhood boundaries until fairly recently, when it began

xLUCAJx · Answer

I got it right but only on the indication that the Sidehackers is singular and need an "it". Hope my reasoning is right.

akhilbajaj · Answer

The most    notorious gang    in Venice, California, the Sidehackers, had stayed within neighborhood boundaries until fairly recently, when    it    began to claim turf to the north and south.

The "notorious gang" is singular and requires "it" as the pronoun. 
Answer E

hdwnkr · Answer

Although we can eliminate all the options on the basis of they v/s it, another rule might help eliminate B and C is: When there are two past actions in the statement, the action that took place first has to have the word "had".

Btw, my sentence above uses the idiomatic expression Although x,y. I am not too sure about the sentence structure though..pls help improvise

Subanta · Answer

There are  two steps  for POE in this question:

First, the verb tense:  
Watch the time clue "until recently"; Two events happened ( "...stayed within neighborhood boundaries..." and "...claim turf to the north and south...") 
The event that happened first will have a perfect tense (had).  Eliminate  B  and  C

Second, the pronoun agreement: 
Only "it" correctly refers to "the most notorious gang".
 Eliminate  A  and  D  
 The correct answer is  E

Hop this helps!!

mohshu · Answer

gang is singular,,,sidehacckers

shud be E

GMP12 · Answer

Since until recently, already gives idea about the timeline of the events, why do you we need to use past perfect tense separately for this?

daagh, can you help?

sanpreetsingh · Answer

A,B,C,D - "they" is referring to singular "gang"

Hence E, is the answer.

thangvietnam · Answer

untill recently/ or until a specific time in the past require simple past, not past perfect. this sentence is not good

gmatzpractice · Answer

"gang" is a collective noun. "The gang are running across the street" https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2gu ... B_flE.html

prags1989 · Answer

Though I chose E, I didn't understand the exact meaning. use of sidehackers ?

abhishekdadarwal2009 · Answer

The most notorious gang in Venice, California, the Sidehackers, had stayed within neighborhood boundaries until fairly recently, when they began to claim turf to the north and south.

had stayed within neighborhood boundaries until fairly recently, when they began

stayed within neighborhood boundaries until fairly recently when they began

stayed within neighborhood boundaries until recently as they began

had stayed within neighborhood boundaries until fairly recently, when they had begun

had stayed within neighborhood boundaries until fairly recently, when it began

Can SC questions be easier than this?

collective noun is singular so 'gang' is singular and all the 'they' pronoun to refer to gang are wrong, only option E is correct with it using 'it' to refer back to gang.

Adnani · Answer

E is the answer as gang is singular take it...
All of the rest are wrong

Posted from my mobile device

VerbalBot · Answer

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.

The most notorious gang in Venice, California, the Sidehackers,

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The most notorious gang in Venice, California, the Sidehackers,

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards