Entrepreneurs’ and venture capitalists’ concerns are striking

Question

Entrepreneurs’ and venture capitalists’ concerns are striking because for a long while after Microsoft long reign of the 1990s, startups have free rein

A. because for a long while after Microsoft's long reign of the 1990s, startups have free rein

B. because for a long while after Microsoft's long reign, in the 1990s, startups have free rein.

C. because for a long while after Microsoft's long reign of the 1990s, startups are having free rein

D.because for a long while after Microsoft's long reign of the 1990s, startups had free rein

E.because for a long while after Microsoft's long reign, Since 1990s, startups had free rein.

Kudos to show appreciation

manasveek · Accepted Answer

IMHO,

Have/had is used for 2 purposes.

1. To indicate timelines that one action is happened before another.

2. And, To indicate 'possession'. e.g.. I had blue umbrella.
I have a pet dog. etc.
  
Here, in this sentence, 'Had' is used in 2nd way. Hence we need 'had'

In D and E, D only shows this purpose.

Hence D.

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Consider kudos if my explanation helps you!!
Cheers!

prashant6923 · Answer

IMO D
The sentence says 2 actions completed in past.So, "had" fits here after comma.

pawanpoolla · Answer

Why isn't option A correct? The un-underlined part of the statement is in present continuous

TasneemHoda · Answer

What is the correct answer to this question? I chose A because "startups have free rein" is present continuous and the first part of the sentence "are striking" justifies the use of present continuous. Please explain.

GMATGuruNY · Answer

None of the answer choices is viable.

In each of the answer choices, the phrase in red seems intended to serve as an object for  afterwards , but  afterwards  is not a preposition and thus cannot take an object.
Incorrect:  for many years  afterwards  the company's long reign 
Correct:  for many years AFTER the company's long reign

Also, no native speaker would say  THE Microsoft .
Incorrect:   the  Microsoft's long reign 
Correct:  Microsoft's long reign

Ignore this SC.
What is the source?

brs1cob · Answer

how option D is correct.

option D has ' had' , which is wrong.

IMO, correct answer should be between A and B. i opted for option because it has 'in the 90s' separated by commas.

waiting for expert reply

abhik1502 · Answer

As per my opinion option A should be correct because venture capitalists’ concerns and free rein , both of them are in current time frame. SO it should be "have".

KrishnakumarKA1 · Answer

This doesn't look like an official GMAT Question since none of the answer choices fit logically or grammatically.

Please do mention the source of the question without which it would be difficult to solve the question.

Thanks, 
Dudyala Saikiran
Byju's GMAT Expert.

maypardeep · Answer

Ok, here are my comments on this one, use of past perfect VS. present perfect

Present perfect use: an event happened at an unknown time in the past 
Use of Past Tense is always recommended with known 'Time in Past', 'finished in Past', and 'our reference point' is past

here the 'long while after of X in 1990s' defined the 'Time in past' ...use of had is correct. Ok with D

magnus07 · Answer

in this question ,shouldn't the answer be C as the question mentions concerns ARE striking indicating present tense and therefore there reign must be continuing even today . Answer says it is D but doesn't use of past tense make it seem as though startups no longer have free reign.Please explain why D is correct.

DmitryFarber · Answer

magnus07  We can't say "For a long while, X is happening." "For a long while" modifies an action that happened over a long period of time, while "X is happening just refers to what's happening right now." Even if I refer to something that's happening now AND goes far back into the past, this construction won't work. Imagine saying "For a long time, humans are living in cities." It doesn't make sense.

As for the meaning of the original sentence, I believe the intention was to show a contrast between a prior period, during which startups were given free rein, and a current concern. The description of the prior period situates the current situation and shows why it is surprising that people are concerned now. As we often see with unofficial questions, we're missing some context that would make the intended meaning clear. A real GMAT question would give you enough information to be sure of the meaning.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Entrepreneurs’ and venture capitalists’ concerns are striking

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