The much-maligned royal family member, having come off a recent divorc

Question

The much-maligned royal family member, having come off a recent divorce to an immensely popular woman , reassured his family that he would not remarry without public support.

A. The much-maligned royal family member, having come off a recent divorce to an immensely popular woman 
B. The much-maligned royal family member, having recently divorced an immensely popular woman 
C. The royal family's much-maligned member who had come off of a recent divorce of an immensely popular woman 
D. The royal family's much-maligned member, who has recently divorced an immensely popular woman 
E. The much-maligned royal family member, because of a recent divorce to an immensely popular woman

buan15 · Accepted Answer

Official Explanation:

Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:
The underlined portion, as written, uses the phrase "come off a recent divorce," which is a circuitous way of saying “recently divorced.” The lack of concision is a style problem. It also uses the incorrect idiom "divorce to." When divorce is used as a noun, as it is here, the idiom is "divorce from." If divorce is used as a verb, then Person X divorces Person Y, with no preposition after the verb.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:

(A), (C), and (E) use prepositions after "divorce": (A) and (E) use the preposition "to," and (C) uses "of." (B) and (D) do not use a preposition after "divorce." Also, (A) and (C) use the informal "come off ... divorce," while the other choices express this idea differently.

Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:Eliminate (A), (C), and (E) for the reasons identified above. 
Concentrate on the differences between (B) and (D).

Eliminate (D). It unnecessarily introduces the present perfect tense with "who has recently divorced." The non-underlined verb "reassured" is in the past tense and requires a matching past tense verb in the underlined portion. When two past tense verbs appear in a sentence, the event that occurred in the more distant past takes the past perfect tense.

(B) repairs the "divorce to/divorce from" issue by changing the word to a verb and not using a preposition after it, and this choice uses the past perfect tense "having ... divorced" when referring to the earlier event. It fits perfectly into the original sentence and is the correct answer.

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daniformic · Answer

comma +ing? 
Could someone explain why?

itsarudolf · Answer

Struggling between B and D. Why B?

In my opinion the effect of present perfect in D is still valid and therefore the answer may be right. Does anyone have an extensive explanation?

Cheers

atomicskull · Answer

not really an extensive explanation but I believe D is wrong because much maligned is used differently incorrectly modifying the family member

itsarudolf · Answer

GMATNinja  can you help us out, please?

MBAB123 · Answer

Hey, it is supposed to modify the family member and it conveys the same meaning in all the options.

atomicskull · Answer

You are right, my bad

Posted from my mobile device

SIVAPRIYA1883 · Answer

GMATNinja  can you help , explain how D is preferred over B

SignUp · Answer

It’s the had vs has . Recently divorced , reassured all signify that the event is being talked about in the past tense. At least that’s what helped me choose B .

Posted from my mobile device

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

Comma+V-ing (B) AND adj clause (D) are the same meaning, so this should NOt be the main split.
I guess the main difference is the tense: D uses present perfect, and maybe this is why D is wrong.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Mavisdu1017 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To provide a bit of clarity here, "having recently divorced an immensely popular woman" and "who has recently divorced an immensely popular woman" actually convey slightly different meanings.

Due to the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "having" in this sentence)" construction, "having recently divorced an immensely popular woman" conveys a cause-effect relationship between the royal family member recently divorcing an immensely popular woman and him reassuring his family that he would not remarry without public support; remember, the introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “having” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship; the present participle phrase can also come before the main clause.

To understand the concept of "Comma Plus Present Participle for Cause-Effect Relationship" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~3 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVLneikI70Q

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

ExpertsGlobal5  hello expert,thanks for your explanation. ANd is the present perfect in D correct?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Mavisdu1017 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the use of the present perfect tense is correct here, as the action concluded in the recent past, but the use of this tense alongside the adverb "recently" is redundant; remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is also used to refer to actions that concluded in the recent past; however, the use of present perfect tense is redundant if the sentence otherwise indicates that the action concluded in the recent past, such as through the use of “recent” or “recently”.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

ExpertsGlobal5  hi expert, I mean whether should use present perfect or past perfect? Cuz “reassured” is simple past.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The much-maligned royal family member, having come off a recent divorc

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