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Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when

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rampuria
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Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   07 May 2009, 00:26
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Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when the bridge collapsed, the engineer was not honest at the preliminary public safety commission hearing, when he was questioned about the structure’s weight-bearing abilities.

1. was not honest
2.was not
3.was honest
4.had not been honest
5.had not been being honest

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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   02 Jan 2010, 23:32
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Err excuse me, it's D because the commuters had lost their lives after he was not honest. He was not honest before the commuters lost their lives. It's past perfect because it occurred before something else in the past tense.
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   19 Nov 2010, 11:19
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The chronology of the episode point to the fact that the preliminary safety hearing (when the engineer was not honest) was the first event, then the building of the bridge was the second and the collapse of the bridge and loss or life, the final. The word preliminary though giving a feeble inkling of the earlierness of the occurrence, still needs to be buttressed by a past perfect tense of the verb to aver that the accident occurred due to the engineer’s earlier dishonesty.

If we do not need to use a past perfect, even in such perfect settlings, then why have a past perfect tense at all.
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   11 Aug 2013, 18:24
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Just checked with my old undergrad english professor, and if any past perfect tense usage is to occur, it should be when "he had been questioned" .

I purchased the GMAT club question banks, and the quant is 100% worth it, but the verbal examples are pretty bad and not accurate some of the time. Definitely not something I want to worry about when prepping for the GMAT..........
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   07 May 2009, 06:17
IMO A.

2.was not was not what??
3.was honest was not honest is needed to support "unfortunately"
4.had not been honest past-perfect not required
5.had not been being honest past-perfect not required
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   07 May 2009, 09:48
4. had not been

Preliminary happened before the bridge collapsed
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   07 May 2009, 11:35
Yep, D for the same reason as above.
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   07 May 2009, 20:04
If preliminary hearing happened before the accidentthen why does the sentence state "he was questioned" . This should have also been in past perfect.

IMO prelimary hearing occurred after the accident during the investigation stage.
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   08 May 2009, 08:47
IMO A

Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when the bridge collapsed, the engineer was not honest at the preliminary public safety commission hearing, when he was questioned about the structure’s weight-bearing abilities.

1. was not honest --> best. He might not be honest at the pre commission hearing because there he was asked about the problem. So, past tense is best fit
2.was not --> nonsense
3.was honest --> wrong meaning
4.had not been honest --> he can't be honest before he was asked, because the first is an action happened after the second
5.had not been being honestsame as D
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   12 May 2009, 11:22
Perfect tense should be avoided in this sentence....B and C ae changing the meaning..So I'll go with A....
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   02 Jan 2010, 13:48
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Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when the bridge collapsed, the engineer was not honest at the preliminary public safety commission hearing, when he was questioned about the structure’s weight-bearing abilities.

was not honest
was not
was honest
had not been honest
had not been being honest
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   02 Jan 2010, 14:20
atish wrote:
Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when the bridge collapsed, the engineer was not honest at the preliminary public safety commission hearing, when he was questioned about the structure’s weight-bearing abilities.

was not honest
was not
was honest
had not been honest
had not been being honest


I think A should be fine.

"unfortunately" forces that engineer not

so B and C are gone. Now 'being' eliminated option E ,so it is between A and D.
I think A is better than D here, for having a later clause " when he was questioned .."says "was' was used so the engineer responded at the same time when he was questioned so A makes sense.

option D says .. Engineer was not honest before he was questioned.. this doesnt make sense.

IMO A.
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   02 Jan 2010, 22:41
OA is D.

I had the same reason to eliminated D as you had.
Any verbal gurus out there. Please help me understand this.
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   02 Jan 2010, 22:45
D

Past perfect is used because "he was not honest" before he "was questioned". He did something in the past that occurred before something else in the past, thus past perfect should be used.
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   02 Jan 2010, 23:18
azurik12x wrote:
D

Past perfect is used because "he was not honest" before he "was questioned". He did something in the past that occurred before something else in the past, thus past perfect should be used.


Don't get it, he was being dishonest while he was being questioned right, how is "he was not honest" before he "was questioned"???
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   02 Aug 2010, 12:50
azurik12x wrote:
Err excuse me, it's D because the commuters had lost their lives after he was not honest. He was not honest before the commuters lost their lives. It's past perfect because it occurred before something else in the past tense.


OK, i would agree with you if it not were because the phrase "preliminary public safety commission hearing" solves any ambiguity of tense, so past perfect is not strictly necessary.
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   19 Nov 2010, 02:17
Any other takers?

I think that simple past is fine here.
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   19 Nov 2010, 11:02
The engineer was not honest when he was questioned (obviously), so both tenses have to match.
Please, check the OA. Thanks.
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   19 Nov 2010, 11:51
daagh wrote:
The chronology of the episode point to the fact that the preliminary safety hearing (when the engineer was not honest) was the first event, then the building of the bridge was the second and the collapse of the bridge and loss or life, the final. The word preliminary though giving a feeble inkling of the earlierness of the occurrence, still needs to be buttressed by a past perfect tense of the verb to aver that the accident occurred due to the engineer’s earlier dishonesty.

If we do not need to use a past perfect, even in such perfect settlings, then why have a past perfect tense at all.


We have a past perfect for those cases in which the chronology of the events is not so clear.

If you are correct, then why the sentence does not conclude like: when he had been questioned about the structure’s weight-bearing abilities? That is my point: this two actions (being questioned and being dishonest occurred at the same time!).

Please clarify. Thanks.
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink] New post   19 Nov 2010, 12:03
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Yes it should be --had been questioned - just in line with the -had been dishonest -, pointing to the fact that this example itself is none too that rightly worded. But it still doesn't negate the validity of the past perfect theory
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Re: Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when [#permalink]
19 Nov 2010, 12:03
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