Until Rousseau no intellectual had unequivocally declared that the

Question

Until Rousseau  no intellectual had unequivocally declared that the source of human evil was  social conditioning.

A)no intellectual had unequivocally declared that the source of human evil was
 B) no intellectual unequivocally declared that human evil was from a source in
 C)no intellectual had unequivocally declared that human evil had its source in
 D)no intellectual unequivocally declared that the source of human evil was
 E)no intellectual had an unequivocal declaration that the source of human evil was

sayantanc2k · Accepted Answer

I get your point. Some authentic prep sources suggest that with "before" past perfect is redundant. However I have generally observed that with "until" past perfect is used. Following is how I would explain this:

1. To depict a past event that started and ended before another past event (from perspective of the later past event, the previous event is simple past)- redundancy when "before" is used.
2. To depict a past event that started before and continued till another past event ( from perspective of the later past event, the previous event is present perfect) - no redundancy when "until" is used.

gabriel87 · Answer

This is how I approached this question. Please correct me, if i am wrong

The non-underlined part has  Until , so we need 'had' in the underlined portion. So (B) and (D) goes off.

In (C), we have  had unequivocally declared... had its source .. this is wrong, so eliminated it.

In (E), 'declaration that' is not very apt when compared to 'declared that'. So E goes.

So A is the correct one.

Regards,
Gabriel

evdo · Answer

A)no intellectual had unequivocally declared that the source of human evil was
keep

B) no intellectual unequivocally declared that human evil was from a source in
need had before declared, out

C)no intellectual had unequivocally declared that human evil had its source in
"had its source in" seems wordy, out

D)no intellectual unequivocally declared that the source of human evil was
need had before declared, out

E)no intellectual had an unequivocal declaration that the source of human evil was
need a perfect tense, out

gmat2015p · Answer

Experts, can you please help me understand why past perfect is absolutely required in this sentence?

Until Roussesu - indicates that there are events that happened before that time.. so should use of past perfect be optional?

sheolokesh · Answer

I approached it this way.

Until Rousseau  means that Rousseau declared after something happened or not happened. ie, a past event happened before Rousseau declared his opinion.

A past event happening before another should have "HAD" in it... Option A,C,E has it.

declaration in E is not a right word. Its better to have "declared"

Double HAD in option C is not a right delivery.

A remains. In A, the statment gives a proper delivery of idea that Until Rousseau declared, no intellectual had unequivocally(clearly) declared that the source of human evil was social conditioning.

no intellectual had unequivocally(clearly) declared is a first action. So it has a HAD in it.
Rousseau declared is a second action. So it is in simple past tense.

Please correct me if I am wrong..

gmat2015p · Answer

Thank you sheolokesh

Now I understand why the past perfect tense is required.

730score · Answer

Isnt C a more direct way of saying the statement?

Abhishek009 · Answer

There's nothing wrong with the original sentence...

Until  Rousseau no intellectual  had unequivocally declared that   the source  of human evil  was  social conditioning.

Original sentence has the following correct usages -

1. Use of Past perfect ( With sentence involving Until ) 
 2. Correct subject Verb agreement ( The source - Was )

Correct answer but be (A) ,  source in  is not good in my opinion...

sayantanc2k · Answer

No, on the contrary, A is more direct: The source of X is Y.
The following construction would be considered awkward in GMAT: X has its source in Y.

sobby · Answer

Hi sayantanc2k.
confused with the usage of Had.
Word "Until" is enough to show sequence of events.

Why "D" is incorrect.

daagh · Answer

For more insight into the question of past perfect usage, one may look into this before-its-independence-in-1947-britain-ruled-india-as-a-109904.html

rishabhdxt · Answer

Until Rousseau requires use of past perfect 'had+verb' ; b,d,e are out

'its' do not have antecedent ; C is out

A is correct

trungnguyenn · Answer

Until Rousseau  no intellectual had unequivocally declared that the source of human evil was  social conditioning.

Pay attention to last words " social conditioning " we could eliminate B and C since "... source in social conditioning " is wrong.

" Until Rousseau " requires past perfect tense. D and E are out.

Left only A correct.

A)no intellectual had unequivocally declared that the source of human evil was  ---  Correct 
B) no intellectual unequivocally declared that human evil was from a source  in 
C)no intellectual had unequivocally declared that human evil had its source  in 
D)no intellectual unequivocally  declared  that the source of human evil was
E)no intellectual  had  an unequivocal declaration that the source of human evil was

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Until Rousseau no intellectual had unequivocally declared that the

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Until Rousseau no intellectual had unequivocally declared that the

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