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Kritesh
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The newspaper reported that some homes that were destroyed and 17 Aug 2017, 12:05
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

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15% (low)

Question Stats:

77% (01:01) correct 23% (01:14) wrong based on 377 sessions

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The newspaper reported that some homes that were destroyed and severely damaged in the hurricane last year were built too close to the coastline.

A. some homes that were destroyed and severely damaged in the hurricane last year were
B. some homes that were destroyed or severely damaged in the hurricane last year had been
C. some homes the hurricane destroyed and severely damaged last year have been
D. last year the hurricane destroyed or severely damaged some homes that have been
E. last year some of the homes that were destroyed or severely damaged in the hurricane have been
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B
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The newspaper reported that some homes that were destroyed and 17 Aug 2017, 17:07
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Kritesh
The newspaper reported that some homes that were destroyed and severely damaged in the hurricane last year were built too close to the coastline.

A. some homes that were destroyed and severely damaged in the hurricane last year were
B. some homes that were destroyed or severely damaged in the hurricane last year had been
C. some homes the hurricane destroyed and severely damaged last year have been
D. last year the hurricane destroyed or severely damaged some homes that have been
E. last year some of the homes that were destroyed or severely damaged in the hurricane have been
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Dear Kritesh,

I'm happy to respond. :-)

To be honest, I am not a big fan of this particular SC practice question. First of all, it bears a suspicious similarity to this official question.

Choices (C), (D), and (E) all employ the present perfect tense "have been built," which sounds surreally out of place here. If the house has been destroyed or severely damaged, then there is nothing particularly meaningful about its construction that still continues. There is something almost eerie and unnerving about using the present perfect tense here.

That leaves (A) & (B). These differ only on the choice of tense in the final verb. Yes, hypertechnically, the building of the houses had to come before their destruction, and in a formulaic way of thinking this would require the past perfect, but because it is so jaw-droppingly self-evident that creation preceded destruction, there is almost something superfluous about using the past perfect tense. I would say either (A) or (B) would be fine on the GMAT, and it is not typical for official question to have two choices that hinged only on some microfine distinction.

Here's a high quality question.
Charles Sumner

Mike :-)
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The newspaper reported that some homes that were destroyed and 18 Aug 2017, 09:30
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Hi mikemcgarry ,

Thanks for your feedback and for the answer explanation. It was very much helpful :)
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The newspaper reported that some homes that were destroyed and 25 Nov 2017, 00:27
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mikemcgarry
Kritesh
The newspaper reported that some homes that were destroyed and severely damaged in the hurricane last year were built too close to the coastline.

A. some homes that were destroyed and severely damaged in the hurricane last year were
B. some homes that were destroyed or severely damaged in the hurricane last year had been
C. some homes the hurricane destroyed and severely damaged last year have been
D. last year the hurricane destroyed or severely damaged some homes that have been
E. last year some of the homes that were destroyed or severely damaged in the hurricane have been
Dear Kritesh,

I'm happy to respond. :-)

To be honest, I am not a big fan of this particular SC practice question. First of all, it bears a suspicious similarity to this official question.

Choices (C), (D), and (E) all employ the present perfect tense "have been built," which sounds surreally out of place here. If the house has been destroyed or severely damaged, then there is nothing particularly meaningful about its construction that still continues. There is something almost eerie and unnerving about using the present perfect tense here.

That leaves (A) & (B). These differ only on the choice of tense in the final verb. Yes, hypertechnically, the building of the houses had to come before their destruction, and in a formulaic way of thinking this would require the past perfect, but because it is so jaw-droppingly self-evident that creation preceded destruction, there is almost something superfluous about using the past perfect tense. I would say either (A) or (B) would be fine on the GMAT, and it is not typical for official question to have two choices that hinged only on some microfine distinction.

Here's a high quality question.
Charles Sumner

Mike :-)
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Hi Mike,

I agree with your explanation provided here.

But don't you think - destroyed and severely damaged in A doesn't provide us the clear picture?

And as mentioned in B. destroyed or severely damaged provides that clarity.

This is sufficient to select B over A.
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The newspaper reported that some homes that were destroyed and 25 Nov 2017, 02:33
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Agreeing with Mike, I think this question is aypical of gmat pattern. And seriously, SOME homes?? :roll: or a few homes?? GMAT test makers will have a huge disappointment.
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The newspaper reported that some homes that were destroyed and 22 Nov 2020, 06:23
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KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



Step 1: Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors
This underlined portion contains a lot of verbs. The homes “were destroyed and severely damaged”
and “were built” too close to the coast. Did you notice the erroneous “and” in the underlined portion?
It’s actually not possible for homes to be destroyed and severely damaged. Homes are either
destroyed or severely damaged, not both.

Step 2: Scan and Group the Answer Choices
(A) and (C) use “and,” while the remaining choices use “or.” Note also that the ends of the answer
choices present a variety of verb tenses: “were,” “had been,” and “have been.”

Step 3: Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains
Because “and” is an inappropriate conjunction to use, (A) is out, as is (C), which repeats the error.
Since the homes were built first and then destroyed or damaged, the past perfect tense, “had been
built,” is appropriate to use here, making (B) the correct answer. (D) and (E) use the present perfect
tense, “have been built,” which doesn’t make sense given the sequence of events in the sentence.

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