The Board’s response did not surprise Mandy at all; she was, in fact,

Question

The Board’s response  did not surprise Mandy at all; she was, in fact, expecting  such a response.

(A) did not surprise Mandy at all; she was, in fact, expecting

(B) had not surprised Mandy at all; she was in fact expecting

(C) had not surprised Mandy at all; she had, in fact, expected

(D) did not surprise Mandy at all; she had, in fact, expected

(E) did not surprise Mandy at all; because she was expecting

arun6765 · Answer

Imo A

past perfect tense is wrong (had not surprised)
So B and C are out.

In E after semicolon sentence lacks main verb.
D with use of had illogically conveys she finished expecting.

So A
Correct me if I am wrong.

push12345 · Answer

(A) did not surprise Mandy at all; she was, in fact, expecting -Incorrect . this suggests that result and expectation happen at same time. but expectation is before result so Wrong tense usage

(B) had not surprised Mandy at all; she was in fact expecting- Same as A. OUT

(C) had not surprised Mandy at all; she had, in fact, expected- No need to use HAD specifically

(D) did not surprise Mandy at all; she had, in fact, expected - Correct

(E) did not surprise Mandy at all; because she was expecting -Same as A

Give kudos if it helps

tarunanandani · Answer

arun6765 ,
I too think that to indicate simultaneity of the two actions, we need past progressive tense here. For example: The baby  was crying  when the father  walked  into the room.
So, A should be the answer. But OA is D, need some expert comment on this.

Turkish · Answer

Can anyone help? Not sure why D is correct

apovit · Answer

generis  could you please help with this one?

generis · Answer

Turkish  and  apovit  , sure.

This question tests the way that GMAC prefers to see events rendered in past tense.
Although we know typical GMAT preferences, "typical" does not mean "universal."

• Fairly Easy Errors  - Exclude options with the errors that are fairly easy to spot

-- Semicolon: Unless a semicolon is being used to punctuate a list in which commas would be confusing,  a semicolon must separate 
two full independent clauses (ICs).

Option E does not contain two full ICs.
The right hand side begins with   because. 
This construction is not a complete sentence (is not an IC): 
 Because she was expecting such response.

Eliminate E

I am not a fan of memorization. In this case, memorization may be necessary.

As a general rule    , if we are describing events in the past, GMAC prefers a few constructions over others.

•  If a sequence of events can be described with two simple past tense verbs, this construction is usually preferred,
especially if the sentence is written in active voice.

Stated differently, if you do not need past perfect, do not use it.

We can use two simple past tense verbs to describe a sequence of events IF

1) there are sequence words such as  before, after, previously, subsequently, later , etc. , OR
2) there are references to different times, such as dates, that place the events in logically sequential order

Correct :  AFTER I  traveled  to Tunisia, I  flew  to Sweden, where I  joined  friends and from there,  sailed  to Norway.

Not necessary:  After I  had traveled  to Tunisia, I  flew  to Sweden, where I  joined  friends and from there,  sailed  to Norway.

In this context, one "area" of activity/events seems to be logically separate from the other events.

People grapple with the issue of sequence because the content of the events is different; often they want to write use the past perfect to describe the earlier event.

The content does not matter if a sequence word exists such as  after  in the above example. 
Again, the test for the use of simple past for all past events:
-- Does the sentence have a sequence word and make sense? OR 
-- Does the sentence have a time-reference or -marker and make sequential sense?
Yes? We're good.
 
If one event is separate from another, a sequence word or a date will suffice.

<--------|--------------|--------------------|-----------|
<----Tunisia-------flew to Sweden----joined----sailed

By contrast

•  past perfect requires the presence of at least one simple past tense verb or a time marker 
-- By June 1941, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact had been in effect for almost two years.

If there is no simple past tense verb or time marker, past perfect is not appropriate

Eliminate B and C.
Both use past perfect, which is constructed using

Had/have + past participle

B) had not surprised 
C) had not surprised AND had expected

But B and C both also lack one instance of simple past or a time marker that happened in the past but after the past perfect event.
Eliminate B and C

• A or D?

-- I would not spend much time on this question. 
It is not official.

-- I think that both A and D are defensible

BUT - Let's rewrite both A and D in the affirmative

A) The Board's decision surprised   Mandy; she was not expecting the decision.
Here's the problem: There is no sequence word such as  before, after,  or  later.

I world argue, though, that there  are  sequence words:  surprise  and  expect 
They are temporally sequential opposites.
We cannot be surprised by something that we expect.

D) The Board's decision surprised Mandy; she had not expected the decision.
 Past perfect + simple past

In a strict sense, because it follows an explicit rule about 
past perfect construction, choose D.

Otherwise, please -- find official questions that test this issue.

Getting caught up in a non-official question may be tempting. I doubt that doing so is wise.

Unofficial questions do not test concepts the same way that official questions do.
Try to let this one go.

I hope that helps.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation:

Answer: D

(A) This sentence is all about consistency.  Mandy’s expectations  have to be in an earlier time period than the  Board’s response . So while A looks good, it is incorrect because it places both the actions in the same time period ( did, was expecting ). The expectation will have to be in the past perfect tense for this to be correct.

(B) Tense mismatch. The  expectation  is in the simple past tense ( was ) and the response is in the past perfect tense ( had not surprised ). It should actually be the other way around.

(C) Tense mismatch. This option puts both the actions in the past perfect tense.

(D) The correct answer.  The earlier action  expectation  is in the past perfect tense ( had expected ) and the latter action  response  is in the simple past tense ( did not surprise ).

(E) The use of a semicolon and a conjunction ( because ) together is incorrect. Also, the tense is mismatched because both the events are in the simple past tense.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The Board’s response did not surprise Mandy at all; she was, in fact,

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The Board’s response did not surprise Mandy at all; she was, in fact,

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