Most information-technology executives in the late 1980s

Question

Most information-technology executives  in the late 1980s and early 1990s had either followed a standard career path, progressing from business analysts to directors, or were  accounting professionals with systems experience.

A.  in the late 1980s and early 1990s had either followed a standard career path, progressing from business analysts to directors, or were

B.  in the late 1980s and early 1990s either followed standard career paths, ranging from business analysts to directors, or had been

C.  of the late 1980s and early 1990s either had followed a standard career path, progressing from business analyst to director, or were

D.  in the late 1980s and early 1990s had followed standard career paths, and had progressed from business analysts to directors, or else were

E.  of the late 1980s and early 1990s followed a standard career path, ranging from business analyst to director, or else had been

anonymous19 · Answer

I chose A but the answer is option C. Can anyone please explain this question's answer?

My process of elimination:

A--> My answer choice. 
B--> No parallelism: It must follow 'either 'verb' or 'verb'. So after or 'were' or 'had' is correct.
C--> Actual answer. The reason I eliminated C because I chose 'had either' over 'either had'. Furthermore, I thought 'in the late 1980s and early 1990s' sounded better than 'of the late 1980s and early 1990s'.
D--> Wrong meaning.
E--> This statement did not feel right to me. So, I eliminated this option by ear.

ueh55406 · Answer

Hello Experts,

can someone please share if this is an idiomatic expression? or any other reason why we'd choose C over A? 
Most information-technology executives <in/of> the late 1980s and early 1990s \

thanks in advance.

Maldonado · Answer

YOU MAY FIND THE EXPLANATION HERE https://www.ronpurewal.com/sc-it-execs-answer-key

CEdward · Answer

Most IT execs OF the late 1980s is idiomatic.

The sentence is referring to individuals OF that time not IN that time.

Not sure why the past perfect tense was required though.

Manjotkaur77 · Answer

A. in the late 1980s and early 1990s  had   either followed a standard career path, progressing from business analysts to directors ,  or were 
'had' before the beginning of the idiom 'Either X, Or Y' means --had either followed a standard career path.. OR had were accounting professionals. This seems nonsensical, so eliminate A

B. in the late 1980s and early 1990s either followed standard career paths, ranging from business analysts to directors, or had been

the first part of the idiom is in simple past whereas in the second part of the idiom(or else had been) is in past-perfect, making it seem like that action happened before, which is not correct. Usage of 'had' is not required as both the actions took place in the same time range.So, eliminate B.

C. of the late 1980s and early 1990s either had followed a standard career path, progressing from business analyst to director, or were
The usage of had is acceptable here,since they first followed a carrer path, which later progressed

D. in the late 1980s and early 1990s had followed standard career paths, and had progressed from business analysts to directors, or else were
usage of had twice in the first part of the idiom violates the usage of past participles w.r.t. time. So, eliminate D.

E. of the late 1980s and early 1990s followed a standard career path, ranging from business analyst to director, or else had been
the correct idiom is  Either X, Or Y . But here, its  Either X, or else Y --which seems incorrect.
the first part of the idiom is in simple past whereas the second part(or else had been) is in past-perfect, making it seem like that action happened before, which is not correct. So, eliminate E.

Seems like we're left with C
Hence, C is the correct option

ravigupta2912 · Answer

Tough one. Will work through the splits in this one. I noticed many splits here. 1) of vs in 2) progressing vs ranging 3) -ing modifier vs non-ing modifier.

I start with #3. Logically, we need an -ing modifier to modify the "standard career paths" or a relative clause modifier such as "that", an option that has not been provided. Notice choice D here.

D. in the late 1980s and early 1990s had followed standard career paths, and  had progressed  from business analysts to directors, or else were -- Incorrect. These are not two separate actions by the executives i.e. "had followed" and "had progressed". The second action provides us with further description of the first and hence using a parallel action form here is incorrect. Eliminate.

#2 - ranging vs progressing - Notice the modified entity "standard career path". One progresses on a path as one walks along. Ranging is preferably used for options. It doesn't make sense in the current context when we pit it against "progressing".

B. in the late 1980s and early 1990s either followed standard career paths,  ranging  from business analysts to directors, or had been
E. of the late 1980s and early 1990s followed a standard career path,  ranging  from business analyst to director, or else had been

Eliminate both B and E. We are left with A and C now.

A. in the late 1980s and early 1990s had either followed a standard career path, progressing from business analysts to directors, or were -- Parallelism error. Notice the parallelism marker "either..or". The rule is that whatever comes before the parallelism marker has to be repeated before the second parallel marker. So in this case we have.. 1) had followed..... and 2) had were (clearly is incorrect!) -- Eliminate.

C. of the late 1980s and early 1990s either had followed a standard career path, progressing from business analyst to director, or were -- This choice fixes the error in A by bringing the tense inside the parallel element.. now the two elements read as 1) had followed...... and 2) were.... --- Correct choice.

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

career usage requires plural form so path should be the right usage

THerefore D and B are out 
ranging vs progressing , the latter makes sense since the the jump from analyst to director requirer progress

Left with A and C 
buisness analysts and directors vs buisness analyst and director , the latter should be used since we are talking about plural folks

Therefore IMO C

dzanum11 · Answer

Most information-technology executives  in the late 1980s and early 1990s had either followed a standard career path, progressing from business analysts to directors, or were  accounting professionals with systems experience.

A.  in the late 1980s and early 1990s had either followed a standard career path, progressing from business analysts to directors, or were

C.  of the late 1980s and early 1990s either had followed a standard career path, progressing from business analyst to director, or were

is the elimination based on "in the" vs "of the" or "had either" or "either had" ?

Most information-technology executives in the late 1980s

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Most information-technology executives in the late 1980s

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia