When a man appeared in the village of Artigat in the summer of 1556 an

Question

When a man appeared in the village of Artigat in the summer of 1556 and presented himself as Martin Guerre, only a few locals suspected whether he assumed the identity of the man who had disappeared eight years earlier.

(A) whether he assumed
(B) whether he had assumed
(C) he assumed
(D) his assuming
(E) that he had assumed

(A) whether he assumed
(B) whether he had assumed
(C) he assumed
(D) his assuming
(E) that he had assumed

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

When a man appeared in the village of Artigat in the summer of 1556 and presented himself as Martin Guerre, only a few locals suspected whether he assumed the identity of the man who had disappeared eight years earlier.

(A) whether he assumed
(B) whether he had assumed
(C) he assumed
(D) his assuming
(E) that he had assumed

(A) whether he assumed

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect and illogical.

In the sentence, a past action ( he assumed ) takes place before another past action ( a few locals suspected ). Therefore, the Past Perfect tense should have been used. This answer choice, however, uses the Past Simple ( assumed ).

In addition, the word whether is incorrectly used because this answer choice only indicates that the locals  suspected  one thing only.

Think of  whether  as a choice between two possibilities dealing with the same subject or as a yes/no question.

Example: I do not know whether this will work. (yes or no)

He was not sure whether he wanted banana or chocolate cake. (a choice between 2 possibilities)

(B) whether he had assumed

Incorrect.

While this answer choice corrects the Tense mistake in the original sentence, by changing the Past Simple verb  assumed  to the Past Perfect verb  had assumed , it is illogical.

The word  whether  is incorrectly used because this answer choice only indicates that the locals  suspected  one thing only.

Think of  whether  as a choice between two possibilities dealing with the same subject or as a yes/no question.

Example: I do not know whether this will work. (yes or no)

He was not sure whether he wanted banana or chocolate cake. (a choice between 2 possibilities)

(C) he assumed

Incorrect.

While this answer choice corrects the logical flaw in the original question, by eliminating the word  whether , it repeats the Tense mistake in the original question.

In the sentence, a past action ( he assumed ) takes place before another past action ( a few locals suspected ). Therefore, the Past Perfect tense should have been used. This answer choice, however, uses the Past Simple ( assumed ).

(D) his assuming

Incorrect.

While this answer choice corrects the logical flaw in the original question, by eliminating  whether , and corrects the Tense mistake by changing Past Simple  he assumed  to a non-conjugated form  his assuming , it is stylistically flawed.

The phrase  his assuming  is awkward. In addition, it is unclear to whom the pronoun  his  refers - to the man who arrived in Artigat or to Martin Guerre.

(E) that he had assumed

This answer choice corrects the grammatical mistake and the logical flaw in the original question, by changing  whether  to that and by changing the Past Simple ( assumed ) to the Past Perfect tense ( had assumed ), to indicate that one action ( he had assumed the identity... ) came before another ( the locals suspected ).

sanjitscorps18 · Answer

Answer should be E

1. whether is usually used for two choices but here we have only one
2. same as above
3. that is missing after suspected and this is represents a simple past tense
4. his assuming - continuous tense does not make sense here
5. this looks okay - past perfect

thelonghalloween · Answer

IMO A

there is already a 'had' in sentence so it depicts action that happened before something. That something has to be the assumption that few locals made. This eliminates B, E
C, D don't have any connector, so eliminate 
 
Remaining is A --> Correct option

mendax · Answer

When a man appeared in the village of Artigat in the summer of 1556 and presented himself as Martin Guerre, only a few locals suspected whether he assumed the identity of the man who had disappeared eight years earlier.

(A) whether he assumed
(B) whether he had assumed
(C) he assumed
(D) his assuming
(E) that he had assumed

(A) whether he assumed
(B) whether he had assumed
(C) he assumed
(D) his assuming
(E) that he had assumed

I N MY OPINION the answer should be E

Whether has only one choice given, thus A and B can be eliminated.
in D -ing should be placed in parallel to dissapeared
In C not able to join suspect with he( style seems to be incorrect)

sivatx2 · Answer

When a man appeared in the village of Artigat in the summer of 1556 and presented himself as Martin Guerre, only a few locals suspected whether he assumed the identity of the man who had disappeared eight years earlier.

(A) whether he assumed
(B) whether he had assumed
(C) he assumed
(D) his assuming
(E) that he had assumed

Whether vs that:  
If we really doubt that something is true (suspect that it’s false), use “doubt/suspect that”:

“I suspect that someone stole my umbrella.”

If we need to express uncertainty, use “whether”:

“I doubt/suspect whether my students will do well in the GMAT test.”

1. In the context of the sentence, whether usage (doubting the identity of a man) is incorrect.

2. 'Had'( past perfect tense) usage in non-underlined portion of the sentence signifies that the event of assuming Martin's identity should have happened before the man presented himself as Martin, at least a moment before that.

(A)  whether  he  assumed  
  As per the analysis, whether usage & simple past is incorrect. Past perfect is expected. Eliminate

(B)  whether  he  had assumed  
  As per the analysis, whether usage is incorrect. Eliminate

(C) he  assumed  
  As per the analysis, simple past is incorrect. Past perfect is expected. Eliminate

(D)  his assuming  
  Non-conjugation( his assuming) is awkward here though it fixes the grammatical problem of original sentence by removing whether and simple past tense, 'assumed'. Pronoun, 'his' usage is confusing as we don't know who it is referring to, is it Martin Guerre or the man who claims to be Martin?. Eliminate

(E)  that  he  had assumed  
  As per the analysis, that usage & past perfect tense is correct.   
  Hence choice E is the right answer.

vipulgoel · Answer

Posted from my mobile device

100mitra · Answer

Correct Option E  
Original sentence:
When a man  appeared  in the village of Artigat in the summer of 1556
and  presented  himself as Martin Guerre, 
only a few locals  suspected  whether he  assumed  the identity of the man who  had disappeared  eight years earlier.

Elimination Process : 
1.  Whether  - Redundancy with word suspected.
Whether - it means "expressing a doubt or choice between alternatives", it usage is as a conjunction, which here is not required, as sentnece indicates single condition, through word "suspect".
 Suspect  - it means "doubt the genuineness or truth of"
 Elimiates - A, and B

With D  - "his" - is a possesive pronoun, used to show ownership, and present participle "assuming" for past incident, demeans the meaning, additional "assuming" is not parallel with other past tense verb. -  eliminate D

(A) whether he assumed 
 (B) whether he had assumed 
 (D) his assuming

Remaining with (C, and E)

(C) he assumed  - simple past tense 
(E) that he had assumed - perfect past tense

C, and E - both express completed actions that took place in the past. 
We use the  simple past  to say what happened in the past, often in sequential order. 
 The past perfect  expresses events and actions that occurred prior to another past action (usually expressed in the simple past, like "assumed").
Some indicators for past perfect tense can be used - already, up to then, before (that day), after, once, earlier etc.

Option E  : gives fulfills the intended meaning with perfect past tense, and essential information with "That" usage.
Events like "had assumed" parallel with "had disappeared" makes the sentence -  Correct E

VerbalBot · Answer

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When a man appeared in the village of Artigat in the summer of 1556 an

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When a man appeared in the village of Artigat in the summer of 1556 an

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