It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The

Question

49.  It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and it was under her command that the paper won high praise for its unrelenting reporting of the Watergate scandal .

A It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and it was under her command that the paper won high praise for its unrelenting reporting of the Watergate scandal.

B. It was only after Katharin Graham's becoming publisher of The Wasington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspaper, and under her commandt it had won high praise

C. Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963, and only after that did it move into the first rank of American newspapers, having won high praise under her command

D. Moving intor the first rank of American newspaper only after Katharine Graham became its publisher in 1963, The Washington Post, winning high praise under her command

E. Moving into the first rank of American newspapers only after Katharine Graham's becoming its publisher in 1963, The Washington Post won high praise under her command.

abhijit_sen · Answer

A It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and it was under her command that the paper won high praise for its unrelenting reporting of the Watergate scandal.
This is wordy and lots of "it" but nothing wrong, so keep it for time being.

B. It was only after Katharin Graham's becoming publisher of The Wasington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspaper, and under her commandt it had won high praise
Incorrect as this sentence does not tells us about Katharine Graham (it tells us about Katharine Graham's), so her has no referent.

C. Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963, and only after that did it move into the first rank of American newspapers, having won high praise under her command
Not clear who won high praise under her command. She herself, Washington Post, or American newspapers. Finally "having won high praise under her command" leaves a sentence fragment.

D. Moving into the first rank of American newspaper only after Katharine Graham became its publisher in 1963, The Washington Post, winning high praise under her command
This sentence makes "The Washington Post" optional item. Moreover it also creates a run on sentence, and using wrong verb tense as well.

E. Moving into the first rank of American newspapers only after Katharine Graham's becoming its publisher in 1963, The Washington Post won high praise under her command.
Incorrect as this sentence does not tells us about Katharine Graham (it tells us about Katharine Graham's), so her has no referent.

So remaining one is A.

getafixdruid · Answer

This is a brutal one.

Boils down to A vs C.
But in C the phrases are akward particularly the "having won" which i feel is misplaced.
So I choose A.

prateek11587 · Answer

my pick wud be A..

does it matter if the options dont refer to 'the watergate sacandal' and the original ques does?
i mean is it correct if v choose an option which doesnt refer to d scandal and only says "it won d newspaper praise"?

thx

abhijit_sen · Answer

Indeed it does. I totally ignored that fact, however that may be typo as well. In GMAT such omission may happen in 2-3 choices but not in all other except one.

sanjay_gmat · Answer

"it" in A is ambigous.

your reasoning for discarding E is faulty. You should always use the ownership word (him/her/Graham's) instead of a subject or object (Graham/he/she) before a GERUND. So, E sounds like the best choice here.

What's the OA?

sondenso · Answer

E is also my choice , but :lol:

OA is A

sanjay_gmat · Answer

According to the grammar smart by Princeton Review, E is in fact the right usage (ownership word before gerund).

A is :

It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that  it  moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and it was under her command that the paper won high praise for its unrelenting reporting of the Watergate scandal.

I have my doubts about the boldface "it". I think it doesn't clearly tell us what it stands for.

what's the source of this question?

sondenso · Answer

Just see the title of this post: it is GmatPrep!

sanjay_gmat · Answer

thanks. Missed it in the title (didn't notice it because of the ".").

abhijit_sen · Answer

I am not telling that usage of "her" is incorrect and instead "she" needs to be used. What I am telling is each pronoun should have a logical noun referent. But in E her does not have a noun to which it can refer. You can say that Katherine Graham, however this sentence never gave us Katherine Graham. It talks about Katherine Graham's, so "her" is dangling. Obviously her cannot refer to newspapers or Washington post.

sanjay_gmat · Answer

thanks Abhijit. I got your point. Now, the choice A is :

A It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that  it  moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and it was under her command that the paper won high praise for its unrelenting reporting of the Watergate scandal.

How do I know that the boldface "it" refers clearly to the newspaper?

thanks

mbawaters · Answer

A. May be though the use of 'it' in the begining (it was only...) and in the middle (..it was under command) made me raise some flags here.

B. rejected - possessive pronoun issues with 'her' referring to a noun (K Graham) that does not exist. Also did not like the use of past perfect (..it had won).

C reject - C has no flow to it.

D - rejected - not a complete sentence

E - rejected.

A. It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and it was under her command that the paper won high praise for its unrelenting reporting of the Watergate scandal.

A survives.

mymba99 · Answer

Three things happened in this order. 1. KG became publisher of WP in 1963 2. WP moved into the first rank of newspapers 3. WP won high praise for its good reporting.

B - It was only after Katharin Graham's becoming publisher of The Wasington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspaper, and under her(KG's) commandt it had won high praise
under her command it had won incorrectly implies that sometime in the past WP already won in her command.
Its like saying, hey she became publisher, then it moved into first rank and by the way it HAD won praise under her command. (WP already won praises in the past).
Moreover, the 3rd 'it' has no clear anticedent.
Also, I did not like 'becoming'. No reason.
C - Altered Intent. KG became publisher, WP moved into first rank, having won high praise under her command.
This incorrectly suggests that, WP having won praise moved into first rank. That is WP fist won high praise and then moved into high rank. But thats not the intended meaning.
D -[u] Modifier problem [/u]- Re-arrange the sentence and read it.
The WP moving into the first rank...after X, winning high praise under her command. (makes no sense to me)
E - 'After KG's becoming' should be 'After KG became'

I don't see anything wrong with 'her' in any of the choices. Every 'her' above = KG's.
A wins. First 'it' refers to WP, and second 'it' refers to 'paper'.
I know, now the question is what about the 1st 'it.
There is some exception to 'it'..that I read somewhere. I will try to find it and post it here soon.
Can anyone shed some light on rules of 'it'. Many thanks in advance. :-D

On the whole, under that time pressure on the D- Day , no way I can do this under 90 secs.
:btw

SOLID question :computer

sondenso..

On the whole, under that time pressure on the D- Day , no way I can do this under 90 secs. :btw

SOLID question :computer

sondenso..

zhenmaster · Answer

I think B, C, D, E all change the meaning of the original sentence by omitting the part of watergate scandals. therefore, only A remains.

marshpa · Answer

Though I am late but I am also for A. I agree with saravalli that cracking this kind of question on the D-day under timing pressure is very difficult. However I thought of something like this as timesaver trick. Folks let me know your opinion-

Before jumping to various options, first identify the mistake in the current sentence. Once identify the mistake now look for the options that corrects mistake. Options that are repeating mistakes can be discarded immediately. In case if there is no mistake in the origianl sentence but sentence has complex structures and don't follow any of the obvious type errors, A is correct most of the times. So when in doubt think A.
Also check errors in this order first-
Tense
Verb error(singular/pluarl)
Pronoun error
Word error-concise, redundant

sondenso · Answer

@Abhijit_sen: I'd like to correct you about this point. :lol:

I think "her..." has correct reference. Only objective pronoun and subject pronoun CANNOT refer to possesive noun . Here "her" is possessive pronoun, so it can refer to "Katherine Gramham's". If you are not clear, let me know! 8-)

The same to you, A has many "it", having a shower to to. A really killed my SC skill . :lol:

I wasted more than 2 minutes for ths question. It seems that the more time I spend on it, the more likely I choose it wrongly! :lol:

I think the first "it" has no reference. It is fixed in the way of speaking. For example: It is you who must in person do that job. "it" here does not refer to "you", right?

abhijit_sen · Answer

Sondenso please refer me to Princeton, Manhattan or Kaplan pages where I can find this thing. Thanks in advance.

sondenso · Answer

Sure! Manhattan SC version 2003, Chapter 4: PRONOUNS--> Possessive Poinson! Take a look!

billyjeans · Answer

Someone taught me a lesson on that one, it was OKAY to use "it" like this. I forgot who and don't know how to look it up.

But straight A.

It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The

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

My Rewards