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CAMANISHPARMAR
Virginia Woolf was keenly aware that she had not enjoyed the advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education, and was envious of her male contemporaries who did.

A) and was envious of her male contemporaries who did
B) and she was envious of her male contemporaries who did
C) she was envious of her male contemporaries who had
D) and was envious of her male contemporaries who had
E) having envied her male contemporaries who did

Hello Experts

I have question regarding A and D

What is the difference in meaning of A with respect to D?

Are the following interpretation correct

A - "and was envious of her male contemporaries who did enjoy advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education.

D - "and was envious of her male contemporaries who had enjoyed the advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education "

Please suggest how to eliminate A.

Regards,
Arvind
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arvind910619

Are the following interpretation correct

A - "and was envious of her male contemporaries who did enjoy advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education.

D - "and was envious of her male contemporaries who had enjoyed the advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education "
Yes correct. So basically, A uses simple past tense ("did enjoy") while D uses past perfect tense ("had enjoyed").

Past perfect is used to establish a "chronological sequence" (time-sequence) between two events, both of which happened in the past.

In this sentence, Virginia Woolf was envious of her male contemporaries. Her male contemporaries, obviously at some time before the time of reference, had been in Oxford or Cambridge .

Hence, the usage of Past perfect is justified.

You can watch our video on Past Perfect Tense here.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Past perfect tense, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.
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arvind910619
CAMANISHPARMAR
Virginia Woolf was keenly aware that she had not enjoyed the advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education, and was envious of her male contemporaries who did.

A) and was envious of her male contemporaries who did
B) and she was envious of her male contemporaries who did
C) she was envious of her male contemporaries who had
D) and was envious of her male contemporaries who had
E) having envied her male contemporaries who did

Hello Experts

I have question regarding A and D

What is the difference in meaning of A with respect to D?

Are the following interpretation correct

A - "and was envious of her male contemporaries who did enjoy advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education.

D - "and was envious of her male contemporaries who had enjoyed the advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education "

Please suggest how to eliminate A.

Regards,
Arvind

Hello arvind910619,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option A incorrectly uses the simple past tense verb "did (enjoy)" to refer to the earliest of multiple actions that took place in the past - Woolf's male contemporaries enjoying the advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education, Woolf being aware that she had not enjoyed the same, and Woolf being envious of her male contemporaries; remember, if a sentence contains multiple past actions, the past perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “had”) is used to refer to all but the most recent action; the simple past tense is used to refer to the most recent action.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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arvind910619

Are the following interpretation correct

A - "and was envious of her male contemporaries who did enjoy advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education.

D - "and was envious of her male contemporaries who had enjoyed the advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education "
Yes correct. So basically, A uses simple past tense ("did enjoy") while D uses past perfect tense ("had enjoyed").

Past perfect is used to establish a "chronological sequence" (time-sequence) between two events, both of which happened in the past.

In this sentence, Virginia Woolf was envious of her male contemporaries. Her male contemporaries, obviously at some time before the time of reference, had been in Oxford or Cambridge .

Hence, the usage of Past perfect is justified.

You can watch our video on Past Perfect Tense here.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Past perfect tense, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

Thanks now it makes perfect sense to eliminate A
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Hello Team,

Could you plz help in letting me know, what is the issue with option 'a'?
Why it is not a correct answer?
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Virginia Woolf was keenly aware that she had not enjoyed the advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education, and was envious of her male contemporaries who did.

A) and was envious of her male contemporaries who did

Wrong

D) and was envious of her male contemporaries who had

Correct

Hope this helps
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Hello Team,

Could you plz help in letting me know, what is the issue with option 'a'?
Why it is not a correct answer?

Hello VKat,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, as we have written in a previous comment, Option A incorrectly uses the simple past tense verb "did (enjoy)" to refer to the earliest of multiple actions that took place in the past - Woolf's male contemporaries enjoying the advantages of an Oxford or Cambridge education, Woolf being aware that she had not enjoyed the same, and Woolf being envious of her male contemporaries; remember, if a sentence contains multiple past actions, the past perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “had”) is used to refer to all but the most recent action; the simple past tense is used to refer to the most recent action.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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