When Margaret Thatcher won the British general election in 1979, she

Question

When Margaret Thatcher won  the British general election in 1979, she had become Europe’s first woman prime minister, although the world had seen its very first female head of state, Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, nineteen years earlier.

(A) When Margaret Thatcher won

(B) Upon Margaret Thatcher’s winning

(C) Whenever Margaret Thatcher won

(D) Margaret Thatcher had won

(E) At the time Margaret Thatcher won

Project SC Butler 
 For SC butler Questions  Click Here

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The correct answer is (B).

The original sentence improperly mixes the past tense ( won ) with the past perfect tense ( had become  and  had seen ). Choice (B) corrects this problem by reconstructing the first clause. In choice (B), the noun clause  Margaret Thatcher’s winning  correctly uses the possessive verb form.

Sumi1010 · Answer

When Margaret Thatcher won  the British general election in 1979,  she  had become Europe’s first woman prime minister, although the world had seen its very first female head of state, Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, nineteen years earlier.

(A) When Margaret Thatcher won
 Looks correct. 
(B) Upon Margaret Thatcher’s winning
  she  can't refer to Thatcher’s  
(C) Whenever Margaret Thatcher won
 Changes the meaning. It implies that Thatcher won multiple times. 
(D) Margaret Thatcher had won
 The winning of Thatcher  ..followed by she had become something..The first act does not require past participle.
(E) At the time Margaret Thatcher won
 It implies that simultaneously she won and she became ...

IMO  A

PgRaul · Answer

Ans : E
When Margaret Thatcher won the British general election in 1979, she had become Europe’s first woman prime minister, although the world had seen its very first female head of state, Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, nineteen years earlier.

(A) When Margaret Thatcher won(she became would be correct)

(B) Upon Margaret Thatcher’s winning(wrong tense)

(C) Whenever Margaret Thatcher won(whenever incorrect)

(D) Margaret Thatcher had won(wrong tense)

(E) At the time Margaret Thatcher won(action is in the past,  she had become )
 #expertsreply  ; in the past when she won, she had become....

carouselambra · Answer

When Margaret Thatcher won the British general election in 1979, she had become Europe’s first woman prime minister, although the world had seen its very first female head of state, Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, nineteen years earlier.

(A) When Margaret Thatcher won - Correct

(B)  Upon  Margaret Thatcher’s winning

(C)  Whenever  Margaret Thatcher won

(D) Margaret Thatcher  had  won

(E)  At the time  Margaret Thatcher won

petrichor · Answer

When Margaret Thatcher won the British general election in 1979, she had become Europe’s first woman prime minister, although the world had seen its very first female head of state, Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, nineteen years earlier.

(A)  When Margaret Thatcher won

When she won the election, she "had become" ? she was already the first woman PM before she won? - Wrong tense.

(B) Upon Margaret Thatcher’s winning

this looks good "upon Thatcher's winning the election 1979, she  had become  first PM, although the world  had seen "

yes, there is a confusing pronoun referring to a possessive noun but there is no other feminine noun before the first "she" to create ambiguity. It can't be the sole reason to eliminate B IMHO.
refer the famous Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success question  here

I am not completely convinced with the use of "had" without comparable past event but still chose this.  IMO B

(C)  Whenever Margaret Thatcher won
whenever causes a meaning issue as if she won election multiple times in 1979 and whenever she won she became the first woman PM.

(D)  Margaret Thatcher had won
This will create a comma splice error : Thatcher won election, she had become (two independent clauses without conjunction)

(E)  At the time Margaret Thatcher won
This phrase also tries to arrange the events chronologically; I believe it doesn't go well with the two "had (verbs)" for reasons stated above in A.

Karpov92 · Answer

This is a case of past vs past perfect. When 2 incidents happened in the past, the 1st incident can be described using the past perfect in a sentence. So, let's organize the events chronologically. 
1st Incident: Thatcher winning the election.
2nd Incident: Thatcher becoming the president.
Thus, "A. When Margaret Thatcher   won   the British general election in 1979, she   had become   Europe’s first woman prime minister.." - is grammatically incorrect. This sentence convolutes the time-line of 2 incidents. 
Option (B) "Upon Margaret Thatcher’s winning the election,......" may sound awkward but it cleverly avoids the past vs past-perfect conundrum by using the noun phrase "Margaret Thatcher's winning".

The correct answer is (B).

generis · Answer

petrichor  , excellent memory.
I wrote an explanation for a similar Manhattan Prep question in which I listed quite a few official examples in order to demonstrate that   "possessive poison is not an ironclad rule."  
That post can be found by clicking  here .

VerbalBot · Answer

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.

When Margaret Thatcher won the British general election in 1979, she

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

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

When Margaret Thatcher won the British general election in 1979, she

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

My Rewards