<p>from p. 602 #19. it says it's easy, so i'm obviously overthinking it, but explain to me why the answer is A and not E:</p>
<p>After Gertrude Ederle had swam the English Channel, she was celebrated as the first woman ever to accomplish the feat. No Error.</p>
<p>What should the sentence say to be gramatically correct, and why? thanks!</p>
<p>I would say she didn't swim the english channel. Rather, she swam across the english channel.</p>
<p>so it should be HAD SWAM ACROSS, i guess.</p>
<p>Should be "had swum" and not "had swam."</p>
<p>With has, have, or had, always use the "U" form when possible (swum, begun, run) or the "N" form (written, broken, eaten) or just the "-ed" form when the other options aren't available (worked, hiked, walked). These forms of the verbs are called "Past participles" if you want to research them further for the SAT, which I highly recommend.</p>
<p>Couldn't you also say just "swam" and drop the "had"?</p>
<p>Yea you can use both, but I think (not sure) that using "had" is more appropriate when talking about a definite time in the past after some event occured.</p>
<p>But I'm pretty sure that CB was testing for your knowledge of past participles on that one because that type of question frequently appears.</p>
<p>so it has nothing do with the lack of the word "across" or some similar word? you can swim a channel?</p>