<p>need some help on what would be the correct answers for the following questions which appeared in Nov SAt, 2011</p>
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<li> Q 29 : The paintings she settled for her art show were more varied than those of ---n and so gave her critics a better ---- ( I cannot recall all the rest,) </li>
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<p>What is the correct answer : D (that underlies " and so" ) or No Error ? </p>
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<li> Another Writing Question : Several decades after Cynthia argued for the preservation of the area, the town finally marked the cemetery as a historical landmark.</li>
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<p>What is the correct answer : unsure of whther " argued should be changed to " had argued" " or "No Error." ( I am not unsure of this question, cuz when you have "after" or "before", you can see clearly what precededs what of the sentence part in question, so in some cases, even when " past perfect" tense is required, "past tense" can be used along with "before" or "after".)</p>
<p>The second question is somewhat controversial in the sense that how the Collegeboard views the use of "before’ or “after” in conjunction with description of the action that was concluded and so occurred in the past.</p>
<p>The general rule in respect of the two actions with one of which preceding the other in temporal sequence is that the former action should use “past tense” , if the intent is to show that the former action actually had taken place before the latter one, with two actions occurring at with some time intervals.
However, this rule does not have to be observed, when you use the “before” or “after”, so you can instead use the past tense along with before or after, even though the situation of the sentence inquestion indicates it should be written in the past perfect.</p>
<p>The following sentences are good measures of how the Collegeboard views this usage.</p>
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<li><p>After the prince characterized modern architecture (as ugly), he (has been) (severely) criticized for having been (so outspoken) in public. No error.
the suggested explanation of this question by the Collegeboard is simply that “has been” should be changed to “was”. This question is not directly questioning whether the former action (characterized) should be in the past perfect or past tense, however, the not underlined action verb “characterized” can be also expressed as “had characterized” in view of the general tenor of the first adverbial clause. </p></li>
<li><p>(Because) his expereince in the naval medical corps had been (rewarding), Bob (applied to) medical school after he ( was discharged) from the navy. No error.
The suggested explanation and so the answer by the Collegeboard is “No error.”
Here, we have the “had been rewarding”, and “applied to” and " was discharged"
Circumstantially, the part " was discharged" can be expressed as in the past perfect " had been discharged" given that the fact of his having been discharged from the navy should have occurred before Bo’s applicaiton to medical school.<br>
You may argue that her the point is to contrast in tense “his experience that had been rewarding” which happened first, so that’s the one which should be in the past perfect (had been), with the other two verb actions (appplied, and was discharged), and these two need to be used in the simple past. </p></li>
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<p>I am not sure which version of explanation or argument holds true in this No. 2 sentence.</p>
<p>My guess is just simply that when you use “after” or “before”, you may use the past tense in lieu of the past perfect one, so in many cases, even though the clause that embodies “after” or “before” that should be used in the past perfect, uses “past tense”, that is okay, so No Error. I guess this is somewhat tricky. and I am not sure of what version of explanations should be accepted. Any feedback or suggestion is more than welcome.</p>