As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive

[GMAT 5/18]

This question is from the GMATPrep mba.com software, test 1, question 37:

As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and a board member for 28 years, Joan Philkill attended more than 400 meetings and reviewed more than 700 rezoning applications.

a. As the former
b. The former
c. Former
d. She was
e. As the

It seems to be either a. or e. works, but in choosing a., I got the question incorrect. Can someone please explain why e. is the better answer choice over a.? Thanks!

[dbernst]

Howdy. Answer choice A indicates that Joan, for 18 years, was the former chair; it is nonsensical to think that she would be attending meetings while she was the former chair. The sentence is attempting to indicate that Joan served for 18 years as the chair, and during this time she attended meetings. Thus, E is more clear and precise in its meaning than is A.

Hope that helps!

[GMAT 5/18]

Thanks, Dan. Makes a lot of sense now! Former chair for 18 yrs..........ah, the time pressures of the GMAT!

Keep up the great work - I know I, along with many others on this forum, appreciate your help.

[divineacclivity]

Howdy. Answer choice A indicates that Joan, for 18 years, was the former chair; it is nonsensical to think that she would be attending meetings while she was the former chair. The sentence is attempting to indicate that Joan served for 18 years as the chair, and during this time she attended meetings. Thus, E is more clear and precise in its meaning than is A.

Hope that helps!

Something like "As the chair of the board for 18 years formerly, Joan, attended more than 400 meetings" is acceptable, right?
I know it is not one of the options; I'm just trying to get my fundamentals right. thanks.

[RonPurewal]

Something like "As the chair of the board for 18 years formerly, Joan, attended more than 400 meetings" is acceptable, right?
I know it is not one of the options; I'm just trying to get my fundamentals right. thanks.

still not ok. depending on how you view the context, "formerly" is either (a) redundant, because the sentence is already in the past tense, or (b) still problematic for the reasons cited above.
in fact, the way you've placed "formerly" here would pretty much never be acceptable -- but largely for reasons that are well beyond the scope of this exam.
so, here, we have another good example of why you shouldn't edit gmac's answer choices.
don't edit gmac's answer choices!
in fact, perhaps ironically, you've given the reason yourself, by stating that you want to focus on "fundamentals". if you edit the official answer choices, you will almost always inadvertently introduce issues that are not "fundamentals" and whose mastery is not necessary on this exam.

[harpreet1205]

Howdy. Answer choice A indicates that Joan, for 18 years, was the former chair; it is nonsensical to think that she would be attending meetings while she was the former chair. The sentence is attempting to indicate that Joan served for 18 years as the chair, and during this time she attended meetings. Thus, E is more clear and precise in its meaning than is A.

Hope that helps!

I am sorry but I am still confused.
What is wrong in saying that Joan attended meetings while she was the former chair ?

[thanghnvn]

This question is from the GMATPrep mba.com software, test 1, question 37:

As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and a board member for 28 years, Joan Philkill attended more than 400 meetings and reviewed more than 700 rezoning applications.

a. As the former
b. The former
c. Former
d. She was
e. As the

It seems to be either a. or e. works, but in choosing a., I got the question incorrect. Can someone please explain why e. is the better answer choice over a.? Thanks!

I agree that e is best.

one question, pls, explain

in e, "as the ...for 28 years" modifies the main clause and so are adverbial ?

is that right?

[RonPurewal]

Yes. That modifier describes the main sentence that follows.

[harpreet1205]

Hi Ron,

I am still confused. What is wrong in saying that "As the former chair _ _ _ , Joan Philkill attended more than 400 meetings and reviewed more than 700 rezoning applications".

After all Joan attended meetings while she was the former chair.

I didn't understand the explanation given earlier.

Thanks in advance. :)

[RonPurewal]

After all Joan attended meetings while she was the former chair.

No, she didn't. She attended meetings while she was the chair.
As the former chair, she could tell stories about what she did when she was the chair.

"Former" is exactly like "ex-", so maybe that will help you understand.
Let's say some male executive, Harold, was married to a woman named Sherry, but they've divorced. In this case, you can probably understand why this sentence is nonsense:
As Harold's ex-wife, Sherry entertained many of his clients in their country home.
Clearly it should say "As Harold's wife". (Unless these two were very weirdly close after their divorce.)

[HarshaV664]

Why not the option (B).
The former chief and a board member, X attended 100 meetings..

What is wrong with this sentence?

[RonPurewal]

two big problems.

1/
if the modifier is 'the former chair', then the sentence is saying that JP attended all these meetings as the former chair.
that's not true—she attended the meetings when she WAS the chair.


2/
'the former chair for 18 years' is nonsense. this construction is impossible, regardless of context.

what was true for 18 years?
she was the chair for 18 years.

NOW she is the former chair.

she will retain the title 'former chair' in perpetuity, since it is impossible for someone to stop being 'the former _____'. thus it is nonsense to attach a finite duration (18 years) to 'the former _____'.

[wong.dee1987]

After all Joan attended meetings while she was the former chair.

No, she didn't. She attended meetings while she was the chair.
As the former chair, she could tell stories about what she did when she was the chair.

"Former" is exactly like "ex-", so maybe that will help you understand.
Let's say some male executive, Harold, was married to a woman named Sherry, but they've divorced. In this case, you can probably understand why this sentence is nonsense:
As Harold's ex-wife, Sherry entertained many of his clients in their country home.
Clearly it should say "As Harold's wife". (Unless these two were very weirdly close after their divorce.)

Cannot help saying thx

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.