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Until 1868 and Disraeli, Great Britain had no Prime Ministers GMAT Sentence Correction

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Question: Until 1868 and Disraeli, Great Britain had no prime ministers not coming from a landed family.

(A) Until 1868 and Disraeli, Great Britain had no prime ministers not coming
(B) Until 1868 and Disraeli, Great Britain had no prime ministers who have not come
(C) Until Disraeli in 1868, there were no prime ministers in Great Britain who have not come
(D) It was not until 1868 that Great Britain had a prime minister—Disraeli—who did not come
(E) It was only in 1868 and Disraeli that Great Britain had one of its prime ministers not coming

Correct Answer: D
Explanation: The intended meaning of the statement is that Disraeli served as Great Britain's first prime minister who was not a member of a landed family in 1868.

Actions that came to a conclusion in the past are described using the simple past tense. The past tense "has/have" is used to indicate the present perfect tense, which is used to talk about past events that still have an impact on the present.

It was not until 1868 that Great Britain had a prime minister—Disraeli—who did not come- Correct. It was not until 1868 that Great Britain had a prime minister who did not originate from a landed family, and this prime minister was Disraeli. The phrase "It was not until 1868" modifies "a prime minister" with "Disraeli," communicating the intended meaning. Additionally, it appropriately employs the simple past tense verb "did not come" to describe a past action.

Let's look at the other options.

Option A
Until 1868 and Disraeli, Great Britain had no prime ministers not coming- Incorrect.

Through the inclusion of the sentence "Until 1868 and Disraeli" and the preposition "until," this response option changes the meaning of the statement. Instead, a specific historical period results in an illogical connotation. The intended meaning is that Disraeli was Great Britain's first prime minister who did not originate from a landed family in 1868. Additionally, it wrongly refers to an action that was completed in the past using the present participle ("verb + ing") phrase "not coming"; keep in mind that the simple past tense is used to refer to activities that were completed in the past.

Option B
Until 1868 and Disraeli, Great Britain had no prime ministers who have not come- Incorrect.

This option incorrectly uses the present perfect tense verb "have not come" to refer to an action that concluded in the past. The present perfect tense (indicated by the use of the conjugated verbs "has/had") is used to talk about past events that have ended but are still having an impact on the present. The simple past tense is used to talk about actions that were completed in the past.

Option C
Until Disraeli in 1868, there were no prime ministers in Great Britain who have not come- Incorrect. It incorrectly uses the present perfect tense verb "have not come" to refer to an action that was completed in the past. The present perfect tense (denoted by the use of the helping verb "has/have") is used to refer to actions that were completed in the past but are still having an impact on the present.

Option E
It was only in 1868 and Disraeli that Great Britain had one of its prime ministers not coming- Incorrect. The simple past tense is used to refer to acts that ended in the past; it is inappropriate to use the present participle ("verb + ing" - "coming" in this example) to refer to an activity that concluded in the past.

“Until 1868 and Disraeli, Great Britain had no prime ministers not”- is a GMAT sentence correction question. These sorts of questions come up with grammatical errors in the underlined part of the sentence. The candidates need to select the correct statement given in the options. The GMAT sentence correction section demands good skills in grammar since the candidate has to identify common grammatical errors. GMAT sentence correction is a part of GMAT verbal.

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*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

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