Some Buildings that were Destroyed and Heavily Damaged in the Earthquake Last Year were Constructed in Violation of the City's Building Code.

Question: Some buildings that were destroyed and heavily damaged in the earthquake last year were constructed in violation of the city's building code.

(A) Some buildings that were destroyed and heavily damaged in the earthquake last year were
(B) Some buildings that were destroyed or heavily damaged in the earthquake last year had been
(C) Some buildings that were destroyed and heavily damaged in the earthquake last year have been
(D) Last year the earthquake destroyed or heavily damaged some buildings that have been
(E) Last year some of the buildings that were destroyed or heavily damaged in the earthquake had been

“Some buildings that were destroyed and heavily damaged in the earthquake last year were constructed in violation of the city's building code.” - this is a GMAT sentence correction question. This particular GMAT sentence correction topic has been taken from the book ‘The Official Guide of GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition, 2009’. This question checks tenses, verbs, and awkwardness. GMAT Sentence Correction questions comprise 11-16 questions to be completed within 65 minutes. Each Sentence Correction question contains a sentence with an underlined portion that includes 0-2 errors.

Answer: B
Explanation: Concepts tested here: Meaning + Tenses

• The past perfect tense (helping verb "had") is used when the above sentence contains two actions in the past. This helping verb "had" is implied with the action in the "greater past".
• The present perfect tense (helping verb “has/have”) is used to illustrate events that concluded in the past but continue affecting the present.

Option A: Incorrect.

This option changes the meaning of the sentence. The phrase "destroyed and heavily damaged" is illogically applied. This implies that the buildings were both destroyed and heavily damaged. Hence option A is incorrect.

Option B: Correct.

In this option, the phrase "destroyed or heavily damaged", conveys that the buildings were either destroyed or heavily damaged. Additionally the use of the phrase "destroyed or heavily damaged in the earthquake last year", conveys that the buildings were destroyed last year. Therefore, option B correctly uses the past perfect tense verb "had been constructed" referring to the earlier of two actions that concluded in the past. Hence option B is the correct answer.

Option C: Incorrect.

This option changes the meaning of the phrase "destroyed and heavily damaged" implying that the buildings were both destroyed and heavily damaged. Furthermore, option C incorrectly uses the present perfect tense verb phrase "have been destroyed" to refer to the earlier two actions that concluded in the past. Hence option C is incorrect.

Option D: Incorrect.

This answer choice erroneously uses the present perfect tense verb phrase "have been destroyed" to refer to the earlier two actions that concluded in the past. Additionally, the past perfect tense (helping verb "had") is used when the above sentence contains two actions in the past. This helping verb "had" is implied with the action in the "greater past". The present perfect tense (helping verb “has/have”) is used to illustrate events that concluded in the past but continue affecting the present. Hence option D is incorrect.

Option E: Incorrect.

This option changes the meaning of the sentence, through the clause "Last year some of the buildings...had been constructed". This refers to the fact that the buildings were constructed last year. Hence option E is incorrect.

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