It was not long after the 1930s

[shobuj40]

It was not long after the 1930s commenced that such baritone singers as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo contributed to the popularization of a type of romantic, soothing singing that came to be called "crooning."

It was not long after the 1930s commenced that such baritone singers as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo contributed to

Not long after the commencement of the decade of the 1930s, baritone singers such as Bing Crosby and also Russ Columbo decided to contribute in

Not long after the 1930s commenced, baritone singers like Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo contributed to

Not long after the beginning of the 1930s commencement, baritone singers like Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo had contributed to

It was not long after the 1930s commenced that baritone singers such as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo had contributed in.

OA is A

i realize about the rest of the answer but please shed some light on the use of it and also 1930s commenced and also about- that such baritone singers as- what is the function of such in this sentence because it started after that +such

[JonathanSchneider]

It's a tricky problem. A, while correct, is not ideal. But we get there by process of elimination.

We can begin a sentence with a general "It is..." or "It was...," but we need to follow up with "that..." Basically, the whole clause starting with "that" is the antecedent for the pronoun "it." The "such" is just part of the phrase "such as." In this case, that phrase is broken up to say "such baritone singers as" -- this is ok.

#50 in the SC section of OG11 has a similar problem that you may want to reference.

[JeffreyB581]

I understand that "[category] such as X and Y" can be split into "such [category] as X and Y" so long as the X and Y are within the main category.

I got this question right on a recent CAT but when reviewing was curious about the following:

Is "had" before commenced not required as "it was not long after" accomplishes the goal of this action taking place before the next verb in past tense (contributed)? If so, would it be wrong (based on redundancy) to use both?

Thanks!

[elenas903]

It's a tricky problem. A, while correct, is not ideal. But we get there by process of elimination.

We can begin a sentence with a general "It is..." or "It was...," but we need to follow up with "that..." Basically, the whole clause starting with "that" is the antecedent for the pronoun "it." The "such" is just part of the phrase "such as." In this case, that phrase is broken up to say "such baritone singers as" -- this is ok.

#50 in the SC section of OG11 has a similar problem that you may want to reference.

Can you please explain why we need THAT in this sentence? Why not WHEN? It was not long after...when...also sounds okay to me. Is it an idiom? I am not a native speaker. It is hard for me to understand such cases.
thanks

[RonPurewal]

that's the construction linked here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... tml#p49622

"when" isn't anywhere in these answer choices.

remember, do not "invent" your own answer choices -- most likely, they will contain constructions that are irrelevant to this exam (which only tests about 1 percent of the things that can go wrong with an english sentence -- perhaps even less).

[SofronieD789]

Hi experts,

I encountered this problem in CAT EXAM #3.
I can see why the wrong answers are wrong, but I don't understand why the correct answer is correct.
In choice A, we have: It was not long after the 1930s commenced

My question is:
How can a period be commenced? Why not "the 1930s commencing"?

Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.
A. Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering
B. Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber
C. Dickinson, written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886 and outnumbering
D. Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother, ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, and outnumbering
E. Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

In this free prep and OG question, OA is E. Here we have "period beginning and ending".
My question again, how can a period be commenced?

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

You're right, a period can't 'be commenced', but a period can 'commence' (i.e. begin). Here are a couple of correct examples:
1. The film commenced at 7pm.
2. My career commenced in 2010.
Remember that there is usually more than one combination of words that we can use to give a similar meaning.

In the Emily Dickinson example, the construction is a bit different. Here we've got a 'NOUN -ing' modifier, i.e. a noun followed by an -ing word that describes it. Here are a couple of correct examples of this:
3. I saw a dog barking.
4. The car driving along the street was blue.

Note, that in a 'NOUN -ing' modifier, the -ing word is just giving extra information about the noun; it's not actually a main verb. You can usually replace a 'NOUN -ing' modifier with a 'NOUN that' modifier to give the same meaning:
5. I saw a dog that was barking.
6. The car that was driving along the street was blue.

[SofronieD789]

Hi sage,
Thanks for your help.
But in the correct choice A, we still have "It was not long after the 1930s commenced that ...".
Is it correct? Why not "It was not long after the 1930s commencing that ..."?

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

It seems that we use the word 'after' in some different ways:
1. after + NOUN, e.g. After work, he goes to the gym.
2. after + CLAUSE (that's a mini-sentence with a subject and verb), e.g. After she paid for her groceries, she left the store.
3. after + -ing, e.g. After paying for her groceries, she left the store. This has the same meaning as the example in 2. Note that same person is doing the paying and doing the leaving. It would be illogical to write: After paying for her groceries, the door opened.

However, perhaps you're thinking of the word "commencing" as a noun (which some -ing words can be). According to the first way of using 'after', we could write After the beginning of the film, I fell asleep. Here, 'the beginning' is a noun. In theory, we could write a sentence like this one: After my leaving the party, the other people arrived. However, the phrase 'my leaving' sounds a bit awkward, and GMAT is more likely to write After I left the party, the other people arrived.

So, perhaps what you're thinking of is It was not long after the 1930s' commencing that... (Note the added apostrophe: this construction is the same as 'my leaving'.) However, even with the apostrophe it would be avoided by GMAT.

[SofronieD789]

Hi sage,
You're really helpful.
I am not thinking of "commenced" as a noun but mistaking "commenced" for a past participle. I understood what you said above.
Thank you very much.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Good to hear that! You're welcome.