SU

[SUMITHSHAH]

Before the storm destroyed much of the harbor, this town, with its sandy beaches and multiple opportunities for sports, had been one of the most popular resort destinations on the East Coast.

had been
has been
had been being
was being
was

OA is E ( my pick was A ) -
Source : Gmat Club test 3

Im wondering why would past perfect be wrong? Aren't there two actions ( before the storm destroyed ... the harbor had been destroyed)?

Am I missing something?

[JonathanSchneider]

Great question. We use the past perfect tense to indicate the earlier of two past actions, but only when this tense is necessary to indicate which action happened first. In this case, we already have the word "before" to indicate the order in which these actions occurred. As a result, the past perfect is not necessary; in fact, it is a bit clumsy when "was" is just as clear. The same pattern emerges with some questions in the OG, generally when we have other markers of time: before, after, specific dates, etc.