Question: Walter Melon's Food Store

Comment on Walter Melon's Food Store

I didn't understand the reason you cited to eliminate option D. I simply eliminated it because the expression "had had" appeared awkward.
gmat-admin's picture

It might sound awkward, but "had had" is an acceptable construction. More here: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/when-are-double-words-ok

Hi Brent. Is it correct to say "A time in which"? "A time when" is better... but is the first construction even allowed?
gmat-admin's picture

"A time in which" is perfectly fine. In fact, we often use IN with constructions dealing with time. For example:
- IN the 1980's . . .
- Joe arrived IN time to see. . .

Cheers,
Brent

hi brent, i do not understand why those actions happended at the same time (had alternatives and opened) In my opinion people had few alternatives first and after that Walter opened the store?

Therefore I choose answer D because it uses the correct past perfect tense, to show which action happened before.

Could you help me, why in this case, apparently the actions happened at the same time?
gmat-admin's picture

Hi niekvv,

The opening, DURING A TIME tells us that the events happened during the same time period.

Also, in order to use the past perfect tense (had had), the first past event (having few alternatives) must have been fully completed BEFORE the other past event (opening a store) is completed. However, the first past event (having few alternatives) was not completed BEFORE the store opened.

Does that help?

Cheers,
Brent

I had the exact same question, but your answer helped.

You mention 'had had' is past perfect.
Per the lesson on verb tense you state past perfect is of the construction "had + past participle" (past participle being a verb-ed word).
Is had the past participle here /exception? Please clarify
gmat-admin's picture

In the majority of cases, the past participle is formed by adding ED to a verb.
Some examples include:
JUMP becomes JUMPED
PAINT becomes PAINTED
TYPE becomes TYPED
CALCULATE becomes CALCULATED

For some verbs, the past participle is NOT formed by adding ED.
Some examples include:
WRITE becomes WROTE
BUY becomes BOUGHT
SWIM becomes SWAM
HAVE becomes HAD (so HAD is the past participle of HAVE)

Cheers,
Brent

Hi Brent,

In choice B, I don’t understand why “Typically” modify “opened” rather than “had a few…”

gmat-admin's picture

The prepositional phrase (in a time when...) is a modifier.
If we ignore that modifier, we're left with "Typically, Walter Melon opened...", in which case, we can see that TYPICALLY must modify OPENED.

Another approach is to see what happens if we place the modifying phrase at the beginning of the sentence.

We get: In a time when people had few alternatives to canned vegetables, Walter Melon TYPICALLY OPENED....

Does that help?

Cheers,
Brent

Hi Brent!
Could we also choose C instead of B because of the use of “at a time” instead of “in a time” ?
gmat-admin's picture

Unfortunately the answer is no. Both of those constructions are fine.

I chose B as I thought typically was referring to the time as it was a "specific" time so for me choice B seemed better. But I guess I should have referred to the lesson saying adverbs modify verbs... Not easy to spot!
gmat-admin's picture

It's a tricky one!

gmat-admin's picture

It's a tricky one!

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