Manhattan-SC 4th Edition P-110
It's written that past perfect shouldn't be used when 'before' and 'after' are mentioned. Because these clearly indicates the sequence.

Now, I encountered a Question in Manhanttan online Test-3 which used past perfect after the keyword 'Before' and that too provided with explanation that past perfect should be used as it is necessary.

Q. Before its independence in 1947, Britain ruled India as a colony and they would relinquish power only after a long struggle by the native people.
Before its independence in 1947, Britain ruled India as a colony and they would relinquish power
Before independence in 1947, Britain had ruled India as a colony and relinquished power
Before its independence in 1947, India was ruled by Britain as a colony and they relinquished power
Before independence in 1947, India had been ruled as a colony by Britain, which relinquished power
Before independence in 1947, India had been a colony of the British, who relinquished power

Reasoning mentioned:
The original sentence begins with a modifier ("Before its independence") that clearly describes India, though the subject of the main clause is Britain. Moreover, "ruled India as a colony" is wordy and the verb "ruled" is in the simple past when it would be better in the past perfect (two past actions, one of which was earlier).

Could anyone of the instructors helps explain the discrepancy and let me know which is correct??
Would appreciate your reply before 30th. As I have my exam planned at 5th.

Thanks!

Any replies on the apparent discrepancy in the explanation provided in Manhattan Tests and Manhattan SC guide. Please.

The past perfect tense is used to indicate a time sequence in a sentence, mainly the past perfect is used for the previous past action, while the simple past tense is used for the later past action.

The Strategy Guide is saying that the adverbs "before" and "after" ARE the time markers and indicate the time sequence, it's not necessary to use the past perfect to compare the two actions. The book example is:

Laura LOCKED the deadbolt BEFORE she LEFT for work.

Here, the "before" makes it clear to the reader that she LOCKED came first, and she LEFT came later.

However, in this case of your sentence, the "Before its independence in 1947" is NOT used to indicate the time sequence between India being a colony and Britain relinquishing power. It's merely describing when India was a colony.

Since "Before its independence" is not used to indicate the time sequence, we still need to do so using the verb tense. This is why we should use the past perfect to indicate when India was a colony.

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Ben Ku
Instructor
ManhattanGMAT

Is the use of "its" in A and C correct the expalnation says it is but isn't its a possessive and requires India's instead of india

Also can you please provide an example where its is used as a possessive
Also is british singular or plural

I think you might be getting the Possessive Poison warning backward. A subject or object pronoun cannot refer to a possessive noun antecedent.

However, a possessive pronoun can have either a possessive noun or plain-old noun as antecedent.
Swaroop's pizza was so good that his friends ate it all.
Swaroop gave his pizza recipe to his friends.

Thus, "its" can refer to "India," and is not required to reference "India's."


Tough to say, as "the british" could be read as "the british people" (plural) or "the British government" (singular). It doesn't really matter, though, does it? Only choice E has "the British" and the modifier "who relinquished" would work either way.

The boys, who relinquished the tennis court reluctantly, decided to play basketball instead.
The girl, who relinquished the library book exactly on the due date, immediately checked it out again.

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Emily Sledge
Instructor
ManhattanGMAT