The Limousine Driver has Waited for Almost an Hour Before Deciding GMAT Sentence Correction

Question: The limousine driver has waited for almost an hour before deciding his client was not going to show up.

1. The limousine driver has waited for almost an hour before deciding
2. The limousine driver waited for almost an hour before deciding that
3. The limousine driver has waited for almost an hour before he decided that
4. The limousine driver was waiting for almost an hour before deciding
5. The limousine driver waited for almost an hour before deciding

Correct Answer: B
Explanation: The limousine driver waited for almost an hour before deciding that his client was not going to show up.- Correct.
This sentence was used to describe a former occurrence. The fact that it is a past occurrence was reinforced by the subordinate sentence "his client was not going to show up." Thus, the past tense should be used for the remaining words (typically simple past, or past perfect).
This sentence tries to convey that a particular action took place BUT is NOT taking place anymore.
Therefore, using present perfect or present perfect continuous in any way is improper.

Option A
The limousine driver has waited for almost an hour before deciding. Incorrect. Issue with the tenses since the non-underlined component is past tense. Therefore, the past tense should be used. The driver has already finished waiting and making a decision. This means that the word "has waited" is incorrect since it suggests that he is still waiting. While it's permissible to remark in casual conversation that the driver waited “before deciding his client wasn’t going to show up,” that is not the case here.

Option C
The limousine driver has waited for almost an hour before he decided that. Incorrect. Issue with the tenses since the non-underlined component is past tense. The second is corrected by this option, but not the first. Furthermore, it makes the unnecessary substitution "deciding" for "he decided."

Option D
The limousine driver was waiting for almost an hour before deciding. Incorrect. After concluding that it was necessary, past wrong was continued. After choosing, the word "that" is missing. Waiting misses the mark in its meaning. This option fails to include a "that" after "deciding" and uses the wrong past participle form, "was waiting."

Option E
The limousine driver waited for almost an hour before deciding.Incorrect. The first error is fixed by this option, but not the second. That is required to start a clause. Another clause must be introduced with the word "that."

“The limousine driver has waited for almost an hour before deciding”- is a GMAT sentence correction question. These sorts of questions come up with grammatical errors in the underlined part of the sentence. The candidates need to select the correct statement given in the options. The GMAT sentence correction section demands good skills in grammar since the candidate has to identify common grammatical errors. GMAT sentence correction is a part of GMAT verbal.

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