sc tenses

[demoskopico]

Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when the bridge collapsed, the engineer was not honest at the preliminary public safety commission hearing, when he was questioned about the structure’s weight-bearing abilities.

 was not honest
 was not
 was honest
 had not been honest
 had not been being honest

I tought that the order was to be: commuters lost lives, the engineer was questioned, the engineer was not honest. The last action, in my opinion, was “not to be honest” and thus the tense I chose is “was”, since “had been” mean that the fact happened before. What is my mistake?

OA is D

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

Why is was more appropriate in this case? Had been gave me the idea of somewhat antecedent. What is my mistake?

OA is E

[kevin]

Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when the bridge collapsed, the engineer was not honest at the preliminary public safety commission hearing, when he was questioned about the structure’s weight-bearing abilities.

 was not honest
 was not
 was honest
 had not been honest
 had not been being honest

I tought that the order was to be: commuters lost lives, the engineer was questioned, the engineer was not honest. The last action, in my opinion, was “not to be honest” and thus the tense I chose is “was”, since “had been” mean that the fact happened before. What is my mistake?

If this was unfortunate for the commuters, what happened first, the accident or the hearing?
OA is D

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

Why is was more appropriate in this case? Had been gave me the idea of somewhat antecedent. What is my mistake?

I don't think the GMAT would make you choose between A and E, but with a before subordinate clause, using the simple past tense is fine.Is this a real GMAT question?

OA is E

See my comments above

[demoskopico]

See my comments above

don't know, taken from the gmat club forum. kevin, i don't have any more sc to practice with!