<p>1.) When they reached the mountains summit, the weary climbers gazed down upon a scene of indescribable grandeur. </p>
<p>(A) When they reached the mountains summit
(E) When having reached the mountains summit</p>
<p>Answer: A
My Question: Can someone explain college boards explanation of the incorrect choice E: </p>
<p>Choice (E) involves the use of an improper verb form. The conjunction “when” should be used with a verbal adjective (like “having reached”) only to express a general condition, not to describe a specific action like that of the climbers.</p>
<p>What does it mean that having reached is only used to express a general condition? What is a general condition?</p>
<p>2.) Friends of Dreiser reported that he was fired from his first job because his news stories were always sympathetic to the poor.</p>
<p>(C) because his sympathy to the poor was always in his news stories.</p>
<p>Answer: Correct as written
My Question: College board says: </p>
<p>Choice (C) uses an inappropriate idiom. The use of the preposition “to” after the noun “sympathy” is unidiomatic.</p>
<p>Yet, I looked up online and freedictionary.com states that to can be used after sympathy. Link: [sympathy</a> - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.](<a href=“Sympathy]sympathy - Idioms by The Free Dictionary”>Sympathy - Idioms by The Free Dictionary)</p>