Sentence Correction

What was as remarkable as the development of the compact disc has been the use of the new technology to revitalize, in better sound than was ever before possible, some of the classic recorded performances of the pre-LP era.

A) What was as remarkable as the development of the compact disc
B) The thing that was as remarkable as developing the compact disc
C) No less remarkable than the development of the compact disc
D) Developing the compact disc has been none the less remarkable than
E) Development of the compact disc has been no less remarkable as

OA: C

P.S: Although I got it right, still want to have some solid reason why OA is preferred to A and the latter appeared to me as bit convoluted.

What was as remarkable as the development of the Compact Disc has been the use of the new technology to revitalize, in better sound than was ever before possible, some of the classic recorded performances of the pre-LP era.

A) What was as remarkable as the development of the Compact Disc
B) The thing that was as remarkable as the developing the Compact Disc
C) No less remarkable than the development of the Compact Disc
D) Developing the Compact Disc has been none the less remarkable as the development than
E) Development of the Compact Disc has been no less remarkable as

STAY IN ONE TENSE unless a change in tense is required.
A: What was remarkable...has been the use
B: The thing that was remarkable...has been the use
Here, the mix of the past tense (was) and the present perfect (has been) conveys an illogical sequence.
Eliminate A and B.

In D, developing and development are redundant.
Eliminate D.

In E, less...as is unidiomatic.
The correct idiom is less THAN.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is C.

A quick question - apart from SAME TENSE aspect, is there any other issue (such as usage of WHAT or anything else) related to A that makes it incorrect choice ?

P.S: Could you please shed any light on this - What are the DIFFERENT types usage of WHAT in GMAT ?

RBBmba@2014 wrote:A quick question - apart from SAME TENSE aspect, is there any other issue (such as usage of WHAT or anything else) related to A that makes it incorrect choice ?

P.S: Could you please shed any light on this - What are the DIFFERENT types usage of WHAT in GMAT ?

Generally, what = THE ONE THING THAT.
The usage of what in A implies the following:
The use has been THE ONE THING THAT was as remarkable as the development.
Since there probably have been MANY things that were as remarkable as the development of the compact disc, the usage of what in A does not convey the intended meaning.

GMATGuruNY wrote: Generally, what = THE ONE THING.

Ok.Thanks.

GMATGuruNY wrote: The usage of what in A implies the following:
The use of the new technology has been THE ONE THING as remarkable as the development.
Since there probably have been MANY things as remarkable as the development of the compact disc, the usage of what in A does not convey the intended meaning.

Isn't this (in RED) little bit far fetched ?

Moreover, if I say, the meaning of A is as follows -

"the use of the new technology has been as remarkable as was the development of the compact disc"
OR
"the development of the compact disc was as remarkable as has been the use of the new technology"

Can't we compare two things in which one is a remarkable development of PAST and other remarkable development of PRESENT ? How it's logically wrong ?

Could you please explain ?

RBBmba@2014 wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote: Generally, what = THE ONE THING.

Ok.Thanks.

GMATGuruNY wrote: The usage of what in A implies the following:
The use of the new technology has been THE ONE THING as remarkable as the development.
Since there probably have been MANY things as remarkable as the development of the compact disc, the usage of what in A does not convey the intended meaning.

Isn't this (in RED) little bit far fetched ?

what was as remarkable as the development of the compact disc = ONE THING was as remarkable as the development of the compact disc.
The implication is that NOTHING ELSE was as remarkable as the development of the contact disc.
It seems unlikely that the SC intends to convey this meaning.

Moreover, if I say, the meaning of A is as follows -

"the use of the new technology has been as remarkable as was the development of the compact disc"
OR
"the development of the compact disc was as remarkable as has been the use of the new technology"

Can't we compare two things in which one is a remarkable development of PAST and other remarkable development of PRESENT ? How it's logically wrong ?

Could you please explain ?

The paraphrases above do not convey the same meaning as A.

An analogy:
What scientists are trying to determine is the cause of the disease.
Conveyed meaning:
The cause of the disease is what scientists are trying to determine.
This meaning is sensical.

A: What was as remarkable as the development has been the use.
Conveyed meanning:
The use has been what was as remarkable as the development.
This meaning is nonsensical, implying that the use HAS BEEN what it WAS.

GMATGuruNY wrote: A: What was as remarkable as the development has been the use.
Conveyed meanning:
The use has been what WAS as remarkable as the development.
This meaning is nonsensical, implying that the use HAS BEEN what it WAS.

@GMATGuru - Didn't get this properly...Isn't the option A implies that "What was as remarkable as the development (of X) has been the use of Y." ?

And in your earlier post in this thread,you mentioned "The use of the new technology has been (what = )THE ONE THING as remarkable as the development of disc... ". So, this rephrasing,I guess, is BIT different from what you said in BLUE in the above post ? ('WAS' is used in one rephrasing and NOT used in the other - getting lost here!)

Please clarify to help me understand!

RBBmba@2014 wrote:
And in your earlier post in this thread,you mentioned "The use of the new technology has been (what = )THE ONE THING as remarkable as the development of disc... ". So, this rephrasing,I guess, is BIT different from what you said in BLUE in the above post ? ('WAS' is used in one rephrasing and NOT used in the other - getting lost here!)

Please clarify to help me understand!

A: What was as remarkable as the development has been the use.
If we replace what with the one thing that, we get:
THE ONE THING THAT was as remarkable as the development has been the use.
Conveyed meanning:
The use has been THE ONE THING THAT was as remarkable as the development.
Here, the sequence of events is nonsensical, implying that the use HAS BEEN the one thing that WAS remarkable.

GMATGuruNY wrote: Generally, what = THE ONE THING.
The usage of what in A implies the following:
The use of the new technology has been THE ONE THING as remarkable as the development.
Since there probably have been MANY things as remarkable as the development of the compact disc, the usage of what in A does not convey the intended meaning.

(Isn't that missing in the above case in RED?)
So, even before we evaluate the above reasoning, the option A stands eliminated because of the following reason -

"The use of the new technology has been THE ONE THING that was as remarkable as the development of disc" - "the sequence of events is nonsensical". Right ? (I think, this reason is perhaps MUCH stronger to eliminate A. Thoughts ?)

RBBmba@2014 wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote: Generally, what = THE ONE THING.
The usage of what in A implies the following:
The use of the new technology has been THE ONE THING as remarkable as the development.
Since there probably have been MANY things as remarkable as the development of the compact disc, the usage of what in A does not convey the intended meaning.

(Isn't that missing in the above case in RED?)
So, even before we evaluate the above reasoning, the option A stands eliminated because of the following reason -

"The use of the new technology has been THE ONE THING that was as remarkable as the development of disc" - "the sequence of events is nonsensical". Right ? (I think, this reason is perhaps MUCH stronger to eliminate A. Thoughts ?)

Sure.
In the interest of consistency, I've edited my posts above so that, in each case, what = the one thing THAT.
Put simply, A can be eliminated because it MAKES NO SENSE.

@ Mitch,
Just want to get my understanding of tense-sequencing completely clear - 'has been' implies something that existed in past, is still present i.e an action started in the past but has existence in the present too. Right?

If so, then for the sentence "X has been THE ONE THING that was as remarkable as Y", why can't we interpret it in this way - X once existed in the past but it continues to exist in current times as well (so, "X has been THE ONE THING" - present perfect is correctly used); and X once had something comparable to Y i.e X was as remarkable as Y (in the PAST, during its beginning because part of the sentence before that through the use of 'present perfect' implies that X was there in the past).

Can you please let me know where is the issue in this interpretation ?

Look forward to your feedback. Much thanks in advance!

RBBmba@2014 wrote:@ Mitch,
Just want to get my understanding of tense-sequencing completely clear - 'has been' implies something that existed in past, is still present i.e an action started in the past but has existence in the present too. Right?

If so, then for the sentence "X has been THE ONE THING that was as remarkable as Y", why can't we interpret it in this way - X once existed in the past but it continues to exist in current times as well (so, "X has been THE ONE THING" - present perfect is correctly used); and X once had something comparable to Y i.e X was as remarkable as Y (in the PAST, during its beginning because part of the sentence before that through the use of 'present perfect' implies that X was there in the past).

Can you please let me know where is the issue in this interpretation ?

Look forward to your feedback. Much thanks in advance!

Answer choice A refers to the use as THE ONE THING THAT was as remarkable as the development.
Implication:
NOTHING ELSE was as remarkable as the development.
Hence, there is no reason to say that the use has been the one thing that was as remarkable as the development, since it is not possible that ANYTHING ELSE has been the one thing that was as remarkable as the development.

The intended meaning is straightforward:
The use of the compact has been as remarkable as the development of the compact disc.
Since A does not convey this meaning, eliminate A.

GMATGuruNY wrote: The intended meaning is as follows:
The use of the compact has been as remarkable as the development of the compact disc.
Answer choice A implies the following:
The use of the compact disc has been the one thing that was as remarkable as the development of the compact disc.
.
.
.
Since the portion in red serves only to muddy the intended meaning, eliminate A.

So, from the Grammatical aspect, PRESENT-PAST mix-up in tenses (i.e nonsensical sequence of events,as you mentioned earlier) is NOT good enough to eliminate A ? Rather, Deviation from the intended meaning "X has been as remarkable as Y" through the phrase in RED referred above, is the ONLY reason for A to be WRONG. Right ?

Hi GMATGuru - Could you please let me know your thoughts on my IMMEDIATE above post ?

Much thanks in advance.

RBBmba@2014 wrote:So, from the Grammatical aspect, PRESENT-PAST mix-up in tenses (i.e nonsensical sequence of events,as you mentioned earlier) is NOT good enough to eliminate A ? Rather, Deviation from the intended meaning "X has been as remarkable as Y" through the phrase in RED referred above, is the ONLY reason for A to be WRONG. Right ?

The following are all viable reasons to eliminate A:

1. The usage of what does not convey the intended meaning, implying that ONLY ONE THING was as remarkable as the development of the compact disc.
2. Verbs should be in the same tense unless a change in tense is required. In A, there is no justification for switching from the past tense (was) to the present perfect (has been). Since C avoids this issue and is free of errors, eliminate A.
3. The sequence of events in A makes no sense, implying that the use HAS BEEN the one thing that WAS as remarkable as the development. It would be sufficient to say that the use has been the one thing as remarkable as the development.

Of the three reasons above, reason 2 seems the most straightforward.