This one is tricky, but we can get rid of a few answers by deciding if we need "lay" or "laid".

"Lay" is the past tense of "to lie" (as in "lie on the couch") whereas "laid" is the past tense of "to lay" (as in "lay the paper on the porch"). Since we're saying the originality was located in his proposal of natural selection, we need the verb that expresses location: "lay". This leaves us with A, B, and E.

B uses the awkward "fact of his proposing."

A and E seem grammatically fine, but E is much more direct, so I would go with that.

Hi Bill

There is a difference in the construction of A and E. A) puts stress on Darwin while E) puts stress on the proposal. Since first clause stresses on people and not their achievements, option A) is a better choice.

hailmanyu wrote:Hi Bill

There is a difference in the construction of A and E. A) puts stress on Darwin while E) puts stress on the proposal. Since first clause stresses on people and not their achievements, option A) is a better choice.

And you would get it wrong

Did his originality come from him proposing the idea or from his proposal itself?

Yup, that makes sense. I can see your point now.