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locomotive-driven passenger trains

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by sumanr84 » Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:39 am
Long-distance travel for humans primarily relied on animal power until 1829, when the steam locomotive was invented by Richard Trevithick, who had found a way to provide sufficient traction for movement and led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains .

a. who had found a way to provide sufficient traction for movement and led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains
b. who found a way to provide sufficient traction for movement and led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains
c. who, after finding a way to provide sufficient traction for movement, led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains
d. whose discovery of a way to provide sufficient traction for movement led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains
e. who had led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains by providing sufficient traction for movement

[spoiler]Source : Kaplan Test 1, OA later[/spoiler]
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by albatross86 » Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:54 am
A. ... who had found a way - first problem, past perfect is incorrect here. We have past tense in non-underlined portion, and then an action AFTER that past tense. Past perfect denotes action BEFORE a past tense.
...and led... sounds like Richard Trevethick led to the building, when in fact it is his finding that led to this. Meaning is awkward.

B. Same problem of "and led"

C. Again, he didn't lead to the building!

D. Bingo. , his discovery of a way to provide traction led to the building of trains.

E. He didn't lead to it, his finding did.

Pick D.

This is based on altered intent.
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by viju9162 » Sun Jun 27, 2010 3:37 am
amazing explanation albatross86. Lot to learn from you :).

Regards,
Viju
"Native of" is used for a individual while "Native to" is used for a large group
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by gmatmachoman » Sun Jun 27, 2010 4:49 am
viju9162 wrote:amazing explanation albatross86. Lot to learn from you :).

Regards,
Viju
Yeah Viju bhai,

I should say albatross is doing damn good!!

Cheers Albatross!!
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by albatross86 » Sun Jun 27, 2010 4:54 am
Thanks guys for your support, I am really enjoying sharing what I know and learning from you guys too :)
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by akhpad » Sun Jun 27, 2010 5:52 am
Apart from past perfect tense issue, I have found a conman mistake in all option except D.

"who led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains" => This is incorrect.

whose discovery of X led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains. I also believe that this is correct.
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by sumanr84 » Sun Jun 27, 2010 8:24 am
Well done akhp, albatross86 !!

[spoiler]OA : D
OE :Although Trevithick had made his discovery before the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains (hence the past perfect " had found " ) Trevithick himself did not lead to the building of the trains. His discovery did. Only (D) indicates that the discovery led to the building... Because (D) changes the verb " had found " to the noun " discovery, " the past perfect is no longer necessary, as the only verb in this clause, " led " , refers to an action that occurred after the discovery. Therefore " led " is properly in the simple past tense.

Choice (A) incorrectly makes Trevithick the subject of " led " .

Choice (B) changes " had found " to " found " which no longer indicates the order of events, and doesn't address the problem of subject in (A). [/spoiler]
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