devikeerthan wrote:He earned these titles following 15 consecutive solo hit films in the 1970s, that remained unbroken.
A that remained
B that remains
C a record that remained
D that has remained
E a record that remains
E
On the GMAT, when we want to refer to a phrase, or a bunch of words, earlier in the sentence, in most cases, a simple
pronoun or a
relative modifier such as '
that', '
which', '
where', '
whose' etc.
generally doesn't suffice. Such pronouns or relative modifiers should generally refer to the
immediately preceding noun. At least, whenever there is a split among the options in terms of a modifying/descriptory phrase in such a way that a few modifying phrases begin with a
generic noun, either singular or plural - for example, '
a situation', '
a phenomenon', '
an event', '
a principle', '
findings', etc. - and the others begin with a
pronoun, and we want to refer to some noun (or phrase)
not immediately before the comma, our initial scanning should be restricted to the options that begin with a noun.
Let us apply this idea to the above question - in this case, we want to refer to the noun phrase '15 consecutive solo hit films' rather than 'the 1970s'. Therefore, as discussed above, a simple
pronoun - '
that' - is incorrect.
Eliminate A, B, and D.
Between C and E, if we were to use the past tense 'remained' - as is the case in Option C - then we
need to specify a time-period till which the record remained unbroken. For example, the following construction would have been perfectly valid and logical:
a record that remained unbroken till the 1980s (or the 90s or the 2000s)
Since we don't have a time-period mentioned in the sentence till which the record remained unbroken, the only logical meaning of the sentence must be that the record is
still unbroken.
Eliminate C.
Hence,
E is the correct answer.
Please let me know in case anything doesn't make sense.
