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work of mathematician - 1000SC

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work of mathematician - 1000SC

by mehravikas » Mon Nov 23, 2009 12:53 pm
The work of mathematician Roger Penrose in the early 1970s, on the geometry of what are called aperiodic tiles, turned out to describe the architecture of a previously unknown class of crystals.

(A) what are called aperiodic tiles, turned out to describe
(B) what is called aperiodic tiles, describes
(C) aperiodic tiles, describing
(D) so-called aperiodic tiles, describe
(E) aperiodic tiles, it turned out to describe

OA: A
Doubt: [spoiler]The subject is "work" therefore I thought it should use "describes".[/spoiler]

It has been discussed before on this forum but I am not convinced with the reason to eliminate B
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by sunnyjohn » Mon Nov 23, 2009 6:19 pm
I choose A, i was stuck with A and B.

the reason i eliminated B : what IS called aperiodic tileS?
I though "what ARE called aperiodic tileS?" --> gives a better S-V agreement.

in A, I think it is ok...to write..

The work(Subject) of mathematician Roger Penrose in the early 1970s, ..., turned out to describe mathematician Roger Penrose in the early 1970s.

Another reason: Meaning - the work was not intentionally meant to describe the architecture. It happened to describe.
So, B changes the meaning by saying that Work was actually meant to describe the architecture.

thanks
sunny
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by mehravikas » Mon Nov 23, 2009 6:36 pm
IMO -

1. The work....turned out to describe
2. The work....describes

Both are correct. I picked B because it was more concise and I thought "is" refers to the work. But I was wrong. "What are" seems to be the correct usage.

However I think that both the forms (1 and 2) are correct in terms of describing the work. Gramatically I don't see a problem in them.

sunnyjohn wrote:I choose A, i was stuck with A and B.

the reason i eliminated B : what IS called aperiodic tileS?
I though "what ARE called aperiodic tileS?" --> gives a better S-V agreement.

in A, I think it is ok...to write..

The work(Subject) of mathematician Roger Penrose in the early 1970s, ..., turned out to describe mathematician Roger Penrose in the early 1970s.

Another reason: Meaning - the work was not intentionally meant to describe the architecture. It happened to describe.
So, B changes the meaning by saying that Work was actually meant to describe the architecture.

thanks
sunny
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by sunnyjohn » Mon Nov 23, 2009 6:58 pm
IMO -

1. The work....turned out to describe
2. The work....describes

Both are correct. I picked B because it was more concise and I thought "is" refers to the work. But I was wrong. "What are" seems to be the correct usage.

However I think that both the forms (1 and 2) are correct in terms of describing the work. Gramatically I don't see a problem in them.

I agree that both are grammatical correct, but if you see his original work was on 'aperiodic tiles' which happened to describe the architecture of crystal.
the work on aperiodic tiles turned out to describe the architecture of crystals.
the work on aperiodic tiles describes the architecture of crystals.


I hope some expect will clarify this more clearly, whether there is any difference in meaning?
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by tanviet » Tue Nov 24, 2009 2:50 am
check grammar, c, d and e are out

when any 2 choices are grammatical, keep the original meaning. A is left.
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