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Railroads

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by nervesofsteel » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:02 pm
1. The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.
(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which differed
(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed
(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing


OA E

IMO D
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Re: Railroads

by riteshbindal » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:08 pm
nervesofsteel wrote:1. The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.
(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which differed
(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed
(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing


OA E

IMO D
Are you sure about the answer? I thought the answer to be B. "Which" is correctly referring to the noun just before it (time) in B. If you remove "which" then the phrase after comma modifies "the growth" and that is not correct.
Can anyone please explain?
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by Mayur Sand » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:29 pm
IMO B is incorrect as subject is "Local times" (plural), we need to use were instead of was. Using parallelism i too landed on D . Plz help with E
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by vikram_k51 » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:02 pm
Will go with D.
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by mehravikas » Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:01 pm
growth should refer to which
Mayur Sand wrote:IMO B is incorrect as subject is "Local times" (plural), we need to use were instead of was. Using parallelism i too landed on D . Plz help with E
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Re: Railroads

by madhur_ahuja » Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:24 pm
nervesofsteel wrote:1. The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.
(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which differed
(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed
(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing


OA E

IMO D
This is a peculiar question. Its parallelism concept has been very nicely explained by Erin here:
https://www.urch.com/forums/faqs/700-gma ... l#post1544
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by capnx » Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:56 pm
here is a good explanation by Erin (lol, madhur_ahuja beat me to it):
https://www.urch.com/forums/faqs/700-gma ... l#post1715

basically, from what I can understand, 2 rules apply here: 1: using participal phrases can be parallel regardless whether you use past or present participals; 2: past participal indicates a passive relationship between the noun/subject and the phrase/action, present participal indicates an active relationship.

so back to the question, local times, "determined by...then sun" <--- passive relation
and local times "differing from city to city" <--- active relation. The hard part is reading the word "differ" as a participal rather than as a real verb.

an example helps:
The piano, differing from other instruments, is one of the most expensive.
The piano, differed from other instruments, is one of the most expensive.
Which one "sounds" better? the active voice.

The local times, differing from city to city, was abolished.
The local times, differed from city to city, was abolished.

Note the tense of the main clause (was) doesn't matter; it's the active-passive voice that matters.
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by nervesofsteel » Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:13 am
Thanks guys... It was really helpful
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