help australia.......

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help australia.......

by nitin360 » Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:14 pm
too confusing ...... please do help

415. In the minds of many people living in England, before Australia was Australia, it was the antipodes, the opposite pole to civilization, an obscure and unimaginable place that was considered the end of the world.
(A) before Australia was Australia, it was the antipodes
(B) before there was Australia, it was the antipodes
(C) it was the antipodes that was Australia
(D) Australia was what was the antipodes
(E) Australia was what had been known as the antipodes
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by 4seasoncentre » Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:57 pm
tough one.


My guess is E

Right now there are 4 commas in the sentence so it really doesn't read well. So A is grammatically ok, but I want to eliminate it to improve clarity. B also has a comma in it.

C is just awkward and changes the intended meaning.
D is awkward.

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by Sher1 » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:57 pm
I think its A

.
(A) before Australia was Australia, it was the antipodes
(B) before there was Australia, it was the antipodes
there was Australia implies it never existed before, it's only the name
(C) it was the antipodes that was Australia
unidiomatic
(D) Australia was what was the antipodes
confusing tenses as both in the past
(E) Australia was what had been known as the antipodes
it isnt australia but australia's name that was known as antipodes

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by nervesofsteel » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:08 am
D for me..

just because D is short and precise...

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by anshulseth » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:40 am
I think it is B.
Before the place Australia was discovered, antipodes was considered the end of the world, and B captures it properly.

Also, it doesn't mean that what is Australia was knows as antipodes then.

OA plz
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by gmat740 » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:40 am
A) before Australia was Australia, it was the antipodes
redundant
(B) before there was Australia, it was the antipodes
changes the meaning

Awkward& poor structure

C
) it was the antipodes that was Australia
IT has no clear antecedent
D) Australia was what was the antipodes
Awkward


E is the answer

Hope this is clear

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by snsubbu » Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:37 am
I will go with A

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by mike22629 » Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:02 am
I think A, whats the answer

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by Kunal_gmat » Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:40 am
OA is here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/1000-sc-415-t5705.html

But even I had picked (E) before reading the explanation.

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by franciskyle » Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:29 pm
I read the explanations in the above link, but am still confused as to why the answer is not E.

The explanation states:
E: Had been. See, use had/had been when you actually need it.
This is not making sense. What does this explanation mean?

Thanks!
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by raunekk » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:29 pm
A for me...

"before Australia was Australia" is not wrong... try googling the same...

moreover the idiom...

"It was X that was considered Y"


i hope its clear!!