daretodream wrote:Darwin was not the first to advance a theory of evolution; his tremendous originality lay in the fact that he proposed the idea of natural selection as the means by which evolution worked.

A. lay in the fact that he proposed the idea
B. lay in the fact of his proposing the idea
C. laid in the fact of his proposing the idea
D. laid in his proposal
E. lay in his proposal

I guess it should be lay since we are speaking in general terms and not stating that "originality did the work of laying something in the past".

I am not sure though .
Can you post the OA??

You can not propose Fact....therefore, A, B and C out. E is out because of simple present tense. IMO D is correct

daretodream wrote:Darwin was not the first to advance a theory of evolution; his tremendous originality lay in the fact that he proposed the idea of natural selection as the means by which evolution worked.

A. lay in the fact that he proposed the idea
B. lay in the fact of his proposing the idea
C. laid in the fact of his proposing the idea
D. laid in his proposal
E. lay in his proposal

daretodream wrote:Darwin was not the first to advance a theory of evolution; his tremendous originality lay in the fact that he proposed the idea of natural selection as the means by which evolution worked.

A. lay in the fact that he proposed the idea
B. lay in the fact of his proposing the idea
C. laid in the fact of his proposing the idea
D. laid in his proposal
E. lay in his proposal

a,B and C out for wordiness

now D and E is a thing which need concept

first the part in his proposal contains an indirect object; saying that laid is a pst tense of lay which a transitive verb which req a direct obj , which is not the case here

however lay in E is psat tense of lie an intansitive verb which req an indirect obj which is exzctly the case here

some complex grammer
so E