The direction < in which the Earth and the other solid planets spin > was determined by ...
:
the direction < dependent clause > was determined .....

So D

determined through : wrong in C

the subject is: earth and the other solid planets - mercury, venus and mars

therefore it should be spin


if you get rid of spins, then you don't need to worry about "were".

otherwise, i am not 100% sure but were/was modify spin(s). so if we choose spin, then it must be followed by was.

IMO (D)

whats the oa??

One more for D.
'was' and determined 'by' used correctly.

Gurpinder wrote:the subject is: earth and the other solid planets - mercury, venus and mars

therefore it should be spin


if you get rid of spins, then you don't need to worry about "were".

otherwise, i am not 100% sure but were/was modify spin(s). so if we choose spin, then it must be followed by was.

IMO (D)

whats the oa??

Gurpinder@

was is determined by direction.

The direction <in which X and. Y spin> was determined ..
The directions <in which X and Y spin> were determined ..

What's doing the spinning? Earth and the other solid planets
This is plural, so we'll use "spin".
This eliminates (A) and (B)

The same result could've been obtained by asking the question "what is being determined?", to which the answer would be "direction". Since "direction" is singular, we'd use "was" instead of "were", which would also eliminate (A) and (B).

I eliminated (C) because "determined through" seems idiomatically incorrect to me.
I eliminated (E), because "as a result of" is sufficient to explain how the direction was determined, so that the inclusion of "determined" is redundant.

I chose (D) because "determined by" is a common idiom per MGMAT's book on Sentence Correction (incidentally, the best book I've seen (and I've seen several) for studying Sentence Correction). I don't even work for them, either.

djegan wrote:The direction in which the Earth and the other solid planets-Mercury,Venus, and Mars-Spins were determined from collisions with giant celestial bodies in the early history of the solar system

a) Spins were determined from
b) Spins were Determined because of
c) Spin was determined through
d) Spin was determined by
e) Spin was determined as a result of

Which is the Subject in this question, is it either The direction or the Earth and the other solid planets,

if The direction(Singlular) is Subject then the verb will be Spins(Plural)

If the Earth and the other solid planets (S) is subject then the verb will be Spin(P)

On what basis either was or were are to be eliminated and choose the right one.

Kindly Explain !

OA : D

DJ

paes wrote:
Gurpinder@

was is determined by direction.

The direction <in which X and. Y spin> was determined ..
The directions <in which X and Y spin> were determined ..

you are right!

thank you!