Sentence Correction

In 1995 Richard Stallman, a well-known critic of the patent system, testified in Patent Office hearings that, to test the system, a colleague of his had managed to win a patent for one of Kirchhoff's laws, an observation about electric current first made in 1845 and now included in virtually every textbook of elementary physics.
(A) laws, an observation about electric current first made in 1845 and
(B) laws, which was an observation about electric current first made in 1845 and it is
(C) laws, namely, it was an observation about electric current first made in 1845 and
(D) laws, an observation about electric current first made in 1845, it is
(E) laws that was an observation about electric current, first made in 1845, and is



Hi, can someone tell me why E is wrong? Thanks very much!
OA is A

Problems with E.


laws that was an observation about electric current, first made in 1845, and is


1. Here 'that' seems to describe laws, whereas we have to describe just one of the law.

2. There is a missing subject for the verb 'is' after AND.

Hope it helps.

bubbliiiiiiii wrote:Problems with E.


laws that was an observation about electric current, first made in 1845, and is


1. Here 'that' seems to describe laws, whereas we have to describe just one of the law.

2. There is a missing subject for the verb 'is' after AND.

Hope it helps.

Hi,bubbliiiiiiii

Thanks very much for your reply, but I think "that" here is OK. I have seen so many sentense consisting this structure. A of B + that clause..

Moreover, the subject of "is" is "one of the Kirchhoff's laws", which is refered by "that". So I think something else is wrong in E..

(E) laws that was an observation about electric current, first made in 1845, and is

I feel this has the parallelism error.
If we try to get - X, and Y - parallel structure, we need to make sure X and Y are parallel.

THAT was ....., and IS

I feel it should be: laws THAT was an observation..... and THAT is now included..
So that we get clause on both the side of the and.

first made in 1845 seems to modify current whereas the date is additional information regarding the law