paes wrote:Attempting to explore the limits of nature before the modern scientific method was established, alchemists relied on all of the following, hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions and magic when trying to transform metals into gold.

A. Attempting to explore the limits of nature before the modern scientific method was established, alchemists relied on all of the following, hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions and magic

=> After the word following, I think, colon should have been used.

B. Attempting to explore the limits of nature prior to the modern scientific method being established, alchemists relied on both hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions, magic

=> "Alchemist relied on X, Y, Z, and M" should have been the structure. But the final and is missing. Besides, the use of being is not correct.

C. Because alchemists had wanted to explore the limits of nature before the development of the modern scientific method, they had to rely on hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions, magic

=> Unnecessary use of past perfect.

D. When attempting to explore the limits of nature before the modern scientific method had been established, alchemists must rely on hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions and magic

=> Unnecessary use of passive.

E. Because the modern scientific method had not yet been developed, alchemists interested in exploring the limits of nature relied on hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions and magic

=> Correct, though comma before and is missing.

OA after some discussion

gmat_perfect wrote:

paes wrote:Attempting to explore the limits of nature before the modern scientific method was established, alchemists relied on all of the following, hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions and magic when trying to transform metals into gold.

A. Attempting to explore the limits of nature before the modern scientific method was established, alchemists relied on all of the following, hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions and magic

=> After the word following, I think, colon should have been used.

B. Attempting to explore the limits of nature prior to the modern scientific method being established, alchemists relied on both hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions, magic

=> "Alchemist relied on X, Y, Z, and M" should have been the structure. But the final and is missing. Besides, the use of being is not correct.

Y colon should be their after " Following". IMO A Perfect tense in E is ambiguous. Plz correct. OA plz.


C. Because alchemists had wanted to explore the limits of nature before the development of the modern scientific method, they had to rely on hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions, magic

=> Unnecessary use of past perfect.

D. When attempting to explore the limits of nature before the modern scientific method had been established, alchemists must rely on hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions and magic

=> Unnecessary use of passive.

E. Because the modern scientific method had not yet been developed, alchemists interested in exploring the limits of nature relied on hearsay, mysticism, cultural traditions and magic

=> Correct, though comma before and is missing.

OA after some discussion