public health

[gmat009]

Concerns about public health led to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems to serve metropolitan Boston.
A. Concerns about public health led to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems to serve
B. Concerns about public health have led to the construction of three separate sewer systems between 1876 and 1904 to serve
C. Concerns about public health have led between 1876 and 1904 to the construction of three separate sewer systems for serving
D. There were concerns about public health leading to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems serving
E. There were concerns leading between 1876 and 1904 to the construction of three separate sewer systems for serving

OA is A, IMO B
Plz. explain

[pandeyvineet24]

Concerns about public health led to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer ... does not look correct...

But "Have led" in B makes it present perfect..whereas we are talking about past tense.

any explanations for the OA ?

[stop@800]

we do not need present perfect tense as the action is still not continuing.

Remember,
Present perfect is used for action that started in the past and is still continuing.

I have been living here since 1940.

[pandeyvineet24]

Yep, i agree with you Stop thats why i did not pick B.

Do you think A is worded properly ?

[rohangupta83]

I'd pick 'A'. It uses the correct tense although it is worded awkwardly but grammatically its not incorrect.

[stop@800]

Yep, i agree with you Stop thats why i did not pick B.

Do you think A is worded properly ?

Do you see any gap??

[sogmat]

isnt "to serve" used wrongly in A
i think the correct answer should use "for serving" as it follows a noun
if it followed a verb that "to serve" would be correct

please comment

[kartyc]

"led to the construction between 1876 and 1904" seems more like it is refering to some contruction between the dates and not the sewers( which is incorrect). I think its a modifier thats been wrongly placed there.
in B , its true about the "have led" part being wrong, it should have been "had led"
whats the source? any explanation given for the OA?

cheers,
kartik

[amitabhprasad]

As STOP correctly pointed out we don't need perfect tense.
No the question regarding "to serve" or 'for serving"
We use infinitives to show the intention and "gerund" to show result.
Look at this example
Investors sold stock, causing panic
and
Investor sold stock, to cause panic

Both above sentences are grammatically correct, but conveys two different meaning. 1st one shows the result of the action while 2nd shows intention.
Similarly in above "lead to construction" was the intention, we don't know the result of the action, hence "to serve" is correct.
Hope this helps. Please let me know if I missed any thing.

[umaa]

"construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems"
Isn't this awkward?