FINALCOUNTDOWN wrote:The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.

(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which differed
(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed
(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
OA-E
Why C is not the correct answer. How C and E convey different meaning, also why differing inplace of differed is used.

Tough one indeed.


The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.

The growth of A led to X (abolition of local times)..modifier1 and modifier2 .... and to.. Y (the establishment of regional times.)

X and Y should be parallel and Modifier 1 and Modifier 2 should be parallel.


(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing - Local times is plural, we should use were, eliminate
(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which differed Local times is plural, we should use were, eliminate
(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing - which were determined is not parallel to differing, hence Modifier 1 and Modifier 2 are not parallel . eliminate
(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed
(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing


Now we are left with D and E, and this is a really tough choice to make. Consider the two option. Plug it in the simplified original sentence.

The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, differing from city to city or differed from city to city

Clearly, we should use differing. It is important to remember that a past participle can be in parallel with a present participle.

But this is definitely a 730+ level question, if i get this wrong i would not worry about it too much.

not clear...

difference is very subtle....

wud like to hear more comment about why D is not correct.......!

Search the same on manhattan forum. Ron explained it very well

Just trying to see whether I am able to recollect the guidelines and resist refering to the Manuals or internet. This is a personal exercise and others may emulate under supervision

which is a relative pronoun joining the Main clause to the subordinate clause . 'which' should starts with a comma and indicates a beginning of a non essential clause. The clause is not absolutely vital to the understaanding of the sentence. Here the info is essential.Option A B C may be overlooked.
D and E dead end. I could have wrongly choosen D.

Ideally "which" should come.

Reason

1. "which" is always used for introducing a "non essential phrase". (See manhattan gmat)
2. if the phrase in between wouldnt have been thr then it would have been..

The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times and to the establishment of regional times. (Removing the phrase in between doesnt change the meaning at all)

This phrase is actually explaining local times- , which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing from city to city,

But again even I dont get the logic of using "differing"