Please explain your reasoning? Thanks.

lay in the fact that .....(doesnt really sound that good...and i dont remember seeing choices that include "in the fact that" being right many times...)

i dont think originality lay in the fact that he did something...but rather in darwin's proposal...going with E...

I'm really confused; as per my understanding of the construction of the sentence after "tremendous originality" there should be a verb!
What is the source of this question?

I definitely go with E

C D – laid is incorrect here – lie lay lain; not lay laid laid
A B – in the fact that … is awkward; E is more concise

1000SC : OA is E

Is "lay" correct here because the sentence need to be in past tense? I understand we should choose lie over lay here so "laid" will never be correct anyway.

Hey All,

Tough question here, and it seems that people got more and more confused as they moved forward. A couple quick things. If you're posting on here, it's really helpful to include the underlined portion in the question stem. Otherwise, it's very difficult to look at the question. Secondly, I'd exhort you all to make an effort to fit problem answer choices into patterns/categories (MGMAT has some, but so does every other test prep company and resource). Okay. Let's take this baby apart!


233. Darwin was not the first to advance a theory of evolution; his tremendous originality lay in the fact that he proposed the idea of natural selection as the means by which evolution worked.

First off, remember that semicolons function in pretty much the same way as periods. We can ignore the first independent clause here and just focus on the second.

(A) lay in the fact that he proposed the idea
PROBLEM: First of all, it's hideous. But now think about the meaning. Did Darwin's originality lay in "the fact that he proposed the idea"? No. It lay in the proposal itself.

(B) lay in the fact of his proposing the idea
PROBLEM: IDIOM with fact. You have to say "The fact that burgers are delicious is immaterial", not "The fact of burgers being delicious is immaterial".

(C) laid in the fact of his proposing the idea
PROBLEM: "Laid" is the past tense of the verb "to lay" (As in "After we lay it down on the table, we'll have to give it a back massage."). "Lay" is the past tense of the verb "to lie" (As in "The truth lies elsewhere today."). This sentence involves the latter (purely based on the definitions of the two words, which ARE different), so we simply use "lay" as the past tense. Annoying, right? Also, this answer choice has the same issues as B.

(D) laid in his proposal
PROBLEM: See C.

(E) lay in his proposal
ANSWER: I think people dislike this because they aren't used to the idiom "proposal of". But it's correct. Sigh. On the plus side, even though I exhort my students not to go with concision unless ALL else fails, concision will lead you to this answer choice (as long as you recognize the difference between "lay" and "laid").

Hope that helps!

-t
_________________

Tommy Wallach | Manhattan GMAT Instructor | San Francisco

Manhattan GMAT Discount | Manhattan GMAT Reviews

Answer is A:
lay in the fact that he proposed is better than lay in the fact of his proposing.

It helped indeed!
Thanks for participating in this forum. You really help us understand the problems in a clear way.

Hi Guys,

A quick note on transitive and intransitive verbs, as these are tested in the SC!

Transitive= the verb takes an object
Ex. The farmer grows trees.

Intransitive= the verb does not take an object.
Ex. The trees grow.

Thus 'grow' can be a transitive OR an intransitive verb.

However, some verbs are only intransitive or only transitive. Most important are lay/lie and raise/rise:

lay (transitive)
The students (subject) lay (verb) the pencils (object) on the desk.
V1: lay-- the students lay the pencils...
V2 (past simple): laid-- the students laid the pencils...
V3: laid-- the students have laid the pencils....

lie (intransitive)
The men lie in bed. (No object)
V1: lie-- The men lie in bed.
V2 (past simple): lay-- The men lay in bed. (That's right, the V2 of 'lie' = V1 of 'lay'!)
V3: lain-- The men have lain in bed.

raise (transitive)
The students raise their hands.
V1: raise-- The students raise their hands.
V2 (past simple): raised-- The students raised their hands.
V3: raised-- The students have raised their hands.

rise (intransitive)
Inflation rates rise. (No object)
V1: rise-- Inflation rates rise.
V2 (past simple): rose-- Inflation rates rose.
V3: risen-- inflation rates have risen.

If that's confusing to anyone, let me know.

Best,
Sarai
_________________

Sarai
GMAT Verbal Instructor at GMAX
Visit me at www.theverbalcorner.com

If this helped, kindly give Kudos!

Sarai,

Isn't bed the object in the following example you mentioned?

The men lie in bed. (No object)

When you said, intransitive verbs don't take objects, you probable meant that one can't use intransitive verbs like
'raise', 'lie', etc in sentences written in passive voice.

For example,

active: The men(subject) lie(verb) in bed(object).
passive: The bed (was/were/is) lie by the men --> Incorrect, because intransitive verb 'lie' can't take object 'bed'


Another example, using intransitive verb 'arrived'

active: Bob(S) arrived(V) on the platform(O).
passive: Platform(O) was arrived(V) by Bob(S) --> Incorrect

Thanks