70. 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

Thanks!

B is wrong because of subject verb agreement error. was doesnt agree with local times.

D is the correct modifier for local times and parallel.

I think E.

ABC are out because the phrase modifies times, not the abolition of times.

D, differed seems wrong because it implies that the differing no longer happens for whatever reason, but we know this isn't true.

Yes E isn't parallel but it's the most logical internally.

but it IS true! it's talking about local times and how they differed from city to city. The first part of the sentence tells us that local times were abolished, so they no longer exist, so they can't currently do anything. How can two things that no longer exist still differ? they had to have differed in the past when they were used

I agree. I think "from city to city" was accidentally underlined. I just assumed this when making my decision.

70. 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

I thought it was C, but then I saw D/E, and it's E.

Compare:

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

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

Here's the trick:

Look at D. break it up:

The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian

& the 2nd part after the AND:

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

or, as in E,

The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times



Clear E. This is a hard one. Look up the fungus SC question to understand this one better.

I thought Paul would have solved this question for us.

However, I will explain this to the best of my ability.

When we have a noun + of + object construction, WHICH refers to the NOUN, not the object. Reading the original question, you can see that the middle clause refers to "local times." As such, you cannot use which to subordinate the sentence.

Now we are left with D & E. As Erin on TestMagic said, there is a clear difference between differed and differing.

Differed = PASSIVE voice / action is being done on the subject
Differing = ACTIVE / subject performs the action

"determined by when..." is a participial phrase modifying the object of the preposition. Therefore, we see that the "subject" is TIMES. TIMES is being acted upon by the sun. Therefore DIFFERED.

TIME is differing from city to city. It is "performing the action." Therefore, we use ACTIVE voice.

Therefore, the answer is E.

I vote for D.

need were for correct tense. C looked promising b/c it uses were, but "differing" is not parrallel.

In E determined can modify many things...so for me there is ambiguity.
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Here's the key: 'Determined' isn't a verb here. It's a PARTICIPLE: a verb form that functions as an adjective.
The local times were WEIRD (adjective).
The local times were DETERMINED (participle acting as adjective) by ...

So you need to pick the second half that's also 'participle acting as adjective'. Try them both:
D) The local times were DIFFERED: uh oh, that doesn't work.
E) The local times were DIFFERING from city to city. That works. It's a 'present participle' rather than a 'past participle', but it's the only one of the two that's a participle at all.