The shipbuilding industry in eighteenth-century England created a need

Sorry guys, but in OQ it is which not that. Can you please explain?

Choice B : ‘Which or that’ does not matter. Both will be flouting the touch rule, but more importantly, the choice is unnecessarily shifting to a present tense in the sub - clause from the past tense of the main verb. This is not acceptable.

In option B, the error is in tense. The sentence starts with something in past, so there should be WERE instead of ARE. And E is simple and straight-forward. Hence correct.

[quote="rohitgarg"]The shipbuilding industry in eighteenth-century England created a need that pine and flax from Russia be made into masts and sails.

(A) that pine and flax from Russia be made into masts and sails
(B) for pine and flax from Russia, which are made into masts and sails
(C) that there be a production of masts and sails out of pine and flax from Russia
(D) that masts and sails are made out of pine and flax from Russia
(E) for pine and flax from Russia to be made into masts and sails

Why Not D? Experts...

E seems to imply that "all" pine and flax in russia must be converted to masts and sails... absurd.
D correctly implies that masts and sails be made out of pine and flax..
May be I tend to over-think (and end up scoring below 30 in tests )

Hi Sagar,

E does imply that "all" pine an flax from Russia, but it does no imply "all" pine and flax in Russia. Well, it could be that England is importing pine and flax from Russia and they want that all should be converted to masts and sails; the logic is correct.

You are right that D implies that masts and sails be made out of pine and flax. But, the "need" is not that they are made out of pine and flax from Russia but that the pine and flax that they receive from Russia should be made into masts and sails.

I Hope it clears your doubt,

Vercules

Daagh, In my opinion, there's no problem with tense in choice B.

(B) for pine and flax from Russia, which are made into masts and sails

Although this happened in the past, "Which are made into masts and sails" states a general truth. Pine and flax are made into sails. This is much in the sense of, "Scientist Z discovered in 1888 that blood circulates in the body." not, "Scientist Z discovered in 1888 that blood circulated in the body." Blood still circulates to this day, and general truths use present tense.

tense does change in option B. from 18th century we should not jump into present fact "are"
also, choice B changes meaning of sentence. x and y from russia, which..... means only x and y from russia which are used to make....
but intended meaning is x and y received from russia to be used to make ......
there is indeed a shift in meaning between 2 choices

lastly, in gmat, we need to choose the best of all not ideal answers.
E clears out the tense and meaning issues both.
A is out for use of "that" instead of "for"

Today no one is making sails out of flax and pine. Polythene or polyester materials such as Nylon, Kevlar and Mylar (ignore these tech. names) are the standard materials these days for sail making. So, flax and pine are things of the past and relevant to only past tense verb

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

The beginnings of the answer choices tip you off to the fact that you need to decide whether the correct idiom is created a need that or created a need for. The second is the correct option, so you can eliminate (A), (C), and (D). Of the remaining options, (B) is incorrect because it wrongly subordinates that are made into masts and sails. The subordination changes the meaning of the original sentence. While the sentence originally emphasizes the need for masts and sails, option (B) emphasizes the fact that pine and flax were needed from Russia; the purpose of the pine and flax becomes less important. (E) it is.

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