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Around the World in 80 Questions (Day 6): Shakespeares Hamlet was

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missionmba2025

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24 Jul 2023, 09:41

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Bunuel

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The verb should be in present tense as the sentence is about a fact.

(A) lay in the fact that he integrated these

originality cannot lay in the fact. The sentence gives an illogical meaning that the originality was placed in something. Eliminate.

(B) lay in the fact of his integrating these

originality cannot lay in the fact. The sentence must use that. The sentence gives an illogical meaning that the originality was placed in something. Eliminate.

(C) laid in the fact of his integrating these

Verb should be present tense.

(D) lay in his integration of these

Correct.

(E) laid in his integration of these

Verb should be present tense.

IMO D

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24 Jul 2023, 09:47

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My Answer: A

Option A: This seems correct. Meaning makes sense and no unidiomatic construction.
Option B: fact of his is grammatically incorrect.
Option C: laid is idiomatically incorrect.
Option D: lay in his integration leads to illogical meaning that his originality physically lay in the personifications.
Option E: Same as C.

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24 Jul 2023, 09:54

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Noticing that the subject of the second sentence is "Shakespeare’s originality", the verb must be in singular form if it were in present tense
-> We can eliminate options A, B, and D for this error
With C and E left, we see that option C uses "the fact of his integrating" which is incorrect and confusing. "the fact of" is unidiomatic and "integrating" (V.ing) used as a noun is problematic.
E. Correct. No grammatical error and clear meaning with no confusion.

Answer E

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answer is E.

option B and C use "his integrating". substituting the pronoun gives "Shakespeare's integrating" which sure is an awarkward way to construct the sentence. so, we eliminate B and C

option A and D use ".. lay in the fact.." but the first half of the sentence is in past tense. The tense is not maintained and we have an option E which takes care of both tense and meaning in a better way. So we eliminate A and D. and we go with E

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24 Jul 2023, 10:00

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Bunuel

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The correct answer should be D.

(A) lay in the fact that he integrated these

he has no clear antecedent. We cannot use 'he' with Shakespeare’s ...

(B) lay in the fact of his integrating these

'lay in the fact of his integrating' seems unnecessarily wordy and awkward. D is the better and more concise option.

(C) laid in the fact of his integrating these

'laid' is not the correct word to use with 'originality'

(D) lay in his integration of these

concise and free of any mistakes

(E) laid in his integration of these

same mistake as in C

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24 Jul 2023, 10:28

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Bunuel

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In the Second independent clause we are talking about Shakespeare, which is a fact, hence use of simple present lay

a. Wrong use of past tense to describe a fact
b. Wrong awkward and wordy
c. Wrong use of simple past laid
d. correct.
e. Wrong use of past tense laid

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24 Jul 2023, 10:30

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Quote:

The first split is lay vs. laid. Laid is a past form of lay, which means "to place (something or someone) down in a flat position." Whereas lay is a past form of lie, which means "to be in a flat position on a surface.". Lie is also used metaphorically. Lay is transitive; it requires that the verb have an object; there has to be a thing or person being placed: Lay it down. Lie, on the other hand, is intransitive. It's for something or someone moving on their own or something that's already in position: You can lie down there. You can lie there all day. In the given sentence, lay is the past form of lie. Hence, options C and E are

Quote:

(A) lay in the fact that he integrated these

CORRECT

Quote:

(B) lay in the fact of his integrating these

INCORRECT
"his integratting these" is wrong. [preposition]+[noun/pronoun]+[Participle]: Too much action in this construction, t requires full that clause.

Quote:

(D) lay in his integration of these

changed meaning. This option means Shakespeare's integration. INCORRECT

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Shakespeare’s Hamlet was based on a style of morality plays, wherein personifications of vice and virtue fight over a man’s soul; Shakespeare’s originality lay in the fact that he integrated these personifications into the internal psyche of the protagonist.

Since the passage mentions that 'Hamlet was based' we know that the passage is in past tense .
Between lay and laid , lay will be preferred. 'Laid' is the past tense of 'lay' which requires an object and since the sentence doesn't specify any object, usage of 'laid' is incorrect .

(A) lay in the fact that he integrated these
Incorrect. Although this choice is similar to choice D , this choice might suggest that the originality lay in some factuality while the choice D suggests that the originality lay in the process itself. Thats why D gets an edge over A.

(B) lay in the fact of his integrating these
Incorrect. This construction of the sentence is incorrect because of the usage of 'fact of his integrating' which suggests that there is fact of some subject but that fact isn't mentioned and also the subject is not clear.

(C) laid in the fact of his integrating these
Incorrect. Usage of laid is wrong.

(D) lay in his integration of these
Correct - This choice properly maintains the meaning by stating that the originality lay in something. That something being - Shakespeare's integration of personifications - which acts as a noun phrase.

(E) laid in his integration of these
Incorrect. Usage of laid is wrong.

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24 Jul 2023, 10:43

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A) lay in the fact that he integrated these

Correct with usage of lay and tense of integrated

(B) lay in the fact of his integrating these
Incorrect use of his integrating these

(C) laid in the fact of his integrating these

Incorrect laid

(D) lay in his integration of these

Incorrect not lay in integration of

(E) laid in his integration of these

Incorrect laid

Posted from my mobile device

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24 Jul 2023, 10:46

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24 Jul 2023, 10:47

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We need past tense "laid"

ABD gone

b/w B&E

B) fact of his integrating : unnecessarily word not a good construction
E) elegant and sleek

E is the right choice

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A is the answer.

lay should be used instead of laid since it's a fact.

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24 Jul 2023, 11:14

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Bunuel

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(A) lay in the fact that he integrated these - 'he' is wrong here because there is no antecedent for he in the whole sentence
(B) lay in the fact of his integrating these - SVA mismatch as well as 'in the fact' is not a acceptable construction on GMAT. Also, of his integrating these is awkward and badly worded
(C) laid in the fact of his integrating these - Same as option B
(D) lay in his integration of these - Wrong tense 'lay'
(E) laid in his integration of these - CORRECT

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Shakespeare’s Hamlet was based on a style of morality plays, wherein personifications of vice and virtue fight over a man’s soul; Shakespeare’s originality lay in the fact that he integrated these personifications into the internal psyche of the protagonist.

(A) lay in the fact that he integrated these
incorrect - Shakespeare's originality didn't lay in the fact but Shakespeare's originality lay in his integration of these personifications.
(B) lay in the fact of his integrating these
incorrect - Similar reasons as in A. In addition, this option is unnecessarily wordy. The phrase "the fact of his integrating these" could be more succinctly expressed as "that he integrated these" without changing the meaning.
(C) laid in the fact of his integrating these
Incorrect - This option has a tense issue. The past tense "laid" does not match the present tense "Shakespeare's originality." Additionally, it suffers from the same wordiness as option (B).
(D) lay in his integration of these
Correct - The present tense "lay" matches the present tense "Shakespeare's originality. It correctly conveys the intended meaning that Shakespeare's originality lay in his integration of these personifications.
(E) laid in his integration of these
The past tense "laid" does not match the present tense "Shakespeare's originality."
Answer D

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24 Jul 2023, 11:49

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Shakespeare’s Hamlet was based on a style of morality plays, wherein personifications of vice and virtue fight over a man’s soul; Shakespeare’s originality lay in the fact that he integrated these personifications into the internal psyche of the protagonist.

(A) lay in the fact that he integrated these
Lay as past tense looks good, he refers to Shakespeare and he integrated, these here refer to copies of "personifications of vice and virtue". Looks good. Lets lookat other answers

Grammatically correct but meaning wise it seems to say originality is in the fact, which does not look right

(B) lay in the fact of his integrating these
Lay as past tense looks good. his integrating is "possessive +verbing" and his refers to Shakespeare. So looks good. these refer to "personifications of vice and virtue"

Grammatically correct but meaning wise it seems to say originality is in fact that , which does not look right

(C) laid in the fact of his integrating these
Laid is past participle and is incorrect

(D) lay in his integration of these
Lay as past tense looks good. his refers to Shakespeare and these refer to "personifications of vice and virtue".
Meaning wise originality is in his integration of personifications of vice and virtue. Hence D is correct

(E) laid in his integration of these
Laid is past participle and is incorrect

D is the answer

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24 Jul 2023, 11:54

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Let's evaluate each answer choice:

(A) lay in the fact that he integrated these
The main issue in this sentence is the phrase "lay in the fact that". This is a bit verbose and indirect.
(can be eliminated, but let's keep for now)

(B) lay in the fact of his integrating these
even more awkward and indirect than the original. The phrase "the fact of his integrating" is not idiomatic.
(eliminate)

(C) laid in the fact of his integrating these
I think here the correct usage should be 'lay' and not 'laid'.
When we're talking about laying something down, the past tense is "laid". So if Shakespeare is laying down his originality, the usage would have been "laid".
But when his originality lies somewhere (like in his integration of personifications), it "lay" there, and not 'laid'.
(eliminate)

(D) lay in his integration of these
This is concise and direct. I think there are no errors in this sentence.
(keep)

(E) laid in his integration of these
I think the same tense issue as in option C. The past tense "laid" is incorrect.
(eliminate)

I will go with D.

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The reason why we can't use "laid" instead of "lay" in the sentence is because of the difference in their verb forms and usage:

"Lay" is the simple past tense of the verb "lie," which means to recline or be situated in a horizontal position. In this context, it is used correctly as "Shakespeare’s originality lay in his integration..."

"Laid," on the other hand, is the past tense of the verb "lay," which means to place or put something down. For example, "He laid the book on the table."
In the sentence, we are describing where Shakespeare's originality "lay" (existed or resided). We are not describing an action of placing or putting something down. Therefore, "lay" is the appropriate verb form to use in this context, and "laid" would not be correct.