OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
In the original sentence, the use of the relative pronoun “where” to describe ”a scale” is incorrect because the pronoun “where” can refer only to physical locations.
(A) This answer choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.
(B) CORRECT. This answer choice corrects the original by replacing the relative pronoun “where” with “in which,” to correctly refer to the immediately preceding noun “a scale.”
(C) By replacing the original passive construction “
was reversed” with the active form “
had reversed,” this answer choice illogically suggests that "a scale” changed itself rather than was changed by others. Also, the
past perfect tense is used incorrectly, as “
reversed” is not the earlier of two past actions; it is the only action in the clause after the semi-colon, and is in fact the last event of the sentence as a whole.
(D) In this answer choice, the semicolon is used incorrectly to connect two clauses, only one of which can stand alone. Specifically, the phrase “reversing the scale to its present form after his death in 1744” is not an independent clause and cannot follow the semicolon.
(E) In this answer choice, the use of the relative pronoun “where” to describe “a scale” is incorrect because this pronoun can refer only to physical locations. Furthermore, by replacing the original passive construction “was reversed” with the active form “reversed,” this answer choice illogically suggests that "a scale” changed itself rather than was changed by others. While the active form is more concise, the use of the passive construction in this case is warranted by fact that the subject (“scale”) is not capable of performing the action described by the verb (that is, reversing itself).