Darwin was not the first to advance a theory of evolution; his tremend

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