christoph wrote:
During and immediately after the California gold rush, the way for a merchant to generate the most profit was to move a limited amount of scarce goods to San Francisco as quickly as possible, rather than to carry larger loads more slowly, determining the design of the clipper ship.
A) to carry larger loads more slowly, determining
B) to carry larger loads more slowly, a situation that determined
C) carry larger loads more slowly, which determined
D) slowly carry larger loads which determined
E) carrying larger loads more slowly, and this was a situation in determining
KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:
In the underlined portion of the original sentence, you've got a verb (to carry) and a participle (determining). The answer choices allow you to convert the verb into a participle (carrying) and the participle into a verb (determined). You may wonder why this matters. Well, the participle determining makes the final phrase of the sentence (determining the design of the clipper ship) into a modifier. The problem is that it's not clear what precisely this phrase modifies: Did a part of this situation (perhaps the need for speed) determine the design of the clipper ship or did the entire situation taken together? Only (B) and (E) respond to this problem so you can eliminate all the others; which in (C) and (D) doesn't provide the clarification that we need. (E), in addition to its clumsy phrasing, is grammatically incorrect. By replacing to carry with carrying, it breaks the parallel structure of the sentence (the best option was to move...rather than to carry). (B) alone survives.