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Question Stats:
69% (01:41) correct
31%
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Although the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, it had not been announced until February, 1968.
(A) Although the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, it had not been announced until February, 1968.
(B) Although not announced until February, 1968, in the summer of 1967 graduate student Jocelyn Bell observed the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted.
(C) Although observed by graduate student Jocelyn Bell in the summer of 1967, the discovery of the first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, had not been announced before February, 1968.
(D) The first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, but the discovery was not announced until February, 1968.
(E) The first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, was not announced until February, 1968, while it was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell.
(A) Although the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, it had not been announced until February, 1968.
(B) Although not announced until February, 1968, in the summer of 1967 graduate student Jocelyn Bell observed the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted.
(C) Although observed by graduate student Jocelyn Bell in the summer of 1967, the discovery of the first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, had not been announced before February, 1968.
(D) The first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, but the discovery was not announced until February, 1968.
(E) The first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, was not announced until February, 1968, while it was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell.
Masters of Time: Cosmology at the End of Innocence - Page 78
John Boslough - 1993
The old cosmology of a less hurried, more *The pulsars were first detected by graduate student Jocelyn Bell in the summer of 1967, confirmed in the fall, but not announced until the following February.
John Boslough - 1993
The old cosmology of a less hurried, more *The pulsars were first detected by graduate student Jocelyn Bell in the summer of 1967, confirmed in the fall, but not announced until the following February.
27 Feb 2018, 22:59
Kudos
Bookmarks
This is a classic case of an SC question with a terrible-sounding correct answer. (And if I remember correctly, I got this !&$!^$%ing question wrong the first time I saw it a decade or so ago, for exactly that reason.) But in case you aren’t tired of hearing me say it yet: sound doesn’t matter on SC, right?
The use of the past perfect tense (“had not been announced”) also isn’t great in (A). That verb tense needs to describe an action that happens BEFORE some other action in the past. But in this case, it’s backwards: the pulsar was observed in 1967, but then it was announced later, in 1968 – so it’s awfully strange to use the past perfect tense to discuss the 1968 announcement, given the context of the sentence.
That’s enough to eliminate (A). But for whatever it’s worth, there’s other goofy stuff here: why would you say that the “first pulsar… to be sighted was in the summer of 1967”?? You could say that it “was observed in the summer of 1967” or “was first seen in the summer of 1967” or maybe even “was first sighted in the summer of 1967”, but the version in (A) doesn't make much sense.
But even if you ignore everything I said in that last paragraph, we still have plenty of reasons to eliminate (A).
So (B) is gone, too.
I’m also still uncomfortable with the use of past perfect tense (“had not been announced”) at the end of the sentence. It’s odd to say that the discovery “had not been announced before February, 1968” unless that action comes before some other action – and it doesn’t, since the pulsar was first observed in 1967.
Finally, I don’t love the way the word “sighted” is used here. It’s structured as an adjective in (C), and “sighted” generally means “having the ability to see” (i.e., not blind) when it’s used as an adjective. So if we say “the first sighted pulsar”, we’re literally saying that the pulsar has eyesight. Sounds cool, but not terribly reasonable.
So we can get rid of (C).
But if you’re answering SC based on sound, you’re not doing it right (more on that here). In this case, there’s actually a pretty good reason the sentence is written the way it is: if it just said “the first pulsar was observed in the summer of 1967”, that would imply that the pulsar Bell observed was the first pulsar that ever existed. And that makes no sense.
So we actually need the phrase “to be sighted” in order to understand which pulsar Bell observed.
And I don’t see anything else that’s really a concern. Let’s keep (D).
For starters, it’s illogical to say that “the first pulsar… was not announced until February, 1968.” You might announce the discovery of the pulsar; you wouldn’t announce the pulsar itself.
Second, we still have that problem with the adjective “sighted.” See answer choice (C) for more on this, but it literally suggests that the pulsar has eyesight; if we want to say that it was the first pulsar anybody had ever seen, then we could say something like “the first pulsar to be sighted” or “the first pulsar ever seen”… or something along those lines.
And finally, the sequencing of the sentence is odd. When you read the first half of the sentence – telling us that the “pulsar… was not announced”, we have no context for it yet, since we don’t know when it was first observed by Bell. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but it’s one more reason that (E) isn’t awesome.
So (E) is out, and (D) is our answer.
Quote:
We have all sorts of problems here. For starters, “it” seems to refer to “the first pulsar”, and that makes no sense: “the first pulsar had not been announced until February, 1968”? What the heck does it mean to “announce a pulsar”? You could announce a sighting, but not the pulsar itself.
The use of the past perfect tense (“had not been announced”) also isn’t great in (A). That verb tense needs to describe an action that happens BEFORE some other action in the past. But in this case, it’s backwards: the pulsar was observed in 1967, but then it was announced later, in 1968 – so it’s awfully strange to use the past perfect tense to discuss the 1968 announcement, given the context of the sentence.
That’s enough to eliminate (A). But for whatever it’s worth, there’s other goofy stuff here: why would you say that the “first pulsar… to be sighted was in the summer of 1967”?? You could say that it “was observed in the summer of 1967” or “was first seen in the summer of 1967” or maybe even “was first sighted in the summer of 1967”, but the version in (A) doesn't make much sense.
But even if you ignore everything I said in that last paragraph, we still have plenty of reasons to eliminate (A).
Quote:
The biggest problem with (B) is that funky modifier at the beginning of the sentence: “Although not announced until February, 1968….” needs to be followed by the thing that was (eventually) announced – presumably, the observation of the pulsar. But that doesn’t really happen. Instead, the phrase is followed by “in the summer of 1967 graduate student Jocelyn Bell…” And that makes no sense, because neither the summer of 1967 nor Jocelyn Bell was announced in 1968.
So (B) is gone, too.
Quote:
(C) has some of the same problems as (A) and (B). That opening modifier is still a problem: the opening phrase “Although observed… in the summer of 1967, the the discovery of the first sighted pulsar…” suggests that the discovery was observed in the summer of 1967, and that’s nonsense.
I’m also still uncomfortable with the use of past perfect tense (“had not been announced”) at the end of the sentence. It’s odd to say that the discovery “had not been announced before February, 1968” unless that action comes before some other action – and it doesn’t, since the pulsar was first observed in 1967.
Finally, I don’t love the way the word “sighted” is used here. It’s structured as an adjective in (C), and “sighted” generally means “having the ability to see” (i.e., not blind) when it’s used as an adjective. So if we say “the first sighted pulsar”, we’re literally saying that the pulsar has eyesight. Sounds cool, but not terribly reasonable.
So we can get rid of (C).
Quote:
I’ll be honest: I think this sounds lousy. That initial clause (“the first pulsar… to be sighted was observed in the summer of 1967”) SOUNDS redundant. I mean, it just doesn’t SOUND right to say that the pulsar was both “sighted” and “observed.”
But if you’re answering SC based on sound, you’re not doing it right (more on that here). In this case, there’s actually a pretty good reason the sentence is written the way it is: if it just said “the first pulsar was observed in the summer of 1967”, that would imply that the pulsar Bell observed was the first pulsar that ever existed. And that makes no sense.
So we actually need the phrase “to be sighted” in order to understand which pulsar Bell observed.
And I don’t see anything else that’s really a concern. Let’s keep (D).
Quote:
For starters, it’s illogical to say that “the first pulsar… was not announced until February, 1968.” You might announce the discovery of the pulsar; you wouldn’t announce the pulsar itself.
Second, we still have that problem with the adjective “sighted.” See answer choice (C) for more on this, but it literally suggests that the pulsar has eyesight; if we want to say that it was the first pulsar anybody had ever seen, then we could say something like “the first pulsar to be sighted” or “the first pulsar ever seen”… or something along those lines.
And finally, the sequencing of the sentence is odd. When you read the first half of the sentence – telling us that the “pulsar… was not announced”, we have no context for it yet, since we don’t know when it was first observed by Bell. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but it’s one more reason that (E) isn’t awesome.
So (E) is out, and (D) is our answer.
26 Feb 2011, 09:28
Kudos
Bookmarks
Step 1. The use of past perfect for the later event is totally illogical and inappropriate and hence A and C are out
Step 2. B suffers from bad modification; after the modifier phrase, “Although not announced until February, 1968”, the modified noun 'the discovery of the first pulsar' should be mentioned. Hence B can be dropped.
To decide between D and E, I feel that the phrase ‘the first sighted pulsar’ as used in E rather changes the original meaning of the text which uses the phrase ‘the first pulsar to be sighted’. To be sighted in the context does not mean yet to be sighted but simply that has been sighted. In addition, the term ‘sighted pulsar’ may in a weird sense mean a pulsar that is blessed with the power of sight.
Second, the term ‘discovery’ is a crucial factor that is conspicuous by its absence in E. IMO, we should also appreciate the chronological sequence maintained in D and therefore D is superior to E.
Step 2. B suffers from bad modification; after the modifier phrase, “Although not announced until February, 1968”, the modified noun 'the discovery of the first pulsar' should be mentioned. Hence B can be dropped.
To decide between D and E, I feel that the phrase ‘the first sighted pulsar’ as used in E rather changes the original meaning of the text which uses the phrase ‘the first pulsar to be sighted’. To be sighted in the context does not mean yet to be sighted but simply that has been sighted. In addition, the term ‘sighted pulsar’ may in a weird sense mean a pulsar that is blessed with the power of sight.
Second, the term ‘discovery’ is a crucial factor that is conspicuous by its absence in E. IMO, we should also appreciate the chronological sequence maintained in D and therefore D is superior to E.
