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Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that su 27 Jun 2022, 06:09
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woohoo921
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Hi all.

Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he quickly built his own device from an organ pipe and spectacle lenses.

Since it is not difficult to understand the meaning of this sentence, let’s quickly get into the error analysis:

1. Use of past perfect tense is correct because 1609, the telescope had been already made and after that Galileo made his own version of the instrument. So there are two past events and “had been” correctly denotes that telescope was first made and then Galileo came up with his own version.
2. “but” correctly presents the contrast.
3. No errors.

PoE:

a) Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he: Correct for reasons stated above.

b) Galileo had not invented the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument having been made, Incorrect.
1. Use of “had not invented” is incorrect because the sentence here just presents a general fact that should be written in simple past tense.
2. Use of “having been made” is also incorrect in this choice.
3. This choice also misses the subject “he” for the verb “built”.

c) Galileo, even though he had not invented the telescope, on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he: Incorrect.
1. Same verb tense error as in Choice B.
2. Use of pronoun “he” after “even though” is incorrect because Galileo has already been mentioned in the beginning of the sentence. This construction makes Galileo hanging without a verb.
3. Use of “even though” is incorrect. This expression is used to present contrast in that it denotes two opposite situations. For example:
Even though he is poor, he has managed to go to a good B school.
However, this choice does not present opposite situations. It simply says that Galileo did not invent telescope but he later developed one. There is co opposite things going on in here.

d) Even though Galileo did not invent the telescope, on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made,: Incorrect.
1. Use of “even though” is incorrect as in Choice C.
2. Absence of “he” before “built” leaves this verb without any subject.

e) Even though Galileo did not invent the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument being made, he: Incorrect.
1. Use of “even though” is incorrect.
2. Use of “but” is redundant because “even though” already presents the contrast.

Hope this helps. :)
Thanks.
Shraddha

egmat
Thank you for your helpful explanation. I have two follow-up questions:
-"On hearing" seemed to be the wrong idiom and should be "when hearing"?
-Can you further explain how "There is co opposite things going on in here" for the answer choices in which you indicated that "even though" is incorrectly used? Simplifying the idea ---> even though he didn't invent the telescope, he made a telescope.... seems to be okay to me because invent vs. made (or replicated in this case) do seem to present a contrast.

Thank you again :)
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Hello woohoo921,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your queries,

1. "on hearing" is an idiomatic construction that essentially means "when he heard"; by contrast, "when hearing" means "during the process of hearing"; in this context, the former meaning is the one that makes logical sense.

2. The use of "even though" and "in spite of" to convey the contrast between two actions carries a particular connotation; "even though A happened, B happened" conveys that A happening should have logically prevented or precluded B from happening but did not.

For example, "Although I studied hard, I failed the test."

In this case, this particular connotation is not appropriate, Gallileo not being the one who invented the telescope in no way logically prevents or precludes him from making one, after he learned about it.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that su 27 Jun 2022, 16:48
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woohoo921
egmat
Hi all.

Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he quickly built his own device from an organ pipe and spectacle lenses.

Since it is not difficult to understand the meaning of this sentence, let’s quickly get into the error analysis:

1. Use of past perfect tense is correct because 1609, the telescope had been already made and after that Galileo made his own version of the instrument. So there are two past events and “had been” correctly denotes that telescope was first made and then Galileo came up with his own version.
2. “but” correctly presents the contrast.
3. No errors.

PoE:

a) Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he: Correct for reasons stated above.

b) Galileo had not invented the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument having been made, Incorrect.
1. Use of “had not invented” is incorrect because the sentence here just presents a general fact that should be written in simple past tense.
2. Use of “having been made” is also incorrect in this choice.
3. This choice also misses the subject “he” for the verb “built”.

c) Galileo, even though he had not invented the telescope, on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he: Incorrect.
1. Same verb tense error as in Choice B.
2. Use of pronoun “he” after “even though” is incorrect because Galileo has already been mentioned in the beginning of the sentence. This construction makes Galileo hanging without a verb.
3. Use of “even though” is incorrect. This expression is used to present contrast in that it denotes two opposite situations. For example:
Even though he is poor, he has managed to go to a good B school.
However, this choice does not present opposite situations. It simply says that Galileo did not invent telescope but he later developed one. There is co opposite things going on in here.

d) Even though Galileo did not invent the telescope, on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made,: Incorrect.
1. Use of “even though” is incorrect as in Choice C.
2. Absence of “he” before “built” leaves this verb without any subject.

e) Even though Galileo did not invent the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument being made, he: Incorrect.
1. Use of “even though” is incorrect.
2. Use of “but” is redundant because “even though” already presents the contrast.

Hope this helps. :)
Thanks.
Shraddha

egmat
Thank you for your helpful explanation. I have two follow-up questions:
-"On hearing" seemed to be the wrong idiom and should be "when hearing"?
-Can you further explain how "There is co opposite things going on in here" for the answer choices in which you indicated that "even though" is incorrectly used? Simplifying the idea ---> even though he didn't invent the telescope, he made a telescope.... seems to be okay to me because invent vs. made (or replicated in this case) do seem to present a contrast.

Thank you again :)

Hello woohoo921,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your queries,

1. "on hearing" is an idiomatic construction that essentially means "when he heard"; by contrast, "when hearing" means "during the process of hearing"; in this context, the former meaning is the one that makes logical sense.

2. The use of "even though" and "in spite of" to convey the contrast between two actions carries a particular connotation; "even though A happened, B happened" conveys that A happening should have logically prevented or precluded B from happening but did not.

For example, "Although I studied hard, I failed the test."

In this case, this particular connotation is not appropriate, Gallileo not being the one who invented the telescope in no way logically prevents or precludes him from making one, after he learned about it.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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This was such a clear response. Thank you very much!
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Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that su 06 Oct 2022, 08:40
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please see.


(B) Galileo had not invented the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument having been made,


when do we use the tense 'having been made'?

is it when we talk about a thing of the past in the present?

(E) Even though Galileo did not invent the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument being made, he

is there any subtle difference in using 'even though' and 'but'
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Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that su 07 Oct 2022, 10:42
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Anshul1223333
please see.


(B) Galileo had not invented the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument having been made,


when do we use the tense 'having been made'?

is it when we talk about a thing of the past in the present?
Show more

Please see my discussion of this issue over here (permalink—should jump directly to my post once the page is done loading).



Quote:
Quote:
(E) Even though Galileo did not invent the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument being made, he

is there any subtle difference in using 'even though' and 'but'
Show more

There are subtle differences, but subtle differences in meaning won't be needed to solve GMAT SC problems. For the purposes of this test, it's sufficient to realize that both of these are conjunctions that indicate contrast.

A sentence can only use one conjunction at a time to connect two clauses, though. This choice contains BOTH "even though" AND "but", so it's ungrammatical.
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Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that su 07 Oct 2022, 11:23
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could you please share a few examples where ' comma+having been + V3' is correctly used. B] does not have the right usage, I guess.
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Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that su 08 Oct 2022, 22:24
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himanshu0123
could you please share a few examples where ' comma+having been + V3' is correctly used. B] does not have the right usage, I guess.
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There's no comma in front of that construction in any of these choices, so this question doesn't apply to the current problem.

For a treatment of NO comma + __ING, please go here. (That's a permalink, which should jump directly to my post once the page has loaded.)
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Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that su 11 Dec 2022, 08:07
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I am struggling to understand the correct usage of Comma + Fanboys - I understand that it is used only when connecting two independent clauses. However, I was unclear as to how its usage is accurate in the below sentence.
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Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that su 11 Dec 2022, 08:54
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bullishdutta
I am struggling to understand the correct usage of Comma + Fanboys - I understand that it is used only when connecting two independent clauses. However, I was unclear as to how its usage is accurate in the below sentence.
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The two ICs in the original sentence are:

i) Galileo did not invent the telescope

ii) he quickly built his own device from an organ pipe and spectacle lenses

You can watch this video on Independent and Dependent clauses.
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Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that su 16 Jan 2023, 13:23
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What is the grammar usage of "on hearing" here? I got this question correct but thought A is still awkward because I've never heard someone say "on hearing".
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Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that su 16 Jan 2023, 23:05
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What is the grammar usage of "on hearing" here? I got this question correct but thought A is still awkward because I've never heard someone say "on hearing".
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'hearing' is a gerund that follows the preposition 'on'

She decided to write to him on learning that he might not visit the city for a year.
How did she react on learning about her result?
They completed the project on time by working hard.
etc.

It is common to use gerunds after prepositions.
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Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that su 31 Jan 2023, 14:18
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Specifically, "on X-ing" means "shortly after doing X."

On learning of the disaster, I broke out in tears.
On discovering the woods behind the cottage, we swiftly planned an expedition.
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