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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 13 Oct 2022, 01:58
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Merely out of inquisitiveness, how places can install electricity?:)
Would it be correct to switch to the passive voice?

important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting,
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 13 Oct 2022, 03:56
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BLTN
Merely out of inquisitiveness, how places can install electricity?:)
Would it be correct to switch to the passive voice?

important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting,
Show more

Hello BLTN,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, to say that a place has installed electricity simply means that the place acquired an electricity connection; such usage is unlikely to appear on the GMAT but is still acceptable.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 13 Oct 2022, 18:37
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nineteenth century, important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting, but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.


(A) electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still

(B) electricity was in less than one percent of homes and lighting still

(C) there had been less than 1 percent of homes with electricity, where lighting was still being

(D) there was less than 1 percent of homes that had electricity, having lighting that was still

(E) less than one percent of homes had electricity, where lighting had still been

Show Spoiler
Progress and Barbarism: World in the Twentieth Century
Hardcover – Import, 1998

Attachment:
01.png

Major Cities

(A) CORRECT

(B) Verb (provided)

(C) Verb (had been, was still being)

(D) Modifier / Meaning (having)

(E) Verb (had been)

First glance

The parallel marker but is just before the underline. Should the underlined part of the sentence start with electricity or something else?

Issues

(1) Verb: provided; had been; was still being

Compare the answers vertically; various verb tenses change.

(A) electricity was in homes, where lighting was still provided by candles…

(B) electricity was in homes and lighting still provided by candles…

(C) there had been less…where lighting was still being provided by candles…

(D) there was less… having lighting that was still provided by candles…

(E) less than 1 percent had electricity, where lighting had still been provided by candles…

Answer (B) is missing the verb was before provided. It should read: lighting was provided by candles.

Answers (C) and (E) use past perfect (had been). Past perfect can be used only when the sentence also has another past event that took place later in time than the past perfect event.

In the case of answer (C), the had been event took place at the same time as the was provided event, so the two events should be in the same tense. The reasoning is the same for answer (E): the had event took place at the same time as the had been provided event, so they should employ the same tense. (Note that had, by itself, is simple past. Had becomes past perfect only when paired with a past participle, such as had provided.)

Eliminate answers (B), (C), and (E).

(2) Modifier / Meaning: having

Answers (A), (C), and (E) all use where to start the modifier; answer (D) uses having. (Answer (B) changes that part of the structure completely.)

Where was lighting still provided mainly by candles or gas? In the homes. The where modifier in answers (A) and (B) clearly points to the homes. In answer (E), the where could be interpreted as pointing to the noun just before the comma: electricity. This, of course, is not the right location. The Official Guide explanation does not address this point, so it’s unclear whether the test writers would consider this acceptable. Therefore, call this “suspicious” and avoid this choice unless there is no better option. Eliminate answers (A) and (B) and put a question mark next to (E).

Answer (D) uses the comma -ing modifier structure there was less than 1 percent…, having lighting. A comma -ing modifier refers to the main subject and verb of the clause to which it’s attached; in this case, the having modifier refers to there was. It should be referring to the homes, so eliminate answer (D).

The Correct Answer

Correct answer (A) uses the same verb tense (was, was provided) to talk about two past events that occurred at the same time. The where modifier correctly refers to homes.
Show more

RonTargetTestPrep

I read through the expert answers on this question, but I am still struggling to wrap my head around "but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas" needing to be in the same tense because apparently they occur at the same time.

Thank you for your time and help in advance.
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 14 Oct 2022, 05:12
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yavasani
In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nineteenth century, important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting, but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.


(A) electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still

(B) electricity was in less than one percent of homes and lighting still

(C) there had been less than 1 percent of homes with electricity, where lighting was still being

(D) there was less than 1 percent of homes that had electricity, having lighting that was still

(E) less than one percent of homes had electricity, where lighting had still been

Show Spoiler
Progress and Barbarism: World in the Twentieth Century
Hardcover – Import, 1998

Attachment:
01.png

Major Cities

(A) CORRECT

(B) Verb (provided)

(C) Verb (had been, was still being)

(D) Modifier / Meaning (having)

(E) Verb (had been)

First glance

The parallel marker but is just before the underline. Should the underlined part of the sentence start with electricity or something else?

Issues

(1) Verb: provided; had been; was still being

Compare the answers vertically; various verb tenses change.

(A) electricity was in homes, where lighting was still provided by candles…

(B) electricity was in homes and lighting still provided by candles…

(C) there had been less…where lighting was still being provided by candles…

(D) there was less… having lighting that was still provided by candles…

(E) less than 1 percent had electricity, where lighting had still been provided by candles…

Answer (B) is missing the verb was before provided. It should read: lighting was provided by candles.

Answers (C) and (E) use past perfect (had been). Past perfect can be used only when the sentence also has another past event that took place later in time than the past perfect event.

In the case of answer (C), the had been event took place at the same time as the was provided event, so the two events should be in the same tense. The reasoning is the same for answer (E): the had event took place at the same time as the had been provided event, so they should employ the same tense. (Note that had, by itself, is simple past. Had becomes past perfect only when paired with a past participle, such as had provided.)

Eliminate answers (B), (C), and (E).

(2) Modifier / Meaning: having

Answers (A), (C), and (E) all use where to start the modifier; answer (D) uses having. (Answer (B) changes that part of the structure completely.)

Where was lighting still provided mainly by candles or gas? In the homes. The where modifier in answers (A) and (B) clearly points to the homes. In answer (E), the where could be interpreted as pointing to the noun just before the comma: electricity. This, of course, is not the right location. The Official Guide explanation does not address this point, so it’s unclear whether the test writers would consider this acceptable. Therefore, call this “suspicious” and avoid this choice unless there is no better option. Eliminate answers (A) and (B) and put a question mark next to (E).

Answer (D) uses the comma -ing modifier structure there was less than 1 percent…, having lighting. A comma -ing modifier refers to the main subject and verb of the clause to which it’s attached; in this case, the having modifier refers to there was. It should be referring to the homes, so eliminate answer (D).

The Correct Answer

Correct answer (A) uses the same verb tense (was, was provided) to talk about two past events that occurred at the same time. The where modifier correctly refers to homes.

RonTargetTestPrep

I read through the expert answers on this question, but I am still struggling to wrap my head around "but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas" needing to be in the same tense because apparently they occur at the same time.

Thank you for your time and help in advance.
Show more

Hello woohoo921,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the two actions in question are electricity only being available in a small segment of homes and homes still relying on candles and gas for lighting; logically, these two actions go together perfectly - at the time homes still used gas and candles for lighting, and less than one percent of them had electricity.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 17 Oct 2022, 15:41
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BLTN
Merely out of inquisitiveness, how places can install electricity?:)
Would it be correct to switch to the passive voice?

important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting,
Show more
The good news is that this is in the non-underlined part, and that's the GMAT's way of telling us that we shouldn't worry about it :).

Check out this post, which explains that it is fairly common to take some creative license with what performs an action.
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 05 Nov 2022, 14:50
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Quote:
In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nineteenth century, important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting, but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.

(A) electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still
(B) electricity was in less than one percent of homes and lighting still
(C) there had been less than 1 percent of homes with electricity, where lighting was still being
(D) there was less than 1 percent of homes that had electricity, having lighting that was still
(E) less than one percent of homes had electricity, where lighting had still been
Show more
In non-underlined part says that -->
important public places had installed electric lighting.
This one is the active sentence. It seems that ''important public places'' took responsibility to install electric lighting! Shouldn't it be an 'authority' who took the responsibility to install electric lighting?
Can you share your thought RonTargetTestPrep, MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, please?
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 05 Nov 2022, 15:02
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Quote:
In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nineteenth century, important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting, but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.

(A) electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still
(B) electricity was in less than one percent of homes and lighting still
(C) there had been less than 1 percent of homes with electricity, where lighting was still being
(D) there was less than 1 percent of homes that had electricity, having lighting that was still
(E) less than one percent of homes had electricity, where lighting had still been
Show more
Hi Experts,
Can I just cross out choice B as it did not used passive sentence. I mean- didn't the highlighted part lost 'be verb'?
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 05 Nov 2022, 15:49
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Quote:
In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nineteenth century, important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting, but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.

(A) electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still
(B) electricity was in less than one percent of homes and lighting still
(C) there had been less than 1 percent of homes with electricity, where lighting was still being
(D) there was less than 1 percent of homes that had electricity, having lighting that was still
(E) less than one percent of homes had electricity, where lighting had still been
Show more

My thought:
B--> as there is a complete sentence before AND there should also be a complete sentence after AND. But, there is no independent clause after AND (...and lighting still provided mainly by candles or gas.)
C--> 'where' should modify a 'place', not the 'electricity'.
D--> 'having' should modify whole clause (there was less...) but the 'having' part incomplete itself because of 'that' clause
E--> 'where' should modify a 'place', not the 'electricity'.
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 07 Nov 2022, 02:46
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TheUltimateWinner
In non-underlined part says that -->
important public places had installed electric lighting.
This one is the active sentence. It seems that ''important public places'' took responsibility to install electric lighting! Shouldn't it be an 'authority' who took the responsibility to install electric lighting?
Show more

You've phrased this question as "Isn't this officially correct wording wrong?" You already know the answer to this: No, the official sentences are not wrong.

The phrasing of these questions really does matter, as far as getting the questioner into the right mindset for productive learning. Attacking the official answers is pointless to begin with (they aren't going to be wrong), and adopting a pose of opposition will just make it more difficult to learn any take-away lessons.

Instead, for any parts of the correctly written sentence (= the correct answer and/or the non-underlined part) that you don't understand, it's much better to ask: "I thought _____. Where am I going wrong? / What part of my understanding is incomplete or incorrect?"
This is the productive line of questioning here, because it's the actual, literal question you're trying to answer—as opposed to "Shouldn't this correct sentence say [something it doesn't say]?", to which the literal answer is just "nope".


In any case, here's the deal with that part of the sentence: There are plenty of instances in which the essential idea is that something is said or done for, or on behalf of, an institution/corporation/government/other collective entity—and in which the specific identity of the person who performs the action (or publishes the statement, or whatever other thing) is plainly of no importance whatsoever, and may not even be known.
e.g.,
The company said in a statement that...
The University believes in equal opportunity for xxxx and yyyy...
etc.
In instances like these, we definitely DO NOT WANT to include the utterly irrelevant specific identity/-ies of random functionaries who perform these actions on behalf of an institution—unless those identities are of essential importance for some reason (e.g., if a specific individual is telling lies about institutional values).
The operative principle here is very simple: Good sentences say stuff that matters, and don't say stuff that doesn't matter.

Mentioning the irrelevant identity of some specific random workaday person who performs some institutional function is ACTIVELY BAD!
Doing so creates an INFERIOR version of the sentence—because that version of the sentence will mislead readers into (reasonably) assuming that the person's identity is stated because it somehow matters. Readers will then have to consider and ultimately reject that inference before they can correctly understand the actual point. (...and there's also the issue of all the extra wordiness...)

Many sentences of this sort can be rendered in the passive voice, so that no subject even has to be written for the verb/action in question.
When that's not feasible for whatever reason, phrasings such as the above—with the institution/collective entity itself as the subject—are acceptable phrasings.

You're correct, by the way, that universities themselves don't and can't have core values; that companies themselves don't and can't make statements; and that (physical) public PLACES don't and can't install their own electric fixtures.
Sure. These are all absurdities if taken completely literally to the tiniest detail—and that's exactly why there's no problem with the more compact wordings that fudge a little bit!!
This is PRECISELY WHY it's totally okay to write "the company said..." or "public places installed...": because in each case there is one, and only one, actual meaning that's possible. If taking a shortcut in wording actually leads to genuine ambiguity, then you can't do it, and you need to say everything perfectly literally.

By the way—Note how the not-quite-literal phrasing appears in the non-underlined part. That's not a coincidence.
When this happens, any such 'compromise wording' should always appear outside the underline, because no responsibly written standardized test will require you to actively choose such a thing over other options. (The decisions actually required of you will be between right and wrong, or between objectively superior and objectively inferior.)
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 07 Nov 2022, 02:57
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TheUltimateWinner
Can I just cross out choice B as it did not used passive sentence. I mean- didn't the highlighted part lost 'be verb'?
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Yes, this is a valid reason to eliminate B.



DUE DILIGENCE:

You can eliminate this choice, but you CANNOT "cross it out"—because the problems appear on a computer screen, and clearly you're not allowed to mark the screen!

The purpose of this comment is to ensure that you, personally, are not physically "crossing out" incorrect answer options when you practice.

More generally, don't develop habits that won't transfer to the actual exam!
If you solve practice problems out of paper books (or printouts of problems on paper), you should basically pretend that the problems are on a screen—meaning, ideally, 2 things:
• DO NOT make any marks or annotations on the problems themselves.
• Do your best to position the problems vertically, in front of you, in the same orientation as a computer screen. (E.g., use a music stand or other holder.) Most essentially, DO NOT place the book flat on your table/desk/study surface directly next to your scratch paper; you need to get accustomed to moving your gaze up and down between the eventual positions of the screen (positioned vertically, facing you) and your scratch pad (lying horizontally on your work surface, below the screen).
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 07 Nov 2022, 03:06
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TheUltimateWinner
My thought:
B--> as there is a complete sentence before AND there should also be a complete sentence after AND. But, there is no independent clause after AND (...and lighting still provided mainly by candles or gas.)
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Is this reasoning based on the specific context here? I.e., are you saying "there should be 2 independent clauses" because the intended meanings of the two parts HERE clearly require separate clauses?

If so, then... sure.

If not, then, you got lucky this time but this reasoning absolutely does not generalize. There are plenty of potential second halves of this parallelism, using precisely the same first half, that are not full sentences.
E.g.,
Electricity was in less than 1 percent of homes and less than 3 percent of business locations.

More generally, you can't reliably do this reasoning from left to right, because there's no way to preemptively determine where the left (= first half) part of the parallelism STARTS.
E.g., in the example you consider above, it would be "whole sentence || whole sentence". In my other example just presented, however, the parallel parts are just "1% of homes" and "3% of business locations".

The only reliable way to process these two parts is right to left, because it's the right-hand part that follows the parallel signal (here, "and") and whose precise beginning and end can therefore be determined at a glance. ONLY THEN can you go back and figure out exactly how much of the left-hand construction is actually part of the parallel structure.
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 07 Nov 2022, 03:21
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TheUltimateWinner

C--> 'where' should modify a 'place', not the 'electricity'.
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Yes—but keep in mind that you should make relative judgments here: Look to make sure there's at least one OTHER answer choice that places the modifier in question CLOSER to the thing it modifies.

In this instance, that means looking for at least one other choice (not necessarily the correct one) in which "where..." actually follows "homes" DIRECTLY.
Here, such a choice can, indeed, be found (A does this)—allowing a confident elimination of the choice(s) that push those two elements needlessly farther apart.



Quote:
D--> 'having' should modify whole clause (there was less...) but the 'having' part incomplete itself because of 'that' clause
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As long as you're aware that the final three words before the comma ("that had electricity") constitute an entire clause by themselves—and that, if a following COMMA _ING modifier were to be used correctly, that modifier would be overwhelmingly likely to apply to THAT very compact nearest clause.
(With this observation in hand, we can see why the COMMA _ING doesn't work: The clause described here is "that HAD electricity", but the following _ING modifier is specifically about fixtures that certain locations had because they DIDN'T yet have electric fixtures.)

In any case, it's probably much more straightforward, and definitely much more efficient, to kill this choice because it has subject-verb disagreement.
"Less than 1% of homes" is still some plural number of homes (you don't need to worry about the silly trick possibility that this might represent exactly 1 home, just as you don't ever need to account for any other silly tricks), so we need "there were", not "there was".



Quote:
E--> 'where' should modify a 'place', not the 'electricity'.
Show more

Yes—but please see the commentary above, about looking for the other half of a proper relative judgment here.

(Sometimes a noun unavoidably must be followed by a short modifier; in such cases, following modifiers can still modify that noun, even though they won't abut it directly. This is where the relative judgment comes in handy: In such cases, you won't find any other choices that DON'T have that short modifier between the noun and the noun-modifier.)
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 16 Dec 2022, 23:01
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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
yavasani
In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nineteenth century, important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting, but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.


(A) electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still

(B) electricity was in less than one percent of homes and lighting still

(C) there had been less than 1 percent of homes with electricity, where lighting was still being

(D) there was less than 1 percent of homes that had electricity, having lighting that was still

(E) less than one percent of homes had electricity, where lighting had still been


Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that electricity was in less than one percent of homes, and in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Tenses + Parallelism

• Any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.
• “where” is only used to refer to a physical place.
• “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.
• The introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “having” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.
• Past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past".
• Past perfect continuous tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had/have been") is used when a sentence contains two actions in past and one action is in greater past as well as continuous in nature; the helping verb "had been" is used with the action that is in the greater past and continuous in nature.

A: Correct. This answer choice correctly modifies “one percent of homes” with “where lighting...gas”, conveying the intended meaning – that electricity was in less than one percent of homes, and in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas. Further, Option A forms a complete sentence; the object “lighting” is acted upon by the active verb “was...provided” to form an independent thought, leading to a complete sentence. Additionally, Option A correctly uses the simple past tense verbs “was” and “was…provided” to refer to events that concluded in the past. Moreover, Option A maintains parallelism between the clauses “electricity was in less than one percent of homes” and “where lighting...gas”. Besides, Option A is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

B:This answer choice leads to an incomplete sentence; the phrase “and lighting still provided mainly by candles or gas” lacks an active verb to act upon the subject “lighting”, as “provided” is a past participle rather than an active verb. Further, Option B fails to maintain parallelism between the clause “electricity was in less than one percent of homes” and the phrase “lighting still provided mainly by candles or gas”; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.

C: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "electricity" with "where"; please remember, "where" is only used to refer to physical places. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the past perfect tense verb “had been to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past and the past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is only used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past". Additionally, Option C uses the word “being”, rendering it awkward and needlessly wordy; please remember, “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “having lighting that was still...gas”; the use of the “comma + present participle (“verb+ing” – “having” in this sentence)” construction incorrectly implies that less than one percent of homes had electricity because, in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas; the intended meaning is that less than one percent of homes had electricity, and in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.; please remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “having” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

E: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "electricity" with "where"; please remember, "where" is only used to refer to physical places. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the past perfect continuous tense verb “had still been provided” to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past, and the past perfect continuous tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had/have been") is only used when a sentence contains two actions in past and one action is in greater past as well as continuous in nature; the helping verb "had been" is used with the action that is in the greater past and continuous in nature.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of "Past Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Perfect Continuous Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the use of "Being" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Regarding D: is the following conclusion correct? : we have a comma+ing modifier, and this type of modifier always modifies a clause. However, here it doesn't make sense since “having lighting that was still...gas” is clearly meant to modify only the noun "houses.
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 14 Feb 2023, 20:21
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Hi egmat

I chose E even though I understand that ",where" is wrong as it should modify a place. However, I have some doubts:



Hello aviejay,

Thank you for the PM. :-)

Here are my explanations for your well-articulated queries.


aviejay
1. Why is the usage of past perfect in "had installed electric lighting" correct? Which event is it taking in reference as a later event in order use the past perfect tense? Is it "at the end of the nineteenth century"? If so, how is this correct when the installation happened at the end of the nineteenth century? Meaning, the installation and "end of nineteenth century" happened at the same time.

See, it is not that important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks all installed electricity at the end of 19th century. These places individually must have installed electricity when they could.

The sentence basically wants to say that at the end of 19th century important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had already started using electricity. So the later event is basically the 19th century coming to its end. Hence, usage of had installed in Choice A is correct.


aviejay
2. If "banks had installed electric lighting" is correct and uses the past perfect tense, then why shoud'nt "where lighting had still been" (in option E) use the same as both these events occured at the same time and presumably before "at the end of the nineteenth century"

If the sentence says that lighting had been provided mainly by candle or gas, the usage will suggest that candle or gas was the main source of lighting only till the end of 19th century. After that, they it not used as the source of lighting.

But the sentence just wants to say the opposite. Even after the end of 19th century, majority of homes continued to use candle or gas as the main source of lighting.

Many homes used candle or gas even during the end of 19th century and most likely after that time also. Hence, we need simple past tense verb to denote this general information in the past.


aviejay
3. Doesnt "electricity was in less than one percent of homes" (option A)sound awkward? Doesnt it sound like electircity is being personified?

I am not sure why you say so. Don't we say, say after a power outage, that power is back. We all know what kind of entity electricity is.

And again, GMAT SC is not at all about "sounds awkward". It is all about logic that determines the grammar of the sentence.


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha
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I have a doubt:
IMHO : Homes being a countable noun should take "fewer" rather than "less". But correct option uses "less".
What I am missing?
Due Regards
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 28 Feb 2023, 07:59
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ExpertsGlobal5
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
yavasani
In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nineteenth century, important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting, but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.


(A) electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still

(B) electricity was in less than one percent of homes and lighting still

(C) there had been less than 1 percent of homes with electricity, where lighting was still being

(D) there was less than 1 percent of homes that had electricity, having lighting that was still

(E) less than one percent of homes had electricity, where lighting had still been


Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that electricity was in less than one percent of homes, and in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Tenses + Parallelism

• Any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.
• “where” is only used to refer to a physical place.
• “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.
• The introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “having” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.
• Past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past".
• Past perfect continuous tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had/have been") is used when a sentence contains two actions in past and one action is in greater past as well as continuous in nature; the helping verb "had been" is used with the action that is in the greater past and continuous in nature.

A: Correct. This answer choice correctly modifies “one percent of homes” with “where lighting...gas”, conveying the intended meaning – that electricity was in less than one percent of homes, and in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas. Further, Option A forms a complete sentence; the object “lighting” is acted upon by the active verb “was...provided” to form an independent thought, leading to a complete sentence. Additionally, Option A correctly uses the simple past tense verbs “was” and “was…provided” to refer to events that concluded in the past. Moreover, Option A maintains parallelism between the clauses “electricity was in less than one percent of homes” and “where lighting...gas”. Besides, Option A is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

B:This answer choice leads to an incomplete sentence; the phrase “and lighting still provided mainly by candles or gas” lacks an active verb to act upon the subject “lighting”, as “provided” is a past participle rather than an active verb. Further, Option B fails to maintain parallelism between the clause “electricity was in less than one percent of homes” and the phrase “lighting still provided mainly by candles or gas”; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.

C: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "electricity" with "where"; please remember, "where" is only used to refer to physical places. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the past perfect tense verb “had been to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past and the past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is only used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past". Additionally, Option C uses the word “being”, rendering it awkward and needlessly wordy; please remember, “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “having lighting that was still...gas”; the use of the “comma + present participle (“verb+ing” – “having” in this sentence)” construction incorrectly implies that less than one percent of homes had electricity because, in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas; the intended meaning is that less than one percent of homes had electricity, and in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.; please remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “having” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

E: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "electricity" with "where"; please remember, "where" is only used to refer to physical places. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the past perfect continuous tense verb “had still been provided” to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past, and the past perfect continuous tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had/have been") is only used when a sentence contains two actions in past and one action is in greater past as well as continuous in nature; the helping verb "had been" is used with the action that is in the greater past and continuous in nature.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of "Past Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Perfect Continuous Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the use of "Being" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
Show more

Hi ExpertsGlobal5,

I've one doubt here.

Isn't there any comparison going on between "lighting in important public places & in homes" which makes option A faulty?
Also since at that particular time when there were lights at some places & no lights at other places, how past perfect is used to indicate a sequence.

Thanks in advance
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 28 Feb 2023, 12:55
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GMATmona07

We don't want to use past perfect in the underlined portion, because there's no later action for that part to precede. The use of "had" before the underline makes sense, because electric lighting already had been installed before the action taking place in the underline.

As for the other issue, can you explain what comparison issue you're seeing? The two portions are separate clauses ("important places . . . had installed lighting" and "lighting was still provided"), so there is no issue of direct comparison or parallelism. But if you let us know what's bothering you, maybe one of us can help. In general, though, we're less likely to have a comparison problem when we use full clauses. For instance, if I say "Paying with cash is better than . . . ," we need to follow directly with another method of paying, such as "paying with a credit card." But if we use full clauses, we can say something like "You can pay with credit card, but paying with cash is better," or "He chose to pay with a credit card, but cash is what he should have used."
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 09 Mar 2023, 04:48
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yavasani
In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nineteenth century, important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting, but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.


(A) electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still

(B) electricity was in less than one percent of homes and lighting still

(C) there had been less than 1 percent of homes with electricity, where lighting was still being

(D) there was less than 1 percent of homes that had electricity, having lighting that was still

(E) less than one percent of homes had electricity, where lighting had still been

Show Spoiler
Progress and Barbarism: World in the Twentieth Century
Hardcover – Import, 1998

Attachment:
01.png

Major Cities

(A) CORRECT

(B) Verb (provided)

(C) Verb (had been, was still being)

(D) Modifier / Meaning (having)

(E) Verb (had been)

First glance

The parallel marker but is just before the underline. Should the underlined part of the sentence start with electricity or something else?

Issues

(1) Verb: provided; had been; was still being

Compare the answers vertically; various verb tenses change.

(A) electricity was in homes, where lighting was still provided by candles…

(B) electricity was in homes and lighting still provided by candles…

(C) there had been less…where lighting was still being provided by candles…

(D) there was less… having lighting that was still provided by candles…

(E) less than 1 percent had electricity, where lighting had still been provided by candles…

Answer (B) is missing the verb was before provided. It should read: lighting was provided by candles.

Answers (C) and (E) use past perfect (had been). Past perfect can be used only when the sentence also has another past event that took place later in time than the past perfect event.

In the case of answer (C), the had been event took place at the same time as the was provided event, so the two events should be in the same tense. The reasoning is the same for answer (E): the had event took place at the same time as the had been provided event, so they should employ the same tense. (Note that had, by itself, is simple past. Had becomes past perfect only when paired with a past participle, such as had provided.)

Eliminate answers (B), (C), and (E).

(2) Modifier / Meaning: having

Answers (A), (C), and (E) all use where to start the modifier; answer (D) uses having. (Answer (B) changes that part of the structure completely.)

Where was lighting still provided mainly by candles or gas? In the homes. The where modifier in answers (A) and (B) clearly points to the homes. In answer (E), the where could be interpreted as pointing to the noun just before the comma: electricity. This, of course, is not the right location. The Official Guide explanation does not address this point, so it’s unclear whether the test writers would consider this acceptable. Therefore, call this “suspicious” and avoid this choice unless there is no better option. Eliminate answers (A) and (B) and put a question mark next to (E).

Answer (D) uses the comma -ing modifier structure there was less than 1 percent…, having lighting. A comma -ing modifier refers to the main subject and verb of the clause to which it’s attached; in this case, the having modifier refers to there was. It should be referring to the homes, so eliminate answer (D).

The Correct Answer

Correct answer (A) uses the same verb tense (was, was provided) to talk about two past events that occurred at the same time. The where modifier correctly refers to homes.
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This is what the sentence wants to say: At the end of 19th century, important places had installed electric lighting but less than 1% of homes had it. In homes, lighting was still provided by candles/gas.
Note the use of passive here - Lighting was provided by candles/gas.

(B) electricity was in less than one percent of homes and lighting still

Option (B) does not use passive for this structure which makes it incorrect – lighting provided by candles/gas. Here ‘provided by candles/gas’ becomes a past participle modifier for ‘lighting.’ We have discussed this distinction in the Verbals section of the module. This leads to a lack of a clause after ‘and’ though it is required because before ‘and,’ we have a clause.

(C) there had been less than 1 percent of homes with electricity, where lighting was still being

Option (C) uses past perfect for a point in the past: At the end of 19th century, important places had installed electricity (the installation was over by this time so past perfect works) but there were less than 1% of homes with electricity. We cannot use past perfect for the underlined part since it tells us how things were at a time in the past. Let’s break the sentence down into two parts to better see this.
At the end of 19th century, important places had installed electricity – Correct. ‘Installation’ happened before a point in the past.
At the end of 19th century, there had been less than 1% of homes with electricity – Incorrect. It tells us about a state in the past. For us to use past perfect for state, the state should be over before a point in the past.
For example,
There had been less than 1% of homes with electricity, but by the end of 19th century, most homes installed it.
This would be acceptable. The state of less than 1% of homes with electricity was over by the end of 19th century (a point in the past).
Also, ‘where’ isn’t clearly modifying homes since it is a little far from it so the option is less preferable.

(D) there was less than 1 percent of homes that had electricity, having lighting that was still

Here, we have a straight forward subject-verb agreement error. ‘1 percent of homes’ will be plural because ‘homes’ is plural. Hence, the use of ‘was’ is incorrect.

(E) less than one percent of homes had electricity, where lighting had still been

As discussed in option (C), the use of past perfect in this part of the sentence is not correct. It talks about the state at the end of 19th century. Also, ‘where’ is located a bit far from homes so this option is less preferable.

Option (A) uses simple past for the state of homes at the end of 19th century and ‘where’ is placed right next to ‘homes’ so it is the best available option.

Answer (A)
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 23 Apr 2023, 06:01
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Option (A) is the correct choice:

"In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nineteenth century, important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting, but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas."

Option (B) incorrectly uses "and" to connect two separate clauses instead of using a comma and the coordinating conjunction "where."

Option (C) uses the past perfect tense unnecessarily and is wordy.

Option (D) incorrectly uses "having" instead of "that had," and the phrasing is awkward.

Option (E) changes the sentence structure by placing "less than one percent of homes" at the beginning of the sentence and uses awkward phrasing by placing "had still been" at the end.

Option (A) uses clear and concise language to describe the contrast between public places with electric lighting and homes still using candles or gas.
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine 25 May 2023, 01:46
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ExpertsGlobal5
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
yavasani
In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nineteenth century, important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting, but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.


(A) electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still

(B) electricity was in less than one percent of homes and lighting still

(C) there had been less than 1 percent of homes with electricity, where lighting was still being

(D) there was less than 1 percent of homes that had electricity, having lighting that was still

(E) less than one percent of homes had electricity, where lighting had still been


Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that electricity was in less than one percent of homes, and in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Tenses + Parallelism

• Any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.
• “where” is only used to refer to a physical place.
• “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.
• The introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “having” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.
• Past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past".
• Past perfect continuous tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had/have been") is used when a sentence contains two actions in past and one action is in greater past as well as continuous in nature; the helping verb "had been" is used with the action that is in the greater past and continuous in nature.

A: Correct. This answer choice correctly modifies “one percent of homes” with “where lighting...gas”, conveying the intended meaning – that electricity was in less than one percent of homes, and in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas. Further, Option A forms a complete sentence; the object “lighting” is acted upon by the active verb “was...provided” to form an independent thought, leading to a complete sentence. Additionally, Option A correctly uses the simple past tense verbs “was” and “was…provided” to refer to events that concluded in the past. Moreover, Option A maintains parallelism between the clauses “electricity was in less than one percent of homes” and “where lighting...gas”. Besides, Option A is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

B:This answer choice leads to an incomplete sentence; the phrase “and lighting still provided mainly by candles or gas” lacks an active verb to act upon the subject “lighting”, as “provided” is a past participle rather than an active verb. Further, Option B fails to maintain parallelism between the clause “electricity was in less than one percent of homes” and the phrase “lighting still provided mainly by candles or gas”; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.

C: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "electricity" with "where"; please remember, "where" is only used to refer to physical places. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the past perfect tense verb “had been to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past and the past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is only used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past". Additionally, Option C uses the word “being”, rendering it awkward and needlessly wordy; please remember, “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “having lighting that was still...gas”; the use of the “comma + present participle (“verb+ing” – “having” in this sentence)” construction incorrectly implies that less than one percent of homes had electricity because, in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas; the intended meaning is that less than one percent of homes had electricity, and in these homes, lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.; please remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “having” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

E: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "electricity" with "where"; please remember, "where" is only used to refer to physical places. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the past perfect continuous tense verb “had still been provided” to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past, and the past perfect continuous tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had/have been") is only used when a sentence contains two actions in past and one action is in greater past as well as continuous in nature; the helping verb "had been" is used with the action that is in the greater past and continuous in nature.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of "Past Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Perfect Continuous Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the use of "Being" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
Show more

With respect to the explanation of version (E):

“….had still been provided….”

Shouldn’t this be the NON- continuous, past perfect tense? The “been + past participle” is used in cases of the passive voice.

Not that grammar terms are all that helpful , in the long run :-)

https://www.englishgrammar.org/changing ... y%20Monday.

Posted from my mobile device
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nine Updated on: 14 Dec 2023, 05:26
Originally posted by Raman109 on 15 Sep 2023, 04:44.
Last edited by Raman109 on 14 Dec 2023, 05:26, edited 3 times in total.
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In the major cities of industrialized countries at the end of the nineteenth century, important public places such as theaters, restaurants, shops, and banks had installed electric lighting, but electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still provided mainly by candles or gas.

Option Elimination -

Let me share a simple example to make it easy to understand.
At the end of 2014, I started to work at Volvo - Correct. Here, this sentence effectively communicates a specific point in time (the end of 2014) when I began working at Volvo using the past tense ("started").

Let's complicate a bit.
At the end of 2014, India had achieved massive modernization of the city buses with automatic gearboxes, low noise pollution, comfort, etc., and I started to work at Volvo. - Correct.
Here - India had achieved massive modernization in terms of new buses with automatic gearboxes, low noise pollution, comfort, etc., by the end of 2014. This uses the past perfect tense ("had achieved") to indicate an action completed before another past event, which, by the way, is "by the end of 2014." - Okay.

I started to work at Volvo. This uses the simple past tense ("started") to indicate the initiation of your employment at Volvo at the end of 2014.

Is there any need to use the past perfect in the 2nd part? No. But if I started working at Volvo before 2014, then I could use past perfect, and a new sentence would look like this - At the end of 2014, India had achieved massive modernization of the city buses with automatic gearboxes, low noise pollution, comfort, etc., and I had started to work at Volvo. So here, India achieving modernization and I starting at Volvo happened before 2014.

So, we need to look at the context and meaning.

Now, back to our question. Here, the sequence is that by the end of the 19th century, the public places already had installed electric lighting, but in terms of homes, only 1% had electricity. The meaning is not that "1% of homes had electricity by the end of the 19th century." Imagine that both happened by the end of the 19th century, then there would not be any contrast. Right? Yes, then we don't need "but." So, because we have "but" in the non-underlined part, we need to bring the contrast: "While X had installed (past perfect) A at the end of 1890, only 1% of Y obtained (simple past) A."

(A) electricity was in less than one percent of homes, where lighting was still -ok

(B) electricity was in less than one percent of homes and lighting still - "and" demands strict parallelism. After "and," we have a phrase; before, we have a clause - not parallel.

(C) there had been less than 1 percent of homes with electricity, where lighting was still being - "had been" is wrong. There is no contrast, then. Moreover, "where" modifying "lighting"? Really? Wrong.

(D) there was less than 1 percent of homes that had electricity, having lighting that was still - SV issue. We need "there were." The correct usage of "having" is "Having finished her work, Anamika went for a walk." The structure and meaning of "having" are messed up here.

(E) less than one percent of homes had electricity, where lighting had still been - "where" modifying "lighting"? Really? Wrong. Moreover, using past perfect "had been provided" is a total mess. The homes that used candles and those (less than 1%) - happened simultaneously, so we need the same past tense.
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