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 Progress and Barbarism: World in the Twentieth Century Hardcover – Import, 1998 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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15 Oct 2023, 14:56

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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

Hello Experts,
The things happened in the past, but the highlighted part indicates the recent things, doesn't it?
Thanks__

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15 Oct 2023, 18:50

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I believe this is a very good question. What's the source?

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19 Oct 2023, 07:37

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TheUltimateWinner

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

Hello Experts,

The things happened in the past, but the highlighted part indicates the recent things, doesn't it?

Thanks__

Yes, but recent only relative to the frame of reference in the sentence: the end of the nineteenth century. Here, have an example:

"When Tim started tutoring, bison were still roaming across much of North America."
The roaming was STILL going on when Tim started tutoring (however long ago that may have been).

PTD1995

I believe this is a very good question. What's the source?

This one was in the 2022 Official Guide. (RIP SC.)

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Option (E) usage of past perfect is wrong:-

I thought that usage of Had is correct in Option (E) bcoz we have the TIME MARKER PHRASE i.e. "at the end of the nineteenth century". But if you will see it properly the phrase starts with "AT". It does not start with "BY". Notice properly that "AT" and "BY" signal different thing. "BY" will signal that something has already happened till 19th centure hence the flow of event will be -->> 1st an earlier event and 2nd will be the arrival of 19th century. But the case is not such with "AT" . "AT" signals that 19th century and the other event happened in the same time frame. So the usage of PAst perfect is not right. Now we may argue that why are we using "HAD" for the event given in the non underlined portion i.e. for "important public places ........had installed electric lighting". Now clearly we have a reasoning for same. There are two actions happening . One is the installation of electric lighling in some imp places and other is the end ninetienth century in which electricity was in less than 1% homes. So obviously as per the meaning of the sentence first the electricity would have been installed in imp places and then the arrival of end on 19th century would have come in which light connections were in very few homes and many homes were without lighting .

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