In the middle of the 19th century, mathematician turned computer scien

In the middle of the 19th century, mathematician turned computer scientist Ada Lovelace aided Charles Babbage by developing the first computer algorithm, a breakthrough that ushered in the computer age, leading to machines capable of executing functions far more rapidly than could any possible human and resulting in every subsequent development in the field, from the development of the very first personal computer nearly a century later to the programs that today sequence genomes.

1. mathematician turned computer scientist Ada Lovelace aided Charles Babbage by developing the first computer algorithm, a breakthrough that ushered in correct
2. Ada Lovelace, mathematician and computer scientist, aided Charles Babbage by developing the first computer algorithm, ushering in and is wrong, it distorts intended meaning
3. Ada Lovelace, who was a mathematician turned computer scientist, aided Charles Babbage in developing the first computer algorithm, which ushered in I think who was a mathematician turned computer scientist is wrong
4. the mathematician turned computer scientist, Ada Lovelace, aided Charles Babbage in developing the first computer algorithm; she ushered in
5. Ada Lovelace, the mathematician turned computer scientist, aided Charles Babbage by developing the first computer algorithm, ushering in

In the middle of the 19th century, mathematician turned computer scientist Ada Lovelace aided Charles Babbage by developing the first computer algorithm, a breakthrough that ushered in the computer age, leading to machines capable of executing functions far more rapidly than could any possible human and resulting in every subsequent development in the field, from the development of the very first personal computer nearly a century later to the programs that today sequence genomes.

1. mathematician turned computer scientist Ada Lovelace aided Charles Babbage by developing the first computer algorithm, a breakthrough that ushered in
--> correct.

2. Ada Lovelace, mathematician and computer scientist, aided Charles Babbage by developing the first computer algorithm, ushering in
--> , v-ing is wrong here.

3. Ada Lovelace, who was a mathematician turned computer scientist, aided Charles Babbage in developing the first computer algorithm, which ushered in
--> we need "essential modifier", not "non-essential modifier".

4. the mathematician turned computer scientist, Ada Lovelace, aided Charles Babbage in developing the first computer algorithm; she ushered in
--> "she" is ambiguous.

5. Ada Lovelace, the mathematician turned computer scientist, aided Charles Babbage by developing the first computer algorithm, ushering in
--> , v-ing is wrong here.

usher means to complete sth
Only A has the correct use of usher. "a breakthrough that ushered in the computer age"

MAGOOSH Official Explanation:

Two possible pitfalls

Pitfall #1

This is a tricky question. Be careful not to get a case of “eliminitis” and unthinkingly get rid of (A) and (D). Sure, it’s tempting given that we automatically think that Ada Lovelace should immediately follow the comma. However, it is fine to have an adjective immediately following the comma as long as that adjective is modifying Ada Lovelace.

Pitfall #2

If you read the entire sentence, you’ll notice the two participles “leading” and “resulting”. Almost, reflexively our brain screams parallelism and we eliminate every answer choice that doesn’t have “ushering”. However, “leading” and “resulting” are not the second and third members of a list of three participles. Rather, we have a phrase with the past tense of ushered that is modified by the two participles “leading” and “resulting”. In other words, these two participles describe a noun in the preceding clause.

The original answer has “breakthrough” as this noun. The other answer choices change it so suddenly either Ada Lovelace is leading to every subsequent development in computers (weird) or the algorithm itself is leading to machines capable of executing functions (not as weird). For this reason, (B), (C), (D), and (E) can all be eliminated.

(A) provides the correct noun “breakthrough”, which serves as a summative modifier describing the work of Ada Lovelace. Only (A) does this.

Answer: (A)

POE:

Split #1: idiom

This is a subtle idiom in English: [role #1] “turned” [role #2].

Clint Eastwood is an actor turned politician.

Michael Strahan is an athlete turned TV host.

This is a concise elegant way to sum up a person’s past and present role all at once. In this sentence, it is perfectly correct to describe Lovelace as a “mathematician turned computer scientist”; choices (A) & (D) use this elegant correct structure.

To call Lovelace simply “mathematician and computer scientist,” as in choice (B), is also brief and correct; we lose a little information in this formulation, but on its own, it’s perfectly correct.

The phrasing “the mathematician who turned into a computer scientist” is awkward, wordy, and clumsy by comparison. While not black/white wrong, this poorly phrasing certainly makes us suspicious about choices (C) & (E).

Split #2: the “breakthrough”

Choice (A): here, we have an independent clause, and then in an appositive, a noun that summarizes the action of the clause. This is correct.

Choice (B): we have a clause, then “and the breakthrough …” Wait! Exactly what was the breakthrough? We have an idea, but the grammar does not make this identity clear. Grammar that leaves us guessing is not good grammar. This choice is incorrect.

Choice (C): here we have an independent clause, then a comma, then another independent clause, with no conjunction separating the two clauses. This mistake is called a comma splice. This choice is incorrect.

Choice (D): here, the wording “developing as a breakthrough the first computer algorithm” is odd—as if she could have just developed the first computer algorithm in an ordinary way, but instead, decided to develop it “as a breakthrough.” The exact meaning is unclear. Furthemore, the “breakthrough” is mentioned in the first clause, and a semicolon correctly separates the clauses, but the pronoun “this” is ambiguous in its antecedent. This choice is incorrect.

Choice (E): the wording “had the breakthrough development of the first computer algorithm” is awkward; also, it’s unclear which part the infinite “to aid Charles Babbage” modifies. Awkward + unclear = wrong. This choice is incorrect.

The only possible choice is (A).

I was confused between A and C

In A, saying Ada aided Charles ‘by’ developing the algorithm, while correct grammatically, might seem a bit off because of meaning. Need to try to not to let common knowledge come in the way!

In C, Ada aided Charles ‘in’ seemed to be correct however the comma splice should rule it out

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Hiral777

Sure, there's a meaning difference between "by developing" (she herself developed the algorithm, and that's how she aided him) and "in developing" (she helped him to develop the algorithm). However, that's only a criterion we want to use if we feel that we KNOW the meaning for sure, usually because one meaning is illogical or creates other problems in the sentence. Here, it turns out that the former meaning is correct, but the meaning in C is not something we'd automatically know to rule out. There's also no comma splice; that occurs when we have two complete, independent clauses stuck together with a comma, as we would if the semicolon I just used were a comma.

The clearer meaning issue between A and C is that C is saying the algorithm itself ushered in the computer age, whereas A/B/E all say that the work she did is what ushered in the computer age. That's the result we get from ", ushering" after the initial clause, but A uses another common solution: it introduces a new noun ("breakthrough") to refer to the previous idea and receive the noun modifier. Watch out for this trick every time one answer says "X, which" and another says "X, a Y which." In other words, if the modifier doesn't fit the noun at the end of the clause, the correct answer may add a noun that does fit.