Pack 3 Q3 Although Linus Pauling was well-known for his work

Question

Pack 3, Question 3 of 5

Although Linus Pauling was well-known for his work as an educator, author, and peace activist, his work in chemistry, specifically the nature of the chemical bond,  which had begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition in that it earned him both the Irving Langmuir Award as well as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry .

A. which had begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition in that it earned him both the Irving Langmuir Award as well as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
B. begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
C. begun in the 1920s, gaining the most recognition by earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
D. had begun in the 1920s and which, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, gained the most recognition
E. had begun in the 1920s, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award as well as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and gaining the most recognition

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chetan2u · Accepted Answer

Although Linus Pauling was well-known for his work as an educator, author, and peace activist, his work in chemistry, specifically the nature of the chemical bond,  which had begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition in that it earned him both the Irving Langmuir Award as well as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry .

Now, 'which' should modify the preceding noun but the intention of 'which had begun in the 1920s' is to modify ' his work in chemistry'.
Even the idiom BOTH X and Y is incorrectly used

Here both modifiers 'specifically the nature of the chemical bond' (an appositive or noun modifier)and 'begun in the 1920s' (past participle) modify 'his work in chemistry', and the idiom both x and y is correctly used. 
Although we should avoid back-to-back modifier, but here this is the best choice.
The construct is 
 Although Linus Pauling was well-known for his work as an educator, author, and peace activist  (Modifier), his work in chemistry,  specifically the nature of the chemical bond  (NOun modifier),  begun in the 1920s (Past participle_modifier), gained the most recognition,  earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistr y(Modifier).

Even if we take the modifier 'begun in 1920s' as a verb, the modifier 'gaining the most recognition by earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry' does not make sense.
Present participle or ING-modifier is supposed to modify the entire preceding clause or the subject.

Although Linus Pauling was well-known for his work as an educator, author, and peace activist, his work in chemistry, s pecifically the nature of the chemical bond  (modifier),  had  begun in the 1920s and  which, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, gained the most recognition. 
You don't require past perfect tense here, and the clause ' which, earning...' is incorrect.

completely faulty in construction.. Both x as well as y is wrong. Past perfect is not required..

B is the best choice.

ShankSouljaBoi · Answer

Why had is wrong in option D ????

Regards

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chaitralirr · Answer

Although Linus Pauling was well-known for his work as an educator, author, and peace activist, his work in chemistry, specifically the nature of the chemical bond,  which had begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition in that it earned him both the Irving Langmuir Award as well as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry .

A. which had begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition in that it earned him both the Irving Langmuir Award as well as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry  The use of relative clause which is incorrect it should refer to the work in chemistry instead it refers to the chemical bond and thus alters the meaning 
B. begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  Use of tense is correct. the ed modifier gained is correctly modifying the clause work in chemistry. The ing- modifier is correctly modifying the preceding clause gained recognition. 
C. begun in the 1920s, gaining the most recognition by earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry  the use of by earning him incorrect it should be earning him only the use of by is incorrect 
D. had begun in the 1920s and which, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, gained the most recognition  the use of which in this sentence is incorrect as the which should refer to work and not to the chemistry bond or the 1920s. The use of had is incorrect as there are no two actions just one action. Only past tense is required 
E. had begun in the 1920s, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award as well as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and gaining the most recognition  the use of had is incorrect as described in option D

IMO B

ShankSouljaBoi · Answer

Can anyone please solve my doubt here.

On the timeline, he had begun and subsequently he gained accolades because of his work. So had makes sense. Kindly explain.

Regards

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sampriya · Answer

A. which had begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition in that it earned him  both  the Irving Langmuir Award  as well as  the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
E. had begun in the 1920s, earning him  both  the Irving Langmuir Award  as well as  the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and gaining the most recognition

both x as well as y is considered unidiomatic therefore we can eliminate A and E

C.  begun  in the 1920s,  gaining  the most recognition by earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

this sentence forms a fragment as there is no verb for the subject "his work"

D.  had begun  in the 1920s  and which , earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, gained the most recognition

the parallel elements "had begun" and "which gained"... are not parallel the presence of "which" after the and creates parallelism error

therefore B is the correct option!

sampriya · Answer

hi,

option D has a major parallelism error if we expand the sentence..this is what we get:

his work had begun in the 1920s and his work  which  gained

the presence of which is redundant and creates a parallelism error

when i usually get confused with verb-tense errors i always look out for other error such a parallelism just to be sure.

ShankSouljaBoi · Answer

I understand and agree that D is out on grounds of faulty parallelism. I had overlooked the issue. My question is why we cant use "had" in this case.

chetan2u · Answer

The second portion is a modifier that talks of the result of the main clause. The timeline is only a particular time when he worked.

Had it been -- His work HAD begun in 1920s while he was recognized for this work in...

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Official Explanation 
 
Although Linus Pauling was well-known for his work as an educator, author, and peace activist, his work in chemistry, specifically the nature of the chemical bond,  which had begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition in that it earned him both the Irving Langmuir Award as well as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry .

A. which had begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition in that it earned him both the Irving Langmuir Award as well as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
   B. begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 
  C. begun in the 1920s, gaining the most recognition by earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
D. had begun in the 1920s and which, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, gained the most recognition
E. had begun in the 1920s, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award as well as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and gaining the most recognition

Even in the 5 second scan of the options, we can see that the sentence has multiple modifiers, including present participles (-ing words) and past participles along with one true verb. A review of our answer choices shows that we must choose which verb forms to use (actual verb or participle). The answer choices also use either “both the Irving Langmuir Award as well as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry” or “both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.” This is an idiom, and the correct structure is “both X and Y.” When using “both,” we do not use “as well as” because it is not idiomatic.

Options A and E use the unidiomatic “as well as,” so they cannot be the best answers.

To move forward, we need to determine what the subject of the sentence is. When we look at the part of the sentence that is not underlined, we see that the first part is a dependent clause (Although . . . activist). We can ignore the dependent clause. What comes right after the dependent clause should be the subject. “His work in chemistry” is the subject. The clause that follows the subject, enclosed in commas, is non-essential and merely provides more information about the subject so, for our purposes, we can ignore it. Let’s look at our three remaining answer choices individually.

Option B : His work in chemistry, begun in the 1920s, gained the most recognition, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
“Begun in the 1920s” is a participle phrase that is modifying the subject, and it can be ignored. This makes “gained” the verb. “His work in chemistry gained the most recognition.” That makes sense. The phrase that starts with “earning” is describing his work as well, and it is correct. This could be our answer.
 
 Option C : His work in chemistry, begun in the 1920s, gaining the most recognition by earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
We can ignore the first participle modifier. When we look at the rest of the sentence, we find there is no verb! “Gaining” and “earning” cannot act as verbs without a helping verb. To be a complete sentence, we must have a verb, so Option C cannot be the correct answer.
 
 Option D : His work in chemistry, had begun in the 1920s and which, earning him both the Irving Langmuir Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, gained the most recognition.
The “earning” phrase is a modifier and can be ignored. This makes the sentence easier to read: His work in chemistry, had begun in the 1920s and which gained the most recognition.

The comma between the subject and the verb “had begun” is incorrect. “And which gained the most recognition” doesn’t make sense when the whole sentence is considered. “Which” is a relative pronoun that starts a non-essential relative clause, and it does not need the “and” in front of it. This sentence lacks logic and incorrectly uses commas. Option D cannot be the best answer.
We have successfully eliminated four answer choices.  Option B is the correct answer .

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Pack 3 Q3 Although Linus Pauling was well-known for his work

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