The Dikes of the Netherlands were built for stopping sea water from

(A) were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities
built for is wrong here to show the intent or purpose(of building the dikes) we need built to

(B) had been built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities
use of past perfect is wrong here past perfect is used to clear the time sequence between two past event
there is no second past event in the sentence.................built to is required to show the intent or purpose

(C) has been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities
subject-verb error............. the dikes (plural) requires a plural verb

(D) were built to stop sea water from flooding the cities
correct verb ....built to is correct... correctly saying that dikes were built for the purpose and now they are serving the purpose

(E) had been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities[/quote]
use of past perfect is wrong here

Sentence Structure
Subject - Verb:

The Dikes of the Netherlands were built to stop sea water from flooding the cities
and they do.

Issues:

The usage of Past perfect tense is NOT justified because of the absence of another past-tense verb-form.
B and E - unsolicitated verb-tense sequencing

The usage of They do demands a base form of the verb to be parallel to the intended action.

Ex:

Jon is riding a dragon, and He does. (Incorrect)

Does what? -----> Ride. However, we have 'riding' as compared to 'ride'.

Jon wants to ride a dragon, and He does. (Correct)

Does what? -----> Ride. we have 'ride' as compared to 'riding'. Much better!
A - DO-form mismatch with the intended action

Answer choice analysis:

(A) were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities

- DO-form mismatch with the intended action

(B) had been built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities

- unsolicitated verb-tense sequencing

(C) has been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities

The Dikes of the Netherlands is a plural entity because the term refers to they in the non-underlined portion.

(D) were built to stop sea water from flooding the cities

D resolves all the error. D is the champ!
Note - I feel that we SHOULD have a comma before and because we are connecting two independent clauses.
clause 1: The Dikes of the Netherlands were built to stop sea water from flooding the cities.
clause 2: they do stop sea water from flooding the cities.

(E) had been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities

- unsolicitated verb-tense sequencing

_________________

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



POE

• Split #1 - PAST PERFECT?

If two events happen in the past and one precedes the other, we use past perfect (had verbED) for the earlier event and simple past or a time marker for the later event. The simple past tense, a time marker, or some other fact that clearly marks off the later event must be present.

No simple past tense event or time marker exists in the non-underlined part.

Options B and E incorrectly use past perfect. Eliminate B and E.

• Split #2 - IDIOM X was built TO STOP Y

I am not sure how so many people knew this idiom. I did not.
I knew that "for stopping" sounded weird and that I would never have used it.
Yes, we do need an infinitive of purpose, i.e. to stop.
"Built for stopping" is incorrect.

Options A and B use built for stopping rather than built to stop. Eliminate A. (B is already gone)

• Split #3 - present perfect is wrong

Option C uses present perfect "has been built." Wrong verb tense.

Present perfect, passive construction: HAS/HAVE + been + past participle (verbED)

We use present perfect as "a bridge from the past to the present," to express
-- action that occurred at an indefinite time (They have lived in that house for 20 years.)
-- action that occurred in the past and continues into the future (They have become frustrated in the last few hours.)

Option C also has subject/verb error. Dikes . . . HAS been built. Wrong.
Wrong verb, but also wrong because Dikes are plural and HAS is singular.

The answer is D

COMMENTS

Whoops. I posted the answer to SC #2 here initially.

I am glad to see everyone.
For today and Friday's question, I will award smiley faces to partial but good explanations.
If a question is not explained (tagging words is not explanation), no kudos.
After Friday's question, people who post answers that are not well-explained do not get smiley faces or kudos.
Full explanations that lead people to the wrong conclusion may still get kudos if I see coherent reasoning.
Part of your job is to learn how to think critically.
No one learns how to do that without making mistakes in their reasoning process.

Nice work, everyone. Happy kudos.

(A) were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities - to express purpose such as stopping it must be in the form to+verb; "were built and they do" tense error, the first part must be in present perfect tense

(B) had been built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities "Had been" past perfect is wrong. it is used to sequence 2 related events in the past. One is in present "they do"

(C) has been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities -Corrects the errors of A and B

(D) were built to stop sea water from flooding the cities Tense error as explained for Option A

(E) had been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities Tense error as explained for Option B

The Dikes of the Netherlands were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities and they do.

Error Analysis:


(A) were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities -Incorrect
here built - need a to verb , an infinitive verb to show the intent/purpose .
Use of for stopping - for verb-ing doesn't act to show purpose, for stopping is a prepositional phrase.

(B) had been built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities -Incorrect
We don't need a had tense as there are no 2 events , only 1 event dike were built , and for stopping -same error as discusses in option A.

(C) has been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities -Incorrect
This options corrects the verb by making it infinitive but adds another error with the use of has been -Dikes of Netherland need a plural verb

(D) were built to stop sea water from flooding the cities -Correct.
Corrects the error from original sentence , changes the prepositional phrase to infinitive and gives the intended meaning.

(E) had been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities-Incorrect
Though it corrects the error from original sentence it adds another error by using had been built , we don't need a had tense as there are no 2 events .

IMHO D.

The Dikes of the Netherlands were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities and they do.

(A) were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities - idiom error as to + verb shall be used to indicate purpose.

(B) had been built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities - idiom error as to + verb shall be used to indicate purpose and verb tense error as the second action mentioned in present tense in non-underline portion of the sentence.

(C) has been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities - SV error as subject is plural, i.e. the dikes of the netherlands

(D) were built to stop sea water from flooding the cities - Correct answer.

(E) had been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities[/quote] - Verb tense error as the second action mentioned in present tense in non-underline portion of the sentence.

(A) were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities
Infinitive to + verb would be preferred

(B) had been built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities
Incorrect past perfect tense since there are no 2 actions in the past

(C) has been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities
this is followed by "they do" plural - so cannot be has

(D) were built to stop sea water from flooding the cities
Correct

(E) had been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities Tense error as explained for Option B
Incorrect past perfect

I think answer should be D.

The Dikes of the Netherlands were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities and they do.

1st step C out the dikes -plural form -
2nd step B and E out, we use past perfect when we have two actions that happen one after another in past
3d step A out, we need to stop instead of for stopping

(A) were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities -wrong when we speak about goals we need to use infinitive

(B) had been built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities wrong, no needs for past perfect

(C) hasbeen built to stop sea water from flooding the cities wrong, because the noun dikes is plural

(D) were built to stop sea water from flooding the cities - Correct, right tense and the right usage of to stop

(E) had been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities - wrong, no needs for past perfect

IMO D


The Dikes of the Netherlands were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities and they do.

(A) were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities
For stopping does not express intent

(B) had been built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities
Use of had requires one more verb in simple past tense

(C) has been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities
Has its singular while the subject "dikes" is plural

(D) were built to stop sea water from flooding the cities
Looks ok

(E) had been built to stop sea water from flooding the cities
Use of "had"requires one more verb in simple past tense

The Dikes of the Netherlands were built for stopping sea water from flooding the cities and they do.

This sentence tests a very important concept often asked on the GMAT.

The usage of to Vs for.
So, when do we use to and when do we use for.

to--> It is often used to describe intent or intention to do something.
for---> It is used to describe the' what for ' aspect.

e.g I used the logic-based approach in Sentence correction to understand the nuances better.
--> why did I use the logic-based approach --> (intention) to understand the nuances.
The usage of (for understanding would be wrong here)

for--> I received Kudos for explaining the sentence very well. --> Now I received Kudos for something(What for aspect).
There is no purpose or intention here--> So usage of for is correct.

Now, coming back to the original question,

The Dikes were built --> For a purpose or with some intention and they are doing there job (even now)
So we will use 'to here' and one event is in the past and the other is in the present. So, events are connected pretty well and makes sense.

Choice D corrects all the errors mentioned above.

IMHO D

D is correct.

All the other option is having error in different forms.

For stopping is not parallel with "they do.." after the parallelism marker AND.

Also to + simple present tense here is applicable to represent the intended meaning.

Option C is having agreement error.

Usage of HAD is not required as no 2 past events are being compared here in timeframe.

Posted from my mobile device

I have posted the official explanation HERE

A. hold
B. has been-wrong
C. same as B
D. hold
E. here also has been-so wrong

between A and D. now 50% probablity to get answer correct.
stopping-ing is less prefer on gmat,also if you understand the meaning u will not go with stopping -so A eliminated

option D is right