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AndrewN
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The direction in which the Earth and the other solid planets—Mercury, 13 Jan 2021, 13:58
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TheUltimateWinner
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The direction in which the Earth and the other solid planets—Mercury, Venus, and Mars—spins were determined from collisions with giant celestial bodies in the early history of the Solar System.

(A) spins were determined from
(B) spins were determined because of
(C) spins was determined through
(D) spin was determined by
(E) spin was determined as a result of
Hi Experts,
GMATNinja AjiteshArun GMATGuruNY MartyTargetTestPrep AndrewN
Can you share your thought for choice E? I mean-why choice E is considered as wrong?
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To be honest, TheUltimateWinner, I cannot state the case any better than daagh did above, here. Whether you view the matter as one of superfluity or using more words when fewer would do, choice (E) should be seen as a subpar version of (D).

Thank you for thinking to ask me about this one, even if I can merely point to what someone else has already written.

- Andrew
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The direction in which the Earth and the other solid planets—Mercury, 14 Jan 2021, 03:12
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VeritasKarishma mam GMATNinja sir Please explain how to choose between D and E
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The direction in which the Earth and the other solid planets—Mercury, 14 Jan 2021, 22:28
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vasuca10
VeritasKarishma mam GMATNinja sir Please explain how to choose between D and E
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(E) has redundancy.

"Determined by" is the same thing as "is a result of"

We can say:
The direction in which planets rotate was determined by collisions with giant bodies. (Depending on how the planets collided with giant bodies, they started rotating in one direction or the other)

or

The direction in which planets rotate was a result of collisions with giant bodies.

But you cannot use both i.e. you cannot say "determined as a result of"
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The direction in which the Earth and the other solid planets—Mercury, 07 Mar 2023, 12:43
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The most appropriate choice is option D) "spin was determined by" because it clearly indicates that the spin direction of the Earth and other solid planets was caused by the collisions with giant celestial bodies in the early Solar System. The word "by" is commonly used to indicate the cause or reason behind an event or action, which fits well in this context. Option E) is close in meaning to option D, but it is not as precise in conveying the idea that collisions were the cause of the spin direction.
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