Last visit was: 18 Nov 2025, 15:23 It is currently 18 Nov 2025, 15:23
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
 1   2   3   4   5   6   
805+ Level|   Clauses|   Modifiers|   Parallelism|   Pronouns|            
User avatar
topmbaseeker
User avatar
Joined: 07 Jan 2008
Last visit: 11 Mar 2010
Posts: 59
Own Kudos:
1,764
 [947]
Given Kudos: 1
Posts: 59
Kudos: 1,764
 [947]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which Updated on: 13 Jun 2021, 13:44
Originally posted by topmbaseeker on 28 Nov 2008, 23:41.
Last edited by Bunuel on 13 Jun 2021, 13:44, edited 3 times in total.
Edited the question.
62
Kudos
Add Kudos
878
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
00:00
Start Timer
Pause Timer
Resume Timer
Show Answer
Hide
Show
History
E
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

95% (hard)

Question Stats:

32% (01:27) correct 68% (01:37) wrong based on 9660 sessions

History

Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.


(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing

(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which differed

(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing

(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed

(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
ShowHide Answer
Official Answer
E
Most Helpful Reply
User avatar
egmat
User avatar
e-GMAT Representative
Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,108
Own Kudos:
32,883
 [207]
Given Kudos: 700
GMAT Date: 08-19-2020
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,108
Kudos: 32,883
 [207]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which Updated on: 19 Oct 2021, 03:44
Originally posted by egmat on 22 Aug 2012, 08:12.
Last edited by egmat on 19 Oct 2021, 03:44, edited 1 time in total.
97
Kudos
Add Kudos
107
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi guys,
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.



• The growth of the railroads led to
    o the abolition of local times, and
    o the establishment of regional times.
• Two characteristics of local times have been mentioned in the sentence:
    o they were determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian, and
    they differed from city to city.



1. Singular verb “was” does not agree in number with plural subject “local times”. SV must agree in number error.

2. Also “was” seem to be the verb for “abolition of local times”, meaning abolition was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian. This is certainly not the intended logical meaning of the sentence. Meaning error.

3. The two characteristics of “local times” must be parallel to each other. Here, “which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian” (a clause) is not parallel to “differing from city to city” ( a verb-ed modifier phrase). Parallelism error.



POE:

(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing: Incorrect. Errors discussed above.

(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which differed: Incorrect. Same SV number agreement and meaning errors as in A.

(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing: Incorrect. Same parallelism error as in A.

(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed: Incorrect. “determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian” (a verb-ed modifier) is not parallel to “differed from city to city” (a verb phrase). Notice here that “determined” is not a verb here. It is a verb-ed modifier that is modifying “local times”. If it were a verb, ther would be no comma before it and the subject and the verb would be connected properly.

(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing: Correct. “determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian” (a verb-ed modifier phrase) is parallel to “differing from city to city” (a verb-ing modifier phrase). Both the modifiers are correctly presenting the characteristics of “local times”. Refer to OG 12#42 to see how verb-ing and verb-ed modifiers can be parallel to each other.



1. SV pair must always agree in number.
2. SV pair must always make sense together.
3. In a list of parallelism, all the entities must be grammatically as well as logically parallel.

The concepts tested in this sentence have been covered in e-gmat concepts:
1. Level 1 - SV - Agree in Number (This concept features in Level 1 Preview Concepts that are available for free. Just register and learn.)
2. Level 2 - SV - Make Sense
3. Level 1 - Parallelism - Identify and Correct
4. Level 1 - Parallelism - Helpful Tips

You can also review our article on this topic by clicking on the following link:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/verb-ed-verb- ... 26923.html

Hope this helps.

Thanks
Shraddha
User avatar
TraderAK
User avatar
Joined: 27 Aug 2009
Last visit: 14 Nov 2010
Posts: 32
Own Kudos:
305
 [152]
Given Kudos: 1
Concentration: Masters in Finance
Schools:London Business School
Posts: 32
Kudos: 305
 [152]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 19 Sep 2009, 22:23
103
Kudos
Add Kudos
49
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
topmbaseeker
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by
when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the
establishment of regional times.
(A)which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and
differing
(B)which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which
differed
(C)which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and
differing
(D)determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed
(E)determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
Show more

Answer E

The sentence goes like this:
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times and to the establishment of regional times.

The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, Modifier 1 and Modifier 2, and to the establishment of regional times.

Modifier 1 = determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian
Modifier 2 = differing from city to city

Sentence with modifier 1 only:
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian, and to the establishment of regional times.

Sentence with modifier 2 only:
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.

Complete sentence:
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.
User avatar
seekmba
User avatar
Joined: 17 Feb 2010
Last visit: 25 Sep 2014
Posts: 626
Own Kudos:
3,603
 [47]
Given Kudos: 6
Posts: 626
Kudos: 3,603
 [47]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 28 Jun 2010, 06:48
19
Kudos
Add Kudos
28
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hey, I found some real good explanation on other forum. Will post it here for everyone's benefit.

Quote:

It's a bit tricky to answer these questions sometimes, but the main idea behind whether to choose the -ing form or the -ed form this:

When we reduce a verb to its -ing or -ed form, we must look at one and only one thing: whether the noun that it will modify is the subject or object of that verb.

The -ing form is used for DOING the action, which means SUBJECT, which means ACTIVE voice.

The -ed form is used for RECEIVING the action, which means OBJECT, which means PASSIVE voice.

Before I go further, let me offer two examples that will make things clearer as we go along:

speaking person (the -ing form)
spoken words (the -ed form)

In this type of question, we always have two elements:

a particple, which is either in the -ing or -ed form
a noun that is modified by this participle

So, using the previous examples, speaking modifies person and spoken modifies words.

The next step is to realize that these participles all come from verbs--speaking and spoken both come from the verb speak.

Now, using these examples, and applying them to the rules I mentioned at the beginning, we will notice that if we made a sentence, person would be the subject of the verb speak and words would be the object of the verb speak. Using this procedure, we can figure out whether should use the -ing or -ed form of a participle that modifies a noun.

Of course, this is easy when the vocabulary is easy, and we often get confused when we are using difficult vocabulary because we sometimes don't know whether something is the subject or the object of the verb, but this procedure that I have explained is the only sure way to get the right answer.

In our sentence here, "which" replaces "times", and "times" is the object of "determined", but it is the subject of "differed".

In other words, we have something like this:

...somebody determined times...

but

times differing [not differed...]

I know some of you have learned that we should only use the -ing form only for actions that are ongoing/in progress in the present, but that's simply not true. We do occasionally use them correctly for past actions that were ongoing/in progress.

Finally, everybody gets confused simply because the -ed form appears in the second one, making people think the -ed form should appear again when it's reduced. We need to realize that there is truly no connection between the two; it's pure coincidence that each has the -ed form in it

If you stick to the rules that I just wrote, you'll be okay.
Show more
User avatar
mrsmarthi
User avatar
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
1,879
 [44]
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,879
 [44]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 16 Sep 2009, 09:22
17
Kudos
Add Kudos
27
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
My take is E.

One imp point to note is - participles(both present and past) and adjectives can be made parallel as long as they modify the same noun.

(D)[determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian] and [differed]
(E)[determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian] and [differing]

Here both the above statements are adj of local times(local times are determined by when the sun....and local times are differeing from city to city.

Differed from city to city is not correct. So you are left with E.

In A,B,C time zones cannot be modified by a relative pronoun - which.
User avatar
sudeep
User avatar
Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Last visit: 13 Nov 2012
Posts: 248
Own Kudos:
1,178
 [33]
Given Kudos: 106
WE 1: 7years (Financial Services - Consultant, BA)
Posts: 248
Kudos: 1,178
 [33]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 20 Sep 2009, 07:20
21
Kudos
Add Kudos
12
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
here, You need to consider the action, similar to active and passive.

why determined and not determining?
Local times are not determining sun position or ....., but they are getting determined by (action performed by some other agent)
==> In this case we use past participle [determined]

differing vs. differed ==> differing is present property of the subject (local times). [*No other agent of action]
==>we use present participle.
User avatar
daagh
User avatar
Major Poster
Joined: 19 Feb 2007
Last visit: 16 Oct 2020
Posts: 5,264
Own Kudos:
42,417
 [30]
Given Kudos: 422
Status: enjoying
Location: India
WE:Education (Education)
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 5,264
Kudos: 42,417
 [30]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 06 Apr 2012, 20:04
18
Kudos
Add Kudos
12
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Most of the problems with this text arise because of the difficulties posed by the nature of the participial modifiers both the past and the present. It must be noted that these participles do not carry a sense of tense per se. They are tenseless and can be used universally. To repeat, a past participle such as ‘determined’ can be used in present and future tense situations and the present participle ‘differing’ can be used in past, present, and future similarly.

Ex:written to satirize the eccentricities of the olden earldom of the English and read by millions over the world, Wodehouse’s books are a great hit— part participles used in present tense sentence

Working for just a couple of weeks, Joe dreamt that he could easily cross 750 in his GMAT. --Present participle in past tense context.

In this context, the participle ‘determined by’ and ‘differing’ are plain descriptives of a universal happening namely the local times. Therefore, it is acceptable to use a past participle and a present participle in the same sentence and still be parallel. There are more examples of this phenomenon in GMAT.

The problem with D is that, the word ‘differed’ (local times differed) becomes a past tense verb and thus breaks the parallelism by using a participle and a verb, when two participles should have been used. The past verb means that the local times differed only in the past and not these days. That is the reason E scores over D. In C the unnecessary intrusion of the past tense phrase ‘which were’ restricts the universality only to past

A real hair puller. Kudos to poster
User avatar
ChiranjeevSingh
User avatar
Joined: 22 Oct 2012
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 411
Own Kudos:
3,058
 [15]
Given Kudos: 154
Status:Private GMAT Tutor
Location: India
Concentration: Economics, Finance
Schools: IIMA  (A)
GMAT Focus 1: 735 Q90 V85 DI85
GMAT Focus 2: 735 Q90 V85 DI85
GMAT Focus 3: 735 Q88 V87 DI84
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V47
GRE 1: Q170 V168
Expert
Expert reply
Schools: IIMA  (A)
GMAT Focus 3: 735 Q88 V87 DI84
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V47
GRE 1: Q170 V168
Posts: 411
Kudos: 3,058
 [15]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 30 Oct 2020, 03:12
9
Kudos
Add Kudos
6
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Here's the official explanation provided by the GMAC for this question:

According to the sentence, the growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times and to the establishment of regional times. Local times were determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differed from city to city. In the given sentence this latter information is conveyed in a parenthetic relative clause which … city apparently meant to give two pieces of information about local times. The two pieces of information are expressed in two phrases conjoined by and; the use of and requires that these phrases be similar in structure, a requirement not met here. This lack creates a structural flaw in the given sentence as a whole; the sequence and differing from city to city cannot fit as part of the relative clause introduced by which and is therefore a mere free-floating fragment.

Option A: The similarity of structure required in two phrases conjoined by and is lacking here. The verb was determined is a past tense passive verb form with which (referring to local times) as its subject. But in contrast to was determined, differing is an adjectival form derived from a verb and applied to which. A further flaw is found in the verb was determined; it has a plural subject which, referring to local times, and should therefore also be plural. The singular verb makes which appear to refer to the abolition of local times, but this reading conflicts with the most likely intended meaning.

Option B: The verb was determined has a plural subject (which, referring to local times) and should therefore also be plural. The singular verb makes which appear illogically to refer to the abolition of local times.

Option C: As explained above, the mismatch in structure between was determined and differing makes the sequence and differing … city into a mere free-floating fragment, thus impairing the structural integrity of the sentence as a whole.

Option D: The adjectival verb form determined modifies local times, but the past tense differed is past-tense and seems meant to have local times as its subject; because of the lack of parallelism, differed from city to city cannot correctly be conjoined with determined … meridian by using and. The grammatical structure suggests absurdly that the sun is what differed from city to city.

Option E:E Correct. With determined and differing, we have two verb forms functioning as adjectival modifiers of the noun phrase local times. This similarity allows the two phrases introduced by those adjectival verb forms to be correctly conjoined by and.

The correct answer is E.

Please note that I'm not the author of this explanation. I'm just posting it here since I believe it can help the community.
User avatar
CrackverbalGMAT
User avatar
Major Poster
Joined: 03 Oct 2013
Last visit: 16 Nov 2025
Posts: 4,844
Own Kudos:
8,945
 [4]
Given Kudos: 225
Affiliations: CrackVerbal
Location: India
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 4,844
Kudos: 8,945
 [4]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 19 Mar 2021, 04:28
3
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.


(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
Local times- plural subject needs a plural verb. Eliminate.

(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which differed
What does the second “which” relate to?
which was is not in agreement with the plural subject- local times

(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
“which were determined… “ is a clause. It is not parallel to “differing”

(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed
Determined by functions as a modifier that modifies local times. “differed” functions as verb and not a participle. To make “differed” a participle, we change it to v+ing- “differing”. Eliminate

(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing

E is correct. Both “determined” and “differing” function as modifiers.
User avatar
ExpertsGlobal5
User avatar
Experts' Global Representative
Joined: 10 Jul 2017
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,193
Own Kudos:
4,758
 [3]
Given Kudos: 43
Location: India
GMAT Date: 11-01-2019
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,193
Kudos: 4,758
 [3]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 03 Feb 2020, 06:44
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
2
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

topmbaseeker
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.


(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing

(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which differed

(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing

(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed

(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
Show more

Choice A: This answer choice features a subject-verb disagreement between the verb "was" and the noun "local times". This answer choice also fails to maintain parallelism between the phrases "which was determined..." and "differing from city to city". Remember, all elements within a list must be parallel. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice B: This answer choice repeats the subject-verb disagreement seen in Option A. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice C: This answer choice repeats the parallelism error found in Option A. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice D: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between the phrases “determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian” and "differed from city to city", as the former is a "verb+ed" modifier phrase and the latter is a verb phrase. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice E: This answer choice maintains proper subject-verb agreement and parallelism; the phrase "determined by when..." and "differing from city to city" are verb-based modifying phrases that act upon the noun "local time", making them parallel. Thus, this answer choice is correct.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
General Discussion
User avatar
reply2spg
User avatar
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
Last visit: 05 Oct 2010
Posts: 270
Own Kudos:
4,495
 [9]
Given Kudos: 2
Posts: 270
Kudos: 4,495
 [9]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 19 Sep 2009, 23:23
9
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
It is very much logical let me try to explain it logically.
we have to determine the time and it is determined by the position of Sun. Sun's position will always change let me say it is relative at every place....therefore we can not say differed from place to place.....position is differing from place to place is correct therefore E is correct.

Hope this will help.
avatar
manoharpln
avatar
Joined: 20 Jan 2010
Last visit: 14 May 2011
Posts: 15
Own Kudos:
412
 [19]
Given Kudos: 4
Posts: 15
Kudos: 412
 [19]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 20 Apr 2010, 18:28
10
Kudos
Add Kudos
8
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
I found the discussion about this qsn in manhattan and find the reason for E:
This is a toughie - it looks like you've realized that the key to the problem is parallelism, but you've been tricked by the rather weird form of

parallelism exhibited here.

The only difference between choices D and E is differed/differing, and, as you've no doubt realized, the key issue is making the choice that's most parallel

to 'determined' (from the first half of the modifier).

Here's the key: 'Determined' isn't a verb here. It's a PARTICIPLE: a verb form that functions as an adjective.
The local times were WEIRD (adjective).
The local times were DETERMINED (participle acting as adjective) by ...

So you need to pick the second half that's also 'participle acting as adjective'. Try them both:
D) The local times were DIFFERED: uh oh, that doesn't work.
E) The local times were DIFFERING from city to city. That works. It's a 'present participle' rather than a 'past participle', but it's the only one of the

two that's a participle at all.
In D and E, you can tell determined = participle, not verb, because (a) it immediately follows a comma and (b) there's no subject you could match up with

determined in a normal subject-verb configuration. Even if you match determined with the noun "times" (to which the clause is referring) "times, determined

by" is not proper subject-verb config.

The discussion with detailed explanation can be found in the link:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/100 ... t1787.html
User avatar
narangvaibhav
User avatar
Joined: 30 Jun 2011
Last visit: 17 Aug 2012
Posts: 98
Own Kudos:
160
 [2]
Given Kudos: 12
Affiliations: Project Management Professional (PMP)
Location: New Delhi, India
Concentration: Marketing
Posts: 98
Kudos: 160
 [2]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 16 Jun 2012, 10:12
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Ankit04041987
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.
(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing
(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and which differed
(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing
(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differed
(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing

How to choose between d&e
Show more
The only difference between choices D and E is differed/differing, and, as you've no doubt realized, the key issue is making the choice that's most parallel to 'determined' (from the first half of the modifier).

Here's the key: 'Determined' isn't a verb here. It's a PARTICIPLE: a verb form that functions as an adjective.
The local times were WEIRD (adjective).
The local times were DETERMINED (participle acting as adjective) by ...

So you need to pick the second half that's also 'participle acting as adjective'. Try them both:
D) The local times were DIFFERED: uh oh, that doesn't work.
E) The local times were DIFFERING from city to city. That works. It's a 'present participle' rather than a 'past participle', but it's the only one of the two that's a participle at all.

hope that helps.
Please visit the link for further explanation:

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/100 ... t1787.html
User avatar
daagh
User avatar
Major Poster
Joined: 19 Feb 2007
Last visit: 16 Oct 2020
Posts: 5,264
Own Kudos:
42,417
 [11]
Given Kudos: 422
Status: enjoying
Location: India
WE:Education (Education)
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 5,264
Kudos: 42,417
 [11]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 16 Jun 2012, 10:51
8
Kudos
Add Kudos
3
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing----- local times which was determined --- SV mismatch
(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and which differed--- same as in A
(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing ---- which were determined and diffeing –unparallel
(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differed--- determined is past participle and differed is a verb; The word differed as such can not make a participle
(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing – right choice - differing, a present participle is the perfect foil for determined, a past participle.
User avatar
ConnectTheDots
User avatar
Joined: 28 Apr 2012
Last visit: 06 May 2020
Posts: 239
Own Kudos:
1,021
 [13]
Given Kudos: 142
Location: India
Concentration: Finance, Technology
Schools: Tepper '17 (A$) Kelley '17 (M$) Duke '17 (D) Cambridge'16 (D) Darden '17 (D) Tuck '17 (D)
GMAT 1: 650 Q48 V31
GMAT 2: 770 Q50 V47
WE:Information Technology (Computer Software)
Schools: Tepper '17 (A$) Kelley '17 (M$) Duke '17 (D) Cambridge'16 (D) Darden '17 (D) Tuck '17 (D)
GMAT 2: 770 Q50 V47
Posts: 239
Kudos: 1,021
 [13]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 24 Jun 2012, 11:41
13
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Admission to a top B-School depends on one's GMAT score, determined by one's ability and ranging from 200 to 800.
or would you say :
Admission to a top B-School depends on one's GMAT score, determined by one's ability and ranged from 200 to 800.

E is good.
User avatar
ranjeet75
User avatar
Joined: 10 Jan 2010
Last visit: 10 Jan 2014
Posts: 39
Own Kudos:
59
Given Kudos: 11
Schools:IIM
Posts: 39
Kudos: 59
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 22 Aug 2012, 09:22
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
[quote="egmat"]
(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed: Incorrect. “determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian” (a verb-ed modifier) is not parallel to “differed from city to city” (a verb phrase). Notice here that “determined” is not a verb here. It is a verb-ed modifier that is modifying “local times”. If it were a verb, ther would be no comma before it and the subject and the verb would be connected properly.


Why "differed from city to city" is a verb phrase and not a verb-ed modifier. In the context of the sentence

The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differed from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.

If we omit the red coloured part then "differed" can be treated as verb-ed modifier.

Please explain and make me understand the concept.
User avatar
egmat
User avatar
e-GMAT Representative
Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,108
Own Kudos:
32,883
 [3]
Given Kudos: 700
GMAT Date: 08-19-2020
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,108
Kudos: 32,883
 [3]
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 22 Aug 2012, 13:05
Kudos
Add Kudos
2
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi Ranjeet,

Following are the links of two articles that deal with the usage of Verb-ed modifier and the difference between the verb-ed modifier and simple past tense. Please go through them. If you still have any doubts regarding any of these topics, feel free to ask us. :)
verb-ed-modifiers-vs-verb-ing-modifiers-125611.html
ed-forms-verbs-or-modifiers-134691.html

Thanks.
Shraddha
avatar
gwu
avatar
Joined: 03 Jul 2013
Last visit: 25 Dec 2016
Posts: 16
Own Kudos:
11
Given Kudos: 9
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, International Business
Schools: Booth '16 HBS '16 Kellogg 1YR '15 Sloan '16 Wharton Exec '16 Duke Fuqua LBS '16
Schools: Booth '16 HBS '16 Kellogg 1YR '15 Sloan '16 Wharton Exec '16 Duke Fuqua LBS '16
Posts: 16
Kudos: 11
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 08 Jul 2013, 14:21
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
can we say then that meaning superseds grammer ?

.........yes indeed, otherwise what is the point of language if we cant convey the right information!
User avatar
egmat
User avatar
e-GMAT Representative
Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,108
Own Kudos:
32,883
Given Kudos: 700
GMAT Date: 08-19-2020
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,108
Kudos: 32,883
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 08 Jul 2013, 20:29
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
sankey
can we say then that meaning superseds grammer ?

.........yes indeed, otherwise what is the point of language if we cant convey the right information!
Show more
Hi Sankey,
I am not sure why you think that "meaning supersedes grammar"? You are correct in saying that the purpose of language (including rules of grammar) is to express the information. Now per the rule of grammar, elements in the list should be parallel to one another. That is the precise rule that is being followed here. So the correct choice uses appropriate grammatical construction to express the meaning.
Thanks,
Payal
User avatar
WaterFlowsUp
User avatar
Retired Moderator
Joined: 04 Jun 2013
Last visit: 08 Nov 2021
Posts: 334
Own Kudos:
2,045
Given Kudos: 92
Status:Getting strong now, I'm so strong now!!!
Affiliations: National Institute of Technology, Durgapur
Location: United States (DE)
GPA: 3.32
WE:Information Technology (Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals)
Products:
My Reviews
Posts: 334
Kudos: 2,045
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which 25 Jul 2013, 12:37
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
egmat
Hi guys,
The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.



• The growth of the railroads led to
o the abolition of local times, and
o the establishment of regional times.
• Two characteristics of local times have been mentioned in the sentence:
o they were determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian, and
they differed from city to city.



In option D and E, don't we have a clause without a subject?

1. Singular verb “was” does not agree in number with plural subject “local times”. SV must agree in number error.

2. Also “was” seem to be the verb for “abolition of local times”, meaning abolition was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian. This is certainly not the intended logical meaning of the sentence. Meaning error.

3. The two characteristics of “local times” must be parallel to each other. Here, “which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian” (a clause) is not parallel to “differing from city to city” ( a verb-ed modifier phrase). Parallelism error.

POE:

(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing: Incorrect. Errors discussed above.

(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which differed: Incorrect. Same SV number agreement and meaning errors as in A.

(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing: Incorrect. Same parallelism error as in A.

(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed: Incorrect. “determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian” (a verb-ed modifier) is not parallel to “differed from city to city” (a verb phrase). Notice here that “determined” is not a verb here. It is a verb-ed modifier that is modifying “local times”. If it were a verb, ther would be no comma before it and the subject and the verb would be connected properly.

(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing: Correct. “determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian” (a verb-ed modifier phrase) is parallel to “differing from city to city” (a verb-ing modifier phrase). Both the modifiers are correctly presenting the characteristics of “local times”. Refer to OG 12#42 to see how verb-ing and verb-ed modifiers can be parallel to each other.



1. SV pair must always agree in number.
2. SV pair must always make sense together.
3. In a list of parallelism, all the entities must be grammatically as well as logically parallel.

The concepts tested in this sentence have been covered in e-gmat concepts:
1. Level 1 - SV - Agree in Number (This concept features in Level 1 Preview Concepts that are available for free. Just register and learn.)
2. Level 2 - SV - Make Sense
3. Level 1 - Parallelism - Identify and Correct
4. Level 1 - Parallelism - Helpful Tips

You can also review our article on this topic by clicking on the following link:
verb-ed-verb-ing-can-be-parallel-126923.html

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
Show more


Hi shraddha,

In answer choices D and E, don't we have a sentence which has no subject? could you please also mention a bit about the parallel structure that yu deduced over here

thanks
 1   2   3   4   5   6   
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7445 posts
GMATNinjaTwo
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
234 posts
miag
188 posts