Technological innovations such as the internet, which proliferated at

Question

Technological innovations such as the internet, which proliferated at a pace seemingly unique in the 21st century, were in fact similar to the explosion of new technology during the industrial revolution that drastically changed life in analogous ways in the 18th century.

(A) Technological innovations such as the internet, which proliferated at a pace seemingly unique in the 21st century, were in fact similar to the explosion of new technology during the industrial revolution that

(B) The impact of technological innovations such as the internet, which proliferated in the 21st century at a pace that may seem unique, was similar to that of the explosion of new technology during the industrial revolution and

(C) The pace at which technological innovations such as the internet have proliferated in the 21st century may seem unique, but it is similar to the industrial revolution’s new technology, which exploded and
 
(D) The pace at which technological innovations such as the internet proliferated is seemingly unique in the 21st century, but the industrial revolution provided an explosion of new technology and
 
(E) The pace at which technological innovations such as the internet have proliferated may seem unique to the 21st century, but the industrial revolution provided an explosion of new technology that

daagh · Accepted Answer

Technological innovations such as the internet, which proliferated at a pace seemingly unique in the 21st century, were in fact similar to the explosion of new technology during the industrial revolution that drastically changed life in analogous ways in the 18th century.

(A) Technological innovations such as the internet, which proliferated at a pace seemingly unique in the 21st century, were in fact similar to the explosion of new technology during the industrial revolution that ---  Simple past tense 'which proliferated' is the wrong tense. The 21st century is not over. Therefore, we must use the present perfect tense 
 
(B) The impact of technological innovations such as the internet, which proliferated in the 21st century at a pace that may seem unique, was similar to that of the explosion of new technology during the industrial revolution and ----  Same problem as in A.

(C) The pace at which technological innovations such as the internet have proliferated in the 21st century may seem unique, but it is similar to the industrial revolution’s new technology, which exploded and ----T he pace is said wrongly to be similar to the new technology. The pace should be compared with the pace of the new technology.

(D) The pace at which technological innovations such as the internet proliferated is seemingly unique in the 21st century, but the industrial revolution provided an explosion of new technology and --- The same tense problem as in A and B.

(E) The pace at which technological innovations such as the internet have proliferated may seem unique to the 21st century, but the industrial revolution provided an explosion of new technology that ---  The only choice that is remaining and the correct one.

AjiteshArun · Answer

This is the sentence that option A leads to:

Technological innovations such as the internet, which proliferated at a pace seemingly unique in the 21st century, were in fact similar to the explosion of new technology during the industrial revolution that drastically changed life in analogous ways in the 18th century.

Here are a couple of quick ways to take A out:

1. Option A tells us that (a) technological innovations like the internet proliferated at a seemingly unique pace in the 21st century and (b) these innovations were similar to the explosion of new technology. Neither is very good from a meaning perspective. That is, what we want to do is show that the ~rate of technological growth in the the 21st century is not unique. Comparing the  innovations  directly to the  explosion  won't help us do that (the innovations themselves are not similar to an explosion).

2. The that is very close to industrial revolution in option A. This is not ideal: (a) the that would be better off closer to something related to technology and (b) it implies that there is a particular industrial revolution, one that drastically changed life.

rnn · Answer

hi, kindly share why option a is incorrect

jrk23 · Answer

In "b" can't we say that Impact of 21st century is compared with the impact of 18 century and its the correct answer?

AjiteshArun · Answer

This is the sentence that option B leads to: The impact of technological innovations such as the internet , which proliferated in the 21st century at a pace that may seem unique, (a) was similar to that of the explosion of new technology during the industrial revolution and (b) drastically changed life in analogous ways in the 18th century. This option tells us that the impact of innovations like the internet changed life in the 18th century.

globaldesi · Answer

Doesnt E channge the meaning of entire sentence.
E compares pace in 21st century to explosion during industrial revolution

AjiteshArun · Answer

I agree that the primary meaning of  explosion  is something else entirely, but in this case  explosion  means something like "very rapid growth". Take a look at #2  here .

btrg · Answer

AjiteshArun   daagh  " during the industrial revolution " is modifying the " new technology ". Hence "that" should be referring to "new technology" instead of "Industrial revolution". Is my understanding correct?

AjiteshArun · Answer

The  during the industrial revolution  is actually for  explosion  (more precisely, it is for  the explosion of new technology , as it tells us when  the explosion of new technology  happened). However, the ambiguity that the  that  introduces is something that we can't get rid of easily without making some changes in the sentence.

For example, the  that  is very clear in the following example:

The explosion in the mine shaft during the last few hours of the shift that should never have been scheduled in the first place...

The  during...  refers to  the explosion in the mine shaft . Having the  that  close to the noun it wants to refer to ( shift ) really helps reduce ambiguity in this phrase. Generally, the closer the better (better does not mean that other constructions are impossible).

daagh · Answer

btrg

1. Grammar: A relative pronoun such as who, that, and ,which tend to modify the touching noun rather than a distant noun. 
Ex: One of the students who/ that have scored 800 in GMAT was rejected by Wharton. 
In this case, although 'one of the students' is the singular subject, the relative pronoun 'who/ that' modifies the plural noun in front and hence takes the plural verb have scored. Therefore, the modified is the nearest Industrial revolution rather than distant new technology.

2. Meaning: There were thousands of technological creations that cumulatively led to the Industrial revolution, which then led to the change rather than any of technological creations individually bringing out the change. Therefore, the change is more attributable to the IR than the technology.

Leonaann · Answer

Why is b wrong? Aren???t the comparisons made parallel? The ???that??? in the second clause refer back to the impact right? Then where did I go wrong? Please help

NoMatterWhat · Answer

Two Strong Points to Eliminate B

1- What is the subject of "drastically changed"?....is It Technological innovations or Industrial revolution?

2- "Analogous " already present in the non-underlined portion; hence the presence of "similar" is incorrect.

Hope it helps

Thanks = Kudos

RajdeepGM · Answer

Here A and C makes improper comparisons. Hence incorrect. B introduced a needless word impact and also spoiled the comparison (see carefuly). D spoiled the actual meaning by stating tat industrial revolution changed life (whereas it is the technology tat did)

Only E makes coreect comparison and also justifies the meaning.

(Lesson: NEVER ASSUME THAT THE GIVEN SENTENCE IN THE PREMISE IS STANDARD. THAT MAY BE MEANINGFULLY WRONG AS WELL)

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CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

This question is an interesting mix of Comparison, Pronoun reference, Tense and Idiomatic usage.

There are a few reasons to rule out Option A. 
• One is the usage of the phrase “unique in”. Since the meaning to be conveyed is that the pace at which technological innovations proliferated might seem to be something that has only happened in the 21st century, the appropriate phrase is “unique to”. 
• Another reason to rule out this option is the comparison – “ Technological innovations  such as the internet, which proliferated at a pace seemingly unique in the 21st century, were in fact  similar to the explosion of new technology  during the industrial revolution that” – the comparison is between technological innovations and the explosion of new technology. But the comparison should actually be between the proliferation of technological innovations and the explosion of new technology. 
• Yet another reason would be the placement and reference of the relative pronoun ‘that’ at the end of the option. In certain cases in which there is a noun + preposition + noun before the relative pronoun, the relative pronoun can refer to the first noun instead of the noun immediately before it. However, in this case, there are too many words separating the relative pronoun from its intended antecedent ‘explosion’. 
• “Technological innovations such as the internet, which proliferated at a pace seemingly unique in the 21st century, were in fact similar to the  explosion  of new technology during the industrial revolution  that ”.

So, for all these reasons,  Option A  can be eliminated.

Option B - “ The impact of technological innovations  such as the internet, which proliferated in the 21st century at a pace that may seem unique, was similar to that of the explosion of new technology during the industrial revolution  and drastically changed  life” – The subject of the verb “changed” in the non-underlined portion of the sentence is “The impact of technological innovations”. The placement of the coordinating conjunction makes the last part of the sentence an independent clause, implying that the impact of technological innovations in the 21st century drastically changed life in the 18th century. So,  Option B  can also be eliminated.

Option C has two errors. One is the use of the word ‘exploded’ instead of ‘explosion’. The noun form ‘explosion’ conveys an idiomatic meaning – that of proliferation. The verb form ‘exploded’ conveys a literal meaning. The comparison in this option is also not accurate; the option makes a comparison between the pace of technological innovations and the industrial revolution’s new technology. So,  Option C  can also be eliminated.

Option D contains a tense error – “The pace at which technological innovations such as the internet  proliferated  is seemingly unique in the 21st century, but the industrial revolution provided an explosion of new technology and”
The simple past tense has been used to refer to an action that has taken place in the 21st century. So,  Option D  can also be eliminated.

Option E corrects all the errors of the other options.  Therefore, E is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

tt147 · Answer

CrackVerbalGMAT ,  daagh ,  VeritasKarishma

Doesn't option choice E violates the 'X but Y' parallelism ?
'The pace but the industrial revolution'. How can 'the pace' and 'the industrial revolution' be parallel ?

KarishmaB · Answer

Do you mean to say the parallel structure of 'not X but Y'? Here that idiom is not used.

This sentence uses 'but' to join two independent clauses.

The pace in 21st century may seem unique, but A provided B that changed life in analogous ways in 18th century.

Sajal12 · Answer

Hi experts,

in option E, is it correct to use "have" with pace. Is pace plural?

MayankSingh · Answer

# Break the sentence to check the subject & corresponding verb:

The pace -
 “at which technological innovations such as the internet have proliferated”
- may seem unique …….

So the verb for “The pace” is “May seem” & not “have” I.e “The pace may seem unique “

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AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  Sajal12 ,

As  MayankSingh  pointed out, the verb for  pace  is  may seem .  Have proliferated  (plural) is the verb for  technological innovations  (plural).

Technological innovations such as the internet, which proliferated at

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Technological innovations such as the internet, which proliferated at

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