The first eight moons of Saturn were discovered with direct telescopic

Question

The first eight moons of Saturn were discovered with direct telescopic observation, but long-exposure photographic techniques in the early twentieth century led to the discovery of six more moons,  so it nearly doubled the number of moons Saturn has.

A) so it nearly doubled the number of moons Saturn has
B) and it nearly doubled the amount of moons Saturn known to has
C) nearly doubling the number of moons Saturn has
D) nearly doubling the amount of moons Saturn has
E) nearly doubling the number of moons Saturn was known to have

thangvietname · Answer

this wonderful question test us the basic concept on sc, meaning

it is clear that meaning in E is more logic than meaning in C

daagh · Answer

'The number of moons Saturn has' ---- No one still knows how many moons Saturn has. May be some day, there will more that will be discovered by some other new technique. Any phrase that doubles what the Saturn ‘has’ is therefore wrong. ABCD are gone in a stroke, because what we have discovered is different from Saturn may have

E) 'nearly doubling the number of moons Saturn was known to have'; known to have correctly refers to the knowledge held until now, and doubling what Saturn is known to have( possessed) therefore is the correct expression

Temurkhon · Answer

Deliscious question highlighting the role of Meaning in SC. I took C as well other 65% of tested, but E is logically correct.

P.S. Opening new moons does not double Saturn's moon but double the number of known moons

amatya · Answer

Awesome question C & E were very closed meaning wise E is correct thats why chosen E :-D

Abhishek009 · Answer

Answer must be (E), errors in the other answer options highlighted in RED>

aragonn · Answer

Official Explanation: 
Split #1: countable vs. uncountable. We can count moons, so we have to use "number of moons". The construction "amount of moons" is incorrect, and choices (B) & (D) make this mistake.

Split #2: a classic logical mistake. What actually doubled? The fact that we humans on Earth developed new techniques did not change the number of moons that the planet Saturn actually has out there. The moons are out there, whether we can see them or not. What doubled was the number of known moon, in other words, the number of moons about which we knew. Choices (A) & (C) & (D) make this logical mistake, and only (B) & (E) get this correct.

The only possible answer is (E).

arvind910619 · Answer

Imo E

A The problem here is " it" what does it refer to . If it refers to Saturn then the sentence does not make sense as It was not Saturn that doubled the moons but it was the discovery .If "it " refers to
 long-exposure photographic techniques then it can not be as the subject is plural so definitely " it " refers to Saturn .So this choice is out for error and pronoun error.

B Again this choice repeats the error of A and additionally uses amount for countable noun .so drop this .

C This choice is incorrect as we do not need present perfect has we may not know how many moons Saturn has may be there are more to be discovered .So drop this

D Again amount here is wrong

E Correct

s1804singh · Answer

In the option E, isn't 'have' wrong for Saturn, since Saturn is Singular and have is a plural verb?

EducationAisle · Answer

Since Saturn is singular, E uses a singular verb  was .

Are you suggesting that E should have been:

...Saturn was known  to has ...

PeachSnapple1 · Answer

doesn't make sense. The number of moons Saturn has stay the same regardless. Just because more moons are discovered doesn't mean Saturn 'suddenly' increases the number of moons it has.
 "and" doesn't make sense. 
 same problem as A. The number of moons Saturn has stay the same regardless. Just because more moons are discovered doesn't mean Saturn 'suddenly' increases the number of moons it has.
 "Amount" is used for non-countable nouns.
 Bingo.

hmayank83 · Answer

The first eight moons of Saturn were discovered with direct telescopic observation, but long-exposure photographic techniques in the early twentieth century led to the discovery of six more moons, so it nearly doubled the number of moons Saturn has.

A) so it nearly doubled the number of moons Saturn has
 it cannot refer back to an entire clause. Wrong usage of it. 
B) and it nearly doubled the amount of moons Saturn known to has
 it cannot refer back to an entire clause. Wrong usage of it. 
C) nearly doubling the number of moons Saturn has
 grammatically correct as verb-ing can refer back to entire clause.However, the meaning of the sentence is wrong.The photographic technique did not double the number of moons Saturn has. 
D) nearly doubling the amount of moons Saturn has
 same error as above. Additionally, amount of moon is grammatically incorrect. 
E) nearly doubling the number of moons Saturn was known to have
 Correct usage of verb-ing modifier. The sentence also conveys correct meaning.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The first eight moons of Saturn were discovered with direct telescopic

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The first eight moons of Saturn were discovered with direct telescopic

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