Although the invention of the printing press led to a significant reco

Question

Although the invention of the printing press led to a significant reconceptualization of textual production in the fifteenth century,  what has been equally significant in the twentieth century is  the invention of the computer.

(A) what has been equally significant in the twentieth century is

(B) equally significant in the twentieth century has been

(C) no less significant in the twentieth century is

(D) what was equally significant in the twentieth century were

(E) no less significant in the twentieth century was

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

This sentence compares the invention of the printing press to that of the computer, and since the initial, nonunderlined portion of the sentence uses the simple past tense (led), the remainder of the sentence, continuing as it does to discuss a past event, must also use the simple past tense. Therefore, eliminate (A), (B), and (C) for including incorrect verb tenses. (D) and (E) give you different options for the final verb. Since the invention of the computer is the subject of this part of the sentence and is singular, the verb must be singular as well. Eliminate (D), and (E) remains.

An 800 test taker is aware that the subject of a sentence can come after the verb, particularly in constructions beginning with there are or there is.

dvishal387 · Answer

A seems to be idiomatically correct. C and E dont seems to be idiomatically correct. Use of past tense in D is incorrect.

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sudarshan22 · Answer

+1 for   E  .

(A) what  has been  equally significant in the twentieth century is

(B) equally significant in the twentieth century  has been

(C) no less significant in the twentieth century  is

(D) what was equally significant in the twentieth century  were

(E) no less significant in the twentieth century  was   -->   Correct , rectifies Verb-Tense error

Hence,   E  .

sudarshan22 · Answer

dvishal387 Firstly, option A is utterly incorrect because it uses "has been" - invention was one time event, and not an ongoing event Secondly, I don't see any idioms as such in options for the option to be incorrect, and there is hardly any idioms in any of the option. Thirdly, the option must have a past tense, because the invention happened in twentieth century, so the use of present tense is wrong. Hope it helps!

US09 · Answer

IMO E.

Invention was a one time event and past tense is required to indicate the timing of the invention of computers. Only D and E do that. D has SV mismatch. Hence, E.

Abhishek009 · Answer

Correct Answer must be (E) for the highlighted errors in other options...

MHIKER · Answer

(A) HAS BEEN IS WRONG
(B) SAME AS A
(C) IS WRONG FOR PAST EXPRESSION
(D) WERE DOESN'T AGREE WITH SINGULAR SUBJECT
(E) IS THE CORRECT ANSWER.

vishalsinghvs08 · Answer

I did not find any good any explanation in this thread so I am posting my thoughts here

Although the invention of the printing press led to a significant reconceptualization of textual production in the fifteenth century, what has been equally significant in the twentieth century is the invention of the computer.

(A) what   has been   equally significant in the twentieth century is

(B) equally significant in the twentieth century    has been

(C) no less significant in the twentieth century   is

(D) What was equally significant in the twentieth century   were

(E) no less significant in the twentieth century was

A note to remember about present perfect tenses
1. Among other things, the key aspect of this tense is the existence of a situation that started in the past and continues in the present(or its effect does). Any activity that is instantaneous cannot take a present prefect in its core form unless that activity has some effect, which can continue for longer(and is continuing).

In this question, the activity under discussion is "the invention of the computer". Now, as I mentioned before, invention is not a scattered activity. 
You say the light bulb was invented in 1879. 
You don't say - The light bulb has been invented in 1879. because it did not take a scattered amount of time across 1879 to invent a light bulb. 
Similarly, the" invention of the computer" cannot take present perfect forms. That leaves us with C, D, and E. Between them, I think C and D are easy eliminations because of present tense and plural usage respectively. You have a winner in E. Sweet, easy, and harmless selection.

Hit kudos if you like my answer. Thank you

Although the invention of the printing press led to a significant reco

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Although the invention of the printing press led to a significant reco

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