Long-distance travel for humans primarily relied on animal power until

Question

Long-distance travel for humans primarily relied on animal power until 1829, when the steam locomotive was invented by Richard Trevithick,  who had found a way to provide sufficient traction for movement and led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains.

A. who had found a way to provide sufficient traction for movement and led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains
B. who found a way to provide sufficient traction for movement and led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains
C. who, after finding a way to provide sufficient traction for movement, led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains
D. whose discovery of a way to provide sufficient traction for movement led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains
E. who had led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains by providing sufficient traction for movement

bschool83 · Answer

rphardu,

This one seems tricky, but fairly straightforward once you grasp the meaning. In its current form the sentence seems that Richard Trevithick led to the building of the locomotives. It should in fact be his discovery that led to the building of the locomotives. You can immediately eliminate A, B, C and E.

D is the correct choice. Keep in mind that the sentence structure is constructed in a way that best expresses (and optimally) the meaning of the sentence.

Hope this helps you.

krishp84 · Answer

Pause a moment and read the question - 
Long distance travel - when steam locomotive was invented by Richard Trevithick - a way to provide sufficient traction for movement and led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains

How can these actions be chronological - 1 possible answer - if WHOSE is used to describe the way that provides traction and led to the building of locomo....

I can see the choice D has this sequence and no grammar errors - Choose and move ON

If you have time you can eliminate the other choices .
A-Long-distance travel for humans primarily relied on animal power until 1829, when the steam locomotive was invented by  Richard Trevithick , who  had found a way to provide sufficient traction for movement  and  led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains

Break it up and read - Richard Trevithick cannot lead to the building -- Nonsense

B- same error as in A --Nonsense
C- Richard cannot lead to the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains --Nonsense
E- Again Richard led to the building of locos --Nonsense

bschool2014 · Answer

+1 D. Richard Trevithick didn't led to the building of the locomotive, but rather his discover did. All other choices seem to indicate Richard Trevithick led to the building of the locomotive.

nageshshiv · Answer

Pls help to explain why B is not correct

bschool83 · Answer

Because Richard didn't lead to the building of locomotive trains but it was his discovery that led to the building of locomotive trains.

daagh · Answer

Here is an another angle of POE

Looking at the topic, the gist is clear that Trevithick‘s discovery led to invention of the locomotive. D is the only choice that directly refers to the discovery, while all the other four refer to Trevithick; So they are wrong. So D.

Chembeti · Answer

As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with E - both grammatically and meaning wise.

But, it concludes that Trevithick is the one who took the charge of building trains. This is the problem. Unless we know history, we can't answer this. In GMAT, knowledge of history is not required. Hence, we need a passive voice. So, D is correct which says only Trevithick discovery helped building locomotives but not sure whether Trevithick himself led the activity.

This is similar to following question
the-largest-trade-book-publisher-in-the-us-has-announced-the-69573.html

vix · Answer

Only one option says that the discovery led to the 'building of locomotive-driven passenger trains'. That is D.

vdbhamare · Answer

IMO D...... meaning bases question. :evil:

he didn't led to.... rather his invention led to.....

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

Although Trevithick had made his discovery before the building of locomotive-driven passenger trains (hence the past perfect “ had found ” ) Trevithick himself did not lead to the building of the trains. His discovery did. Only (D) indicates that the discovery led to the building... Because (D) changes the verb “ had found ” to the noun “ discovery, ” the past perfect is no longer necessary, as the only verb in this clause, “ led ” , refers to an action that occurred after the discovery. Therefore “ led ” is properly in the simple past tense.

Choice (A) incorrectly makes Trevithick the subject of “ led ” .

Choice (B) changes “ had found ” to “ found ” which no longer indicates the order of events, and doesn't address the problem of subject in (A).

vaibhav1221 · Answer

The catch here is the meaning. Richard Trevithick did not lead to locomotive-driven passenger trains, but the discovery of a way to provide sufficient traction for movement did.
You may treat the discovery as the first step without which one cannot move to the second step i.e. building locomotive-driven passenger trains.

abhishekmayank · Answer

I understand that D is correct. But to imply that other options are incorrect because Trevithick himself didn't "led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger" but "his discovery led to the building of locomotive-driven passenger" is unconvincing. Whether we assume that a test taker should be having prior information about this fact while solving the question correctly ?

MentorTutoring  
  AjiteshArun

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  abhishekmayank . No prior knowledge is necessary on this one. I could not say it any better than what you have noted just above. Remember, the verb  to lead , when preceded by a person, as in the sentence above, requires a direct object to answer the question of who or what was being led. You could say,

1)  He led  the team of scientists  to achieving a breakthrough ,

but you cannot say,

2)  He led to achieving a breakthrough with the team of scientists .

Rather, it was  his actions  as part of a team effort that led to achieving a breakthrough. Notice the missing direct object. To fix sentence 2, you would either have to revert to sentence 1 or change the placement of the verb in question, as in the following sentence:

3)  He achieved a breakthrough with the team of scientists that he led

I would still opt for the original sentence over this last one, since clear and concise phrasing is preferred on the GMAT™, but the point about the direct object is made, I hope. The meaning of answer choices (A) through (C) is skewed, and (E) adopts the past perfect tense for no compelling reason. At least you will agree that (D) is the best of the lot.

Thank you for tagging me. I hope that helps clarify your doubts.

- Andrew

amitahlawat06 · Answer

why nothing wrong?
it uses past perfect tense in option E which is not correct.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Long-distance travel for humans primarily relied on animal power until

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Long-distance travel for humans primarily relied on animal power until

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