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Posts: 4,475
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
35%
(medium)
Question Stats:
66% (01:22) correct
34%
(01:34)
wrong
based on 824
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Long before Thomas Edison made a long-lasting and commercially viable incandescent lightbulb, the British chemist Sir Humphry Davy in 1802 created the first prototype of the lightbulb, that was too bright and burned out too quickly.
(A) in 1802 created the first prototype of the lightbulb, that was
(B) made the first prototype in 1802, but it was
(C) had created in 1802 the first prototype of the lightbulb, although this would be
(D) had created the 1802 prototype, the first one, which had been
(E) in 1802 had made the first prototype, but this would be
The past perfect tense is one way to indicate that one past event happened before another. When is it necessary? permitted? redundant? For a discussion of these issues, as well as the OE for this particular question, see:
Past Perfect on GMAT Sentence Correction
Mike
_________________
(A) in 1802 created the first prototype of the lightbulb, that was
(B) made the first prototype in 1802, but it was
(C) had created in 1802 the first prototype of the lightbulb, although this would be
(D) had created the 1802 prototype, the first one, which had been
(E) in 1802 had made the first prototype, but this would be
The past perfect tense is one way to indicate that one past event happened before another. When is it necessary? permitted? redundant? For a discussion of these issues, as well as the OE for this particular question, see:
Past Perfect on GMAT Sentence Correction
Mike
_________________
Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test Prep
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)
Magoosh Test Prep
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)
Posts: 4,475
sudhirmadaan
Dear sudhirmadaan,
I'm happy to respond.
My friend, when you quote text, you need to use quote mark to set aside any quoted material. Here is how your wrote your first sentence:
Long before and had representing same time frame; thus had is not required.
This is how it should be written, to convey clarity:
"Long before" and "had" representing same time frame; thus "had" is not required.
When you are asking others for help, it's a simple courtesy to make your request as clear and understandable as possible. I like to use quotes and use a different color for added clarity.
In this question, choice (A) is problematic for two reasons. The first, as you identified, is the word "that: this would not be used following a comma, because it denotes a restrictive modifier. The second is that the phrase "first prototype of the lightbulb" is unnecessarily wordy, because it's clear that we already are discussing the lightbulb. The phrasing of (B) is much more elegant on this point.
Does all this make sense?
Mike
_________________
Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test Prep
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)
Magoosh Test Prep
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)
General Discussion
Posts: 75
Long before and had representing same time frame; thus had is not required, Between A and B, B is right Answer as in A ", that" is a problem. Please let me know if my reasoning is wrong
Himanshu9818
Joined: 13 Apr 2016
Last visit: 22 Feb 2017
Posts: 45
Location: India
GMAT 1: 640 Q50 V27
GPA: 3
WE:Operations (Hospitality and Tourism)
GMAT 1: 640 Q50 V27
Posts: 45
[quote="mikemcgarry"]Long before Thomas Edison made a long-lasting and commercially viable incandescent lightbulb, the British chemist Sir Humphry Davy in 1802 created the first prototype of the lightbulb, that was too bright and burned out too quickly.
(A) in 1802 created the first prototype of the lightbulb, that was
(B) made the first prototype in 1802, but it was
(C) had created in 1802 the first prototype of the lightbulb, although this would be
(D) had created the 1802 prototype, the first one, which had been
(E) in 1802 had made the first prototype, but this would be
Answer is B
If And/but/although are used in a sentence, than pronouns refers to the first noun or the main subject.
(A) in 1802 created the first prototype of the lightbulb, that was
(B) made the first prototype in 1802, but it was
(C) had created in 1802 the first prototype of the lightbulb, although this would be
(D) had created the 1802 prototype, the first one, which had been
(E) in 1802 had made the first prototype, but this would be
Answer is B
If And/but/although are used in a sentence, than pronouns refers to the first noun or the main subject.
Posts: 75
mikemcgarry
thanks mikemcgarry for explanation.
I will keep things in my mind
sandysilva
Joined: 30 Dec 2016
Last visit: 23 Apr 2019
Posts: 190
GMAT 1: 650 Q42 V37
GPA: 4
WE:Business Development (Other)
Products:
mikemcgarry
Hi Mike. I have a doubt regarding choice B.
In this choice "it" refers to prototype. Prototype being too bright. In choice A that clearly refers to lightbulb and it makes perfect sense that bulb was too bright and used to burn out quickly. Can you please help me understand how A is wrong.
Posts: 228
sandysilva
Hi sandysilva,
I can jump in for Mike here!
As he mentioned, A is wrong because the word "that" denotes a restrictive modifier. You can read about the difference between restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers here: That vs. Which on the GMAT. Since "that" is restrictive, it cannot be preceded by a comma. If we put a comma before a restrictive modifier, it essentially cuts off the sentence, and disconnects the modifier. So here,
Long before Thomas Edison made a long-lasting and commercially viable incandescent lightbulb, the British chemist Sir Humphry Davy in 1802 created the first prototype of the lightbulb, that was too bright and burned out too quickly.
The "that was too bright and burned out too quickly" is disconnected, by the comma, from "lightbulb", which means that it is not modifying "lightbulb" correctly. If the sentence instead used "which", which is non-restrictive, instead of "that", then that part of the sentence would be correct (there are still other stylistic issues with A, as Mike mentioned before). Again, please refer to that article I linked to for a detailed description of this
Hope that helps!
-Carolyn
_________________
rahul16singh28
Joined: 31 Jul 2017
Last visit: 09 Jun 2020
Posts: 428
Location: Malaysia
Schools: INSEAD Jan '19
GPA: 3.95
WE:Consulting (Energy)
Schools: INSEAD Jan '19
Posts: 428
MagooshExpert
Hi MagooshExpert
I do get the logic on usage of That vs Which. But isn't the use of "it" ambiguous in option B. Because it can refer to the prototype.
Posts: 228
rahul16singh28
Hi rahul16singh28!
"It" here isn't actually ambiguous, because "prototype", "prototype of the lightbulb" and "lightbulb" are all the same object. There aren't multiple objects being talked about. So "it" here is referring to this one object (whether we interpret that as "prototype" or "lightbulb"), which means there is no ambiguity.
Does that make sense? If not, let me know
-Carolyn
_________________
mikemcgarry
Hi MagooshExpert,
Why is 'had' answer choice wrong. Can you explain. I ended up selecting 'D' because of 'had'.
Thanks,
ucb2k7
Posts: 228
ucb2k7
Hi ucb2k7!
Happy to help
Because of "long before" in the sentence, the order of the events is already clear. We only need to use the past perfect ("had") when the order of the events is not completely explicit. So the "had" here is redundant, since we already know that the second action happened before the first.
This extra "had" is not strictly grammatically incorrect, just redundant. But that, combined with the fact that “the 1802 prototype, the first one” is extremely awkward and unclear, means that D is not the best choice.
Does that make sense? If not, let me know!
-Carolyn
_________________
Posts: 130
mikemcgarry
just want to make sure that we aren't using past perfect (had verb-ed) because time sequencing is already given and in that case we can use simple past for both events?
My answer is B.
Posts: 228
thefibonacci
Yes, that's correct!
The time sequence is already clear, so we can just use the simple past for both events. The correct answer is B
-Carolyn
_________________
1. Long before- a time marker, so we don't need past perfect tense.
2. British chemist Sir Humphry Davy in 1802_ Now who would like to add year in his/her name. Completely awkward.
With above two reasons, B is only remaining and correct choice.
2. British chemist Sir Humphry Davy in 1802_ Now who would like to add year in his/her name. Completely awkward.
With above two reasons, B is only remaining and correct choice.
GMAT 1: 710 Q49 V38
Posts: 142
MagooshExpert
I discarded option B as I thought that there was a possibility that "it" might refer to the year 1802.
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