The success of the first landing on the moon emboldened some scientist

Question

similar topic but with different patterns in option choices, https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-success- ... 02771.html

The success of the first landing on the moon emboldened some scientists to claim that a Mars landing was imminent, vastly underestimating the difficulties entailed in such a feat.

A. The success of the first landing on the moon emboldened some scientists to claim that a Mars landing was imminent, vastly underestimating the difficulties entailed in such a feat

B
Emboldened by the success of the first moon landing, some scientists claimed that a Mars landing was imminent and vastly underestimated the difficulties such a feat had entailed

C
The first moon landing success emboldened some scientists to claim that a Mars landing was imminent, but the difficulties entailed in such a feat were underestimated

D
Vastly underestimating the difficulties entailed in a Mars landing, some scientists, emboldened by the first moon landing, claimed that such a landing was imminent

E
Emboldened by the success of the first moon landing, some scientists claimed that a Mars landing was imminent, vastly underestimating the difficulties such a feat entails

Show Answer

Official Answer

E

techiesam · Accepted Answer

+1 E

A.  The success of the first landing on the moon  emboldened some scientists to claim that a Mars landing was imminent, vastly  underestimating  the difficulties entailed in such a feat-  underestimating wrongly modifies the The success of the first landing on the moon.
 
B
Emboldened by the success of the first moon landing, some scientists claimed that a Mars landing was imminent and vastly underestimated the difficulties such a feat  had  entailed- The modifier and the parallelism part looks fine but the use of had makes this answer choice wrong

C
The first moon landing success emboldened some scientists to claim that a Mars landing was imminent, but the difficulties entailed in such a feat were underestimated
- The sentence might be grammatically right but the first part is in active voice whereas the second part is in passive.Its not preferred in gmat. 
D
Vastly underestimating the difficulties entailed in a Mars landing, some scientists, emboldened by the first moon landing, claimed that such a landing was imminent- The construction of this sentence is weird and misses the core meaning.underestimating is not the modifier but the action of scientist that led them to claim a the mars landing prediction

E
Emboldened by the success of the first moon landing, some scientists claimed that a Mars landing was imminent, vastly underestimating the difficulties such a feat entails - looks perfect and the right answer

globaldesi · Answer

Good question that helps understand the meaning f underlying statement.
Sentence talks about the scientists who were overwhelmed by the success and thus claimed that landing on moon was imminent. they undermined the difficult task.
most options state that it is the success of moon's landing that undermined it. Only option E states it correctly

Mpuneet · Answer

A – Incorrect as ‘underestimating’ improperly modifies ‘The success…’
B – ‘Had’ should not have been used. Unnecessary word.
C – Correct, but half the sentence is passive voice and half is active.
D – This sentence is very poorly constructed and does not convey the central point.
 
As the only option left is E, we can assume that E is the right answer.

popovarseniy · Answer

Guys, can you elaborate why option (C) is wrong? It clearly presents the meaning of the sentence. What's the problem with passive and active composition of two parts?
I chose (D) but (C) sounds pretty good in my native language

AjiteshArun · Answer

Option C is:
  The first moon landing success  emboldened some scientists to claim that a Mars landing was imminent, but the difficulties entailed in such a feat  were underestimated .

Although the use of the passive is not grammatically incorrect, it can lead to ambiguity. For example, in this case, we can't really answer the question "who underestimated the difficulties?"

Also, although we can say  the success of the first moon landing , we can't say  the first moon landing success . The option should have gone with what E uses or maybe something like  the first moon landing ' s success .

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

(A). The success of the first landing on the moon emboldened some scientists to claim that a Mars landing was imminent, vastly  underestimating  the difficulties  entailed  in such a feat  -  the past tense verb 'entailed' indicates that the fact described by the verb is no longer valid in the present moment. the intended meaning of the sentence is to portray ''difficulty of landing'' as a fact that is still true; to indicate a fact that is still true, we need to use the simple present tense.  
 
(B) Emboldened by the success of the first moon landing, some scientists claimed that a Mars landing was imminent and vastly underestimated the difficulties such a feat  had entailed   -  past perfect verb ''had entailed'' implies that the action described by this verb took place way before the actions of the 'claim' and the ''underestimation''. This implication does not make sense. 
  
(C) The first moon landing success emboldened some scientists to claim that a Mars landing was imminent, but the difficulties  entailed  in such a feat  were underestimated   -  the past tense verb 'entailed' indicates that the fact described by the verb is no longer valid in the present moment. the intended meaning of the sentence is to portray ''difficulty of landing'' as a fact that is still true; to indicate a fact that is still true, we need to use the simple present tense.  
 
(D) Vastly underestimating the difficulties  entailed   in a Mars landing, some scientists, emboldened by the first moon landing, claimed that such a landing was imminent  -  has the same error as described in (C). 
 
 (E) Emboldened by the success of the first moon landing, some scientists claimed that a Mars landing was imminent, vastly underestimating the difficulties such a feat entails - has no error. Hence,  (E) is the right answer choice.

Gauravvinod92 · Answer

i agree with answer , but "entails" is a verb and we are joining two clauses without any conjunction..is this a right practise?

The success of the first landing on the moon emboldened some scientist

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The success of the first landing on the moon emboldened some scientist

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