Not until a group of European scientists announced last week they had

Question

Not until a group of European scientists announced last week they had successfully recorded 
subatomic particles called "neutrinos" traveling faster than light,    had physicists worldwide 
thinking carefully that time travel was possible  .

A. had physicists worldwide thinking carefully that time travel was possible
B. did physicists worldwide thought carefully that time travel was possible
c. had physicists worldwide thinking carefully about the possibility of time travel
D. did physicists worldwide think carefully about the possibility of time travel
E. had physicists worldwide carefully thought about the possibility of time travel

Source: Experts Global

balaji4799 · Answer

I think the answer could be E because of the past perfect nature of the statement all verbs in the statement have to be in past tense. So Most of the options go away. However ‘ thought about the possibility of time travel’ in E seems wordier . Where as B has concise version of it however B doesn’t have past perfect tense format (‘had’) . So answer could be E. please advise

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getahead · Answer

I think it is D. 
Underlined Phrase after comma is a question and the phrase before comma can easily answer that question with correctly matched tenses and the meaning.

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benejo · Answer

I'm going with D)

Past perfect in A) C) E) is wrong, because it suggets that the thinking happened prior to the announcement/recording of the neutrinos, but it should be the other way around. 
In E) the placement of the adverb 'carefully' is incorrect. Should be think carefully.

btw: Isn't there a 'that' missing in the sentence?
"...announced last week  that  they had successfully recorded..."

AdityaHongunti · Answer

IMO D.

The announcement happened before. Actually the verb " announced " should be in past perfect but the sentence explicitly states " last week "..so past perfect is optional..

Now according to meaning the statement implies that not until the announcement the physicists though about X carefully..
The problem with E is- " had____thought " ... Represents past perfect implying the thinking happened earlier with respect to Announcement... So E is wrong..

D removes the verb tense issue and simply states it in simple past tense .

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Abhishek009 · Answer

Must be (D) for the highlighted errors in other options...

tamal99 · Answer

I would like to go with Option:E as the thought refers back before the "announcement".

saarthakkhanna04 · Answer

explanation needed. why D is correct and relationship of DID's with sentence

benejo · Answer

Hi saarthakkhanna04, check out my explanation above

There is also a simular question with great explanations that might help you understand. https://gmatclub.com/forum/not-until-ha ... 05216.html

VerbalBot · Answer

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Not until a group of European scientists announced last week they had

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