In 1860, the Philological Society launched its effort to

Question

In 1860, the Philological Society launched its effort to create a dictionary more comprehensive than the world had ever seen; although the project  would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary had been  born.

a) would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary had been
b) took more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was
c) would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was being
d) would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was
e) took more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was about to be

Will post OA after some discussion. Please explain your answers.

Particularly interested in the difference between "would take" and "take"

gmataspirant2009 · Answer

"would take" is past participle of "will take" whereas the event has already occurred (In 1860) so simple past tense "took" will suffice. Between B and E, B is right answer.

zaarathelab · Answer

In 1860, the Philological Society launched its effort to create a dictionary more comprehensive than the world had ever seen; although the project would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary had been born.

a) would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary had been
b) took more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was
c) would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was being
d) would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was
e) took more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was about to be

IMO the answer is D

Here are my reasons -

Here I am logically assuming that the birth of the dictionary signifies the launch of the project and this took place before the the entire project was completed. Since these events are taking place at different times, we need to have perfect past tense rather than simple past. Therefore ELIMINATE B
Eliminate C ('Being)
Eliminate E (about to be completed is incorrect as event has finished in the past)
Eliminate A (wrong usage of tenses)

Now look at D

D correctly uses "would take" to signify that the completion event took place after the birth. Although "had been" here would have sounded better (for perfect tenses), "would take" is a classical case of 'future in past tense' (according to the frame of time reference identified by the non-underlined portion) hence we have to use 'would' rather than 'will'. Normally we cannot use 'would' to express facts but here the events have completed in the past.

Hope this helps. Consider Kudos for the post

yangsta8 · Answer

OA is D.

zaarathelab you are spot on nice explanation. +1.

seekmba · Answer

my pick was (B).

good explanation by zaarathelab.

bibha · Answer

Hmmm....i didn't get the explanation. I picked B. Could you pls explain once more?

adalfu · Answer

I picked D.

We need "will take" to signal a "future" tense from this 1860 date, but since the sentence was already drafted using simple past ( launched ), we need the past tense of "will," (i.e., simply "would").

Remember, "would" can be in the form of:

1) past tense of will
2) conditional form (i.e., the hypothetical form... an event NOT expected to happen)

Lastly, the final verb, "was" is preferred over "had been" since we don't need to distinquish the "born" event was prior to the "launching." In fact, the "born" event occurred AFTER anyways...

RenukaD · Answer

my pick was (B).

good explanation by zaarathelab.

RGM · Answer

Chose B. Thanks for the explanation! Ruled the choice out because of the 'would'.

vudsri000 · Answer

Went for B ........mistake realized only after I rad the explanations.....I thought that Author was generally describing it...

In 1860, the Philological Society launched its effort to

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