gmat prep SC

Question

Hi,

I have a doubt on the attached Q. 
What is the function of had been made in A as against i feel being made in E would be better because had been signifies an action which could much later in past as against being made is currently under progress. Further we hear about the actions currenntly under progress and not about the ones completed in the past. 
Any comments.

vinay.kaipra · Answer

Presence of "being" in most of the GMAT sentence, suggests an incorrect option. In the option 5, there is no ending for the statement started by "Even though ....". That fragment make the sentence wordy and awkward. 
Option 2 - Awkward
Option 3 - Wordy/Awkward
Option 4 - Awkward
But, in option 1, "had been made" makes it clear that the event occurred in the past and makes the sentence proper.
Hence, the answer should be 1.
----------------------------------------------
Please give kudos if the explanation is clear.

seekmba · Answer

There is some great explanation that I found for this sentence:

B and D - Incorrect because they do not include the "he" in the end. Without this subject, the rest of the sentence doesn't make much sense.

C - Incorrect because the primary clause is just a fragment: 
* Remove the parenthetical phrases "even though...telescope", and "in 1609" and you will see that C is missing a verb as it reads: "Gallileo on hearing that such an optical instrument had been made, he quickly built his own"

E - Incorrect because of the double negative "Even though...but when he heard". Double negatives are a no-no on the test.

C, D, and E - Incorrect because "even though" is not appropriate in this case as it isn't consistent with the intended meaning of the sentence. "Even though" should be used to show mitigating circumstances, or to introduce a paradox as in the examples below:

(1) Even though John is sick, he showed up to work today 
(2) I couldn't afford to keep my car, even though I received a pay raise last week.

In both cases (and in all correct "even though" cases) the two clauses are contradictory (offer a paradox) and "even though" is used to express that relationship. In our sentence, we have on one hand "Galileo did not invent the telescope" and on the other hand "on hearing/when he heard that it had been made, he built his own". These two facts do not have a paradoxical relationship. "even though" is not appropriate; "but" is sufficient ("but" could express either a simple contrast ie 'I asked for food but he turned me down' or a paradox 'I broke my arm but kept playing')

Take-Aways: 
Temporarily ignore subordinate clauses and prepositional phrases to make sense of a long sentence

gmatbull · Answer

Gmatcracker2010,
glad if you could type your questions in text; makes life easier instead of downloading etc, etc.

gmatbull · Answer

Galileo did not invent the telescope but on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he  quickly built his own from an organ pipe and spectacle lenses 
A….
B. Galileo had not invented the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument having been made,
C. Galileo, even though he had not invented the telescope, on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he
D. Even though Galileo did not invent the telescope, on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made,
E. Even though Galileo did not invent the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument being made, he

gmatbull · Answer

Any reason for your choice of 1, and what are your critique for rejecting others?

noboru · Answer

Could anybody elaborate on why ",he" is needed?
For me, the subject is clearly Galileo so there should be no need to repeat it.
thanks

noboru · Answer

Could abybody clarify this?
thanks

BlitzHN · Answer

A. Not coutering to a challenge and hence D and E are out.

A - ignore in 1609 and the sentence sounds perfect

daagh · Answer

What decides the use of “he” is whether it is a compound sentence or a complex sentence or a simple sentences

In general, in the case of compound sentences in which the two parts of the sentence are joined by the co-ordinate conjunctions such as FANBOYS ( acronym for - For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet and So) we can eliminate the repetition of the subject noun or the pronoun in the second part , provided the subject is the same.

Ex; Jack went to Delhi and (he) stayed for two months. --- No need to use the pronoun “he” here, because the subject is Jack in both parts of the sentence.

But in the case of complex sentences (technically they are called complex sentences; there is nothing especially complex about them) involving a main sentences and a subordinate sentence and conjoined by sub-ordinate conjunctions such as though, although, because, however etc, we can not skip the pronoun.

Ex: Jack stayed for two months in Delhi,  because  he became friendly with his neighbor Jill.
Here, we can not skip the use of the pronoun “he”, because this is a complex sentence

Similarly in the case of simple sentences using a phrase, and a complete sentence, we can not skip the pronoun. 
Ex: Due to his friendship with Jill, Jack stayed for more than two months in Delhi

“Due to his friendship” is the phrase in this simple sentence and “Jack stayed for more than two months” is the complete sentence

Let us discuss the example under question

Galileo did not invent the telescope but on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he quickly built his own from an organ pipe and spectacle lenses 
a….
B. Galileo had not invented the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument having been made,
C. Galileo, even though he had not invented the telescope, on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he
D. Even though Galileo did not invent the telescope, on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made,
E. Even though Galileo did not invent the telescope, but when he heard, in 1609, of such an optical instrument being made, he

Here  the main clause  “he quickly built his own from an organ pipe and spectacle lenses” is preceded by  the adjectival phrase  
“but on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made”. Here we cannot omit the pronoun “he”, because, the meaning will not be complete then. However, if the intrusion of the adjectival phrase were not there, it will be perfect to skip the pronoun.

Hope this elaboration does not confuse more than what it tries to teach.

gmat prep SC

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards