The growth of the railroads led to the

[heathcliffluo]

The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.

(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing

(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and which differed

(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing

(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differed

(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing

OA: E
Would anyone please to tell me:
The use of the participle determined by won't cause ambiguity because it may be used to modify the whole clause rather than times?
Isn't it true that in the structure of clause+comma+participle, the participle should modify the verb of the cause and its implied subject is the subject of the clause rather than the noun touching it?
The participle can modify the nearest noun only in the structure of clause+participle (without comma); is it true?

[heathcliffluo]

Dear Ron,

Would please kindly ease me from the confusion?

Many thanks,

[thanghnvn]

Thank you Manhantan experts.

why is C wrong?

which were

determined
and
differing.

I see that "determined" is parallel with "differing". Why is C wrong?

let me explain myself.

"were" before "determined" has the meaning of passive action
if "were" stands before "differing" , it has the meaning of progressive action

so there are 2 meanings of "were" and so , we can not use ellipsis here. This is the reason why C is wrong.

is my thinking correct?

[ankitasriv]

The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.

(A) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing

(B) which was determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and which differed

(C) which were determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing

(D) determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differed

(E) determined by when the sun reached the observer’s meridian and differing

Can anyone please explain why D is wrong?

[RonPurewal]

Can anyone please explain why D is wrong?

"determined" is a modifier describing local times; "differed" is a verb. you can't have a modifier in parallel to a verb.

[nikhil.baveja]

Ron: even though I marked this correct as E, in sentence A, B and C, is the usage of Which incorrect?
the way I thought was that "Which" is incorrect as the whole sentence "which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city" acts as a modifier and in this case "which" should refer to the subject of 1st clause: I.e it illogically refers to growth of rail roads, and the constructions sounds like "The growth of the railroads...which was determined...."

Is my reasoning correct here? or what is wrong with answer choice sentence to start with "Which" here?

Thanks
Nikhil

[messi10]

"Which" generally modifies the noun just before the comma and in some cases, it can also go a little bit further back and modify the noun + prep phrase.

To understand how which works, you can watch the Thursdays with Ron session on which modifiers dated 25th August 2011: http://www.manhattangmat.com/thursdays-with-ron.cfm

"which" should refer to the subject of 1st clause: I.e it illogically refers to growth of rail roads, and the constructions sounds like "The growth of the railroads...which was determined...."

No, this is not the case. Which cannot jump across so many things in the middle to modify the subject this way.

The problem with A and C is that within the modifier, parallelism is not maintained:

which was determined.....and....differing...

The problem with A and B is also the verb "was" after the which. If it is referring to the term local times, which is plural. The use of "was" makes the "which" incorrectly refer to the abolition of local times.

[RonPurewal]

Ron: even though I marked this correct as E, in sentence A, B and C, is the usage of Which incorrect?
the way I thought was that "Which" is incorrect as the whole sentence "which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city" acts as a modifier and in this case "which" should refer to the subject of 1st clause: I.e it illogically refers to growth of rail roads, and the constructions sounds like "The growth of the railroads...which was determined...."

not only is this incorrect, but it's never correct. "Which" will absolutely never refer to the subject at the start of a sentence. It refers to the stuff in front of it.

(A) and (B) are wrong because of subject-verb disagreement"”"local times was"? Nah. (This is surprisingly blatant; they usually do a better job of hiding subject-verb disagreement than this.)

choice (C), as I described above, has bad parallelism.

[nikhil.baveja]

Thanks Ron...

So which refers to time only, its just the SV agreement error in A and B?

[RonPurewal]

Thanks Ron...

So which refers to time only, its just the SV agreement error in A and B?

Yes.

[divineacclivity]

Can anyone please explain why D is wrong?

"determined" is a modifier describing local times; "differed" is a verb. you can't have a modifier in parallel to a verb.

Ron,
Would you please explain why "determined" is a modifier for local times and not "differed"

E.g. Emma is a miracle child, born in Chicago, and raised in London, because she ....
I know the meaning of the sentence above doesn't make much of sense but it looks grammatically correct, and there are two participle modifiers modifying "child".

thanks in advance

[jlucero]

Because a subordinate clause is introduced and without something to definitively end that phrase, differed is closest (and made parallel to) reached, a verb in this sentence. Analogy:

Mary was born in Chicago, living in the city where she was happy running and buying fancy things. (my analogy also doesn't make much sense, so we're even, I guess)

You COULD say "Mary was born in Chicago, buying fancy things." But since buying is closer to running, you make those things parallel.

[y.prokurat]

Ron, i still dont understand why determined is participle and differed is verb in (D). Could you please explain.
Thank you in advance
Julia

[RonPurewal]

Ron, i still dont understand why determined is participle and differed is verb in (D). Could you please explain.
Thank you in advance
Julia

you have to think about the meaning of the sentence.

the times didn't determine things; they were determined (by whichever people). so, "determined" is a description.

the times did differ, so "differed" is a verb.

--

you should make up some similar examples. as long as you are not creating sentences with farfetched or deliberately ambiguous meanings, it should be 100% clear what is going on in each case.

e.g.
James shouted into the phone... (shouted = verb)
The words shouted into the phone were... (shouted = modifier)

[thanghnvn]

C is wrong because

which were determined

is too far from

differing

so the "which were" can not be carried a long way like that. this may make the paralelism hard to realize.

in E, the paralelism is clear.

that is the point,

is my thinking correct ?