Although the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, it had not been announced until February, 1968.

(A) Same

(B) Although not announced until February, 1968, in the summer of 1967 graduate student Jocelyn Bell observed the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted.

(C) Although observed by graduate student Jocelyn Bell in the summer of 1967, the discovery of the first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, had not been announced before February, 1968.

(D) The first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, but the discovery was not announced until February, 1968.

(E) The first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, was not announced until February, 1968, while it was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell.

The OA is D. Is "sighted plusar" better than "to be sighted", since the pulsar has alreadly been sighted?
Meanwhile, what's wrong with choice E? Thanks

I think that E is wrong mainly because the sentence wants to express that the discovery of a star wasn't announced until 1968.
It is common to hear that a person announce a discovery but not a star(I believe).

I think "sighted" is better than "to be sighted" as well because "to.." is usually used for showing the purpose of doing something.

I didn't get this question right either. I thought that "to be sighted" is redundant because of "was observed"....this question is purely using POE?

(E) The first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, was not announced until February, 1968, while it was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell.

You can't announce the first sighted pulsar or rapidly spining collapsed star...it's the discover that was not announced.

choice E is missing this Discovery....

D is better

no, 'to be sighted' is better for at least two reasons.

(1) 'first NOUN to be VERBed' is generally the preferred form in discussing the results of human efforts/actions/interference/perception/etc., while 'first VERBed NOUN' is generally used to indicate inherent qualities of the noun.
for instance, the following sentence is preferred:
henry bishop was the first musician to be knighted by a british monarch. --> knighting is performed by humans
the following is NOT preferred:
henry bishop was the first knighted musician in britain. --> this makes it seem as though being 'knighted' is an inherent quality with which henry bishop was born, or that he acquired it naturally/accidentally in some other way

(2) the word 'sighted' means 'having the sense of sight', so this sentence also contains the amusing alternative interpretation of referring to a pulsar that can actually see.



first of all, the word 'discovery' is missing. that's a crucial shift in meaning: it's the discovery, not the pulsar itself, that was 'announced'.
also, the word 'while' - which is sometimes used to indicate contrast - creates a strange ambiguity here: on first reading, it appears to suggest that the announcement (which took place in '68) happened during the summer of '67; this is the usual sense of 'while' occurring in this place in a sentence. (normally, if used to mark contrast, 'while' appears at the beginning of a subordinate clause.)

Thank you Ron, awesome explanation

agreed! :)

Isn't "to be sighted" redundant because of "observed"?

To be sighted is not redundant because "the first pulsar to be sighted was observed" has a different meaning from "first pulsar was observed"
Reread and you will know :-)

Btw ,Superb Explanation Ron!

yes. it's essential to state that this is the first pulsar to be sighted; there were certainly lots and lots of pulsars before it, but none of those pulsars had the good luck to be sighted. if you just say "the first pulsar", then you mean that it's literally the first one.



thanks.