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

Please help me how to pick the answer among C, D & E?

Pick D, OA?

I pick D as well.
There are 3 answers: A, B and C starting with "which", and 2 answers: D and E starting with "determined".
Anyone could explain whether it is possible to eliminate either set({A, B, C} and {D, E}) by choosing "which" vs. "determined"?
Thanks in advance.

Ron already explained this one

This is a toughie - it looks like you've realized that the key to the problem is parallelism, but you've been tricked by the rather weird form of parallelism exhibited here.

The only difference between choices D and E is differed/differing, and, as you've no doubt realized, the key issue is making the choice that's most parallel to 'determined' (from the first half of the modifier).

Here's the key: 'Determined' isn't a verb here. It's a PARTICIPLE: a verb form that functions as an adjective.
The local times were WEIRD (adjective).
The local times were DETERMINED (participle acting as adjective) by ...

So you need to pick the second half that's also 'participle acting as adjective'. Try them both:
D) The local times were DIFFERED: uh oh, that doesn't work.
E) The local times were DIFFERING from city to city. That works. It's a 'present participle' rather than a 'past participle', but it's the only one of the two that's a participle at all.

hope that helps.

Thanks for explanation...

OA is E.
Tuff one.

Hmm...should we always try to drop "which" if possible? If not, why the answer isn't C?
Thanks in advance.

How do I find out if 'Determined' isn't a verb here rather its a PARTICIPLE. ?

Plz help

/sab

Can't decide based on which / determined. Could construct a correct sentence either way.

The growth led to X, [which were A and B], and Y.

X and Y need to be parallel; A and B need to be parallel. X and Y aren't underlined, so we can ignore them (but note that they are parallel already!).

C says "which were determined by and differing" - those aren't parallel.

In D and E, you can tell determined = participle, not verb, because (a) it immediately follows a comma and (b) there's no subject you could match up with determined in a normal subject-verb configuration. Even if you match determined with the noun "times" (to which the clause is referring) "times, determined by" is not proper subject-verb config.

_________________
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director of Online Community
ManhattanGMAT

Sorry Guys, I think I am quite late in the discussion however I have a doubt. What is incorrect in choice B. Why can't we use "which determined........" but only " determined........" as in asnwer E. Choice B also seems to be parallel.

Hi Stacey, you say that C is not right because "were determined" is not parallel with "(were) differing". Is it because of the omitted "were"?

nope, it runs deeper than that.

you're describing a state that simply existed back then, so, if you use 'were determined', you've got to use the simple past tense again: you'd say 'differed' in this case.

the construction 'were verbing' is limited to situations in which something else happened during the verb-ing.
example: while the man was chatting with his girlfriend, his cell phone broke the calm with its strident ringtone.

can any one tell me what is wrong with B, i feel that which very much clearly links local times with differed and determined by.

What about the local times (plural) and was determined (singular).

E is the best choice.

what is wrong with B is it because of "was"

yeah, "was" is wrong.

the local times themselves were determined by the sun's reaching the meridian. if you say "was", then you appear to be making this claim for the abolition of the local times, not the local times themselves.