SC: Please help with this question

[nash.avi]

This is GMAT Prep Question:

Concerns about public health led to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems to serve metropolitan Boston.

A. Concerns about public health led to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems to serve
B. Concerns about public health have led to the construction of three separate sewer systems between 1876 and 1904 to serve
C. Concerns about public health have led between 1876 and 1904 to the construction of three separate sewer systems for serving
D. There were concerns about public health leading to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems serving
E. There were concerns leading between 1876 and 1904 to the construction of three separate sewer systems for serving

Thanks in advance

[nash.avi]

To be more specific: What is wrong with "D" especially "There were concerns". Also should I pay attention to the difference between "to serve" and "serving". I chose "A", but wasnt 100% sure. OA is A

[RonPurewal]

To be more specific: What is wrong with "D" especially "There were concerns"

for starters, it doesn't have the correct meaning. in particular, it doesn't have the flavor of exclusivity - i.e., those were THE reasons that led to the construction - that is implied by the original.

analogy:
humans walk on two legs. --> meaning: all humans (or at least all normal humans) walk on two legs.
there are humans that walk on two legs. --> there are at least some.

these statements are nowhere close to the same.
neither are (a) and (d).

there's also just a general awkwardness about (d) that would be apparent to most native-born speakers of english. it doesn't look good, it isn't easily readable, and, most importantly, it doesn't emphasize the right thing: the main skeleton of the sentence is "there were concerns", which is NOT the main point. in choice (a), the main skeleton is "concerns led to the construction", which IS the main point.

--

"to serve" is better than "serving", because
* "to serve" implies a sense of purpose or intention (which is precisely what is to be conveyed here), and
* "serving" implies that the systems were already serving boston at the time when they were being constructed.

[kramacha1979]

Why is B wrong?
Infact IMO B has better construction "the construction of three separate sewer systems between 1876 and 1904 to serve" than
" to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems to serve "

[see the post below this one for an answer to this question]

[kevinmarmstrong]

The incorrect use of the perfect tense in B is a deal breaker. This happened over 100 years ago!

[editor: yes. you nailed it.]

[kramacha1979]

Perfect tense is used when the action that started sometime in the past still continues or the effect from the action still continues .. right ?

[grge.jcb]

Ron,

could you involve? B also sounds very convincing..

[a.k.bhageria]

I also marked B. But I did feel "have led to the construction" was a bit out of place... I was basically confused between this and A where the sentence said "led to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate..." and i chose the former as A seemed more awkward. Think the problem with B is that the specific time period is mentioned which makes "have led" as a tense wrong.
Would be great to hear other thoughts on this.

[abhasjha]

This is GMAT Prep Question:

Concerns about public health led to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems to serve metropolitan Boston.

A. Concerns about public health led to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems to serve
B. Concerns about public health have led to the construction of three separate sewer systems between 1876 and 1904 to serve
C. Concerns about public health have led between 1876 and 1904 to the construction of three separate sewer systems for serving
D. There were concerns about public health leading to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems serving
E. There were concerns leading between 1876 and 1904 to the construction of three separate sewer systems for serving

Thanks in advance

I find the part - " led to the construction between 1876 and 1904 of three separate sewer systems to serve" in option A

a bit awkward .

In B concerns is plural then why can't we use a plural verb have ?

[RonPurewal]

the major problem in choice (b) is the use of the present perfect tense, as has been pointed out by several posters above. you don't use this tense unless the action is still continuing, or is still relevant, to the PRESENT.
that's certainly not the case here; the construction ceased over 100 years ago!

--

actually, the placement of the modifiers in choice (a) is actually better, and more logical, than the placement of the modifiers in choice (b).

notice that we have two modifiers that modify "construction":
* between 1876 and 1904
* of three separate sewer systems

although there are no 100% hard and fast rules for the placement of modifiers like these, the general idea is that you should place modifiers as close as possible to the things that they describe/modify.

in this case:
"between 1876 and 1904" describes the CONSTRUCTION.
"to serve metropolitan boston" should be attached to SEWER SYSTEMS.
both of these are properly placed in choice (a): the first modifier is placed next to "construction", and the second modifier is placed close to "sewer systems".

in choice (b), neither of these modifiers is placed appropriately close to the word that it actually modifies.

[ananddaboor]

Say the sentence was pulled out of an article that was written in 1904 and the construction was still ongoing.

Would the tense be wrong just because someone reproduced it today?

[mschwrtz]

The tense is determined at the time of writing/speaking, not reading/excerpting/quoting/etc.

[mschwrtz]

Oh, the answer to your question is "No."

[t_n28]

Ron,
I have a question regarding choice B. While I eliminated that choice on the basis of the misplaced modifier (between 1876 and 1904), I thought that the usage of the perfect tense in this choice could be correct since the present perfect could be used in two cases:
1) when an action started in the past and is still ongoing
2) when an action has started and finished in the past but its effects are continuing until the present time. This can be the case with choice B since even though the construction is completely finished, the effect, that is the sever system, could still be present until today. eg: I have grown up 4 inches between the age of 14 and 15.
thanks!

[tim]

Your use of the present perfect is incorrect in both answer choice B and in your example. This is NOT what is meant by the concept of the ongoing effect. If you are going to use the ongoing effect idea, you need to SAY something to demonstrate the ongoing effect. Expanding on your example, you could say "I GREW 4 inches between the ages of 14 and 15, and it HAS PREVENTED me from becoming a jockey..