In 1860, The Philological Society Launched Its Effort to Create A Dictionary More Comprehensive than The World Had Ever Seen

Question: In 1860, the Philological Society launched its effort to create a dictionary more comprehensive than the world had ever seen; although the project would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary had been born.

(A) would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary had been
(B) took more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was
(C) would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was being
(D) would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was
(E) took more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was about to be

“In 1860, the Philological Society launched its effort to create a dictionary more comprehensive than the world had ever seen”- is a GMAT sentence correction question. This particular GMAT sentence correction topic has been taken from the book ‘The Official Guide of GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition, 2009’. This question checks tenses, verbs, and awkwardness. GMAT Sentence Correction questions comprise 11-16 questions to be completed within 65 minutes. Each Sentence Correction question contains a sentence with an underlined portion that includes 0-2 errors.

Answer: D

Explanation: The following concepts are tested here:

1. Tenses
2. Awkwardness
3. Verbs

Option A: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because it uses “had been” which is not accurate for the sentence. The use of “had been” indicates that the dictionary was created before the launch of the effort. It implies that it happened even before the creation was launched in 1860, which is not true. So, Option A is incorrect.

Option B: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because it uses “took” which makes the sentence incorrect. We can not say “took” because according to the sentence, the dictionary was not finished yet. “Took” implies that it is already completed. So, Option B is incorrect.

Option C: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because it uses “was being” which twists the meaning of the sentence. “Was being” is past progressive which means it was not completed just yet, but we know that it is already done. Also, “was being born” seems awkward and illogical. So, Option C is incorrect.

Option D: Correct
This option is correct because it is the only option that uses the correct tenses “would take” and “was”. “Would” is a conditional verb that goes fine with simple past like “was born” unlike the other options. So, Option D is correct.

Option E: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because the use of “about to be born” alters the meaning of the sentence. It implies that the birth of the Oxford Dictionary happened after it was created, which is totally illogical. So, Option E is incorrect.

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