In 1860, the Philological Society launched its effort to create a dictionary more comprehensive than the world had ever seen; although the project took more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was born. | | took more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was | | | would have taken more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary had been | | | took more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was being | | | would take more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was | | | took more than 60 years to complete, the Oxford English Dictionary was about to be |
我选的是A,不过答案说是D 这是曼哈顿给的解释 The sentence discusses several actions using the simple past tense: the Society launched a project, the Dictionary was born, and the project took more than 60 years to complete. Logically, these actions cannot all have happened at the same moment, so it is inappropriate to use the simple past tense for every action. The birth and launch are the same thing, and so took place at the same time, but the completion took place 60 years later. Look for a choice that indicates this difference in time.
(A) This choice is incorrect as it uses the simple past tense for actions that must have taken place at different times in the past.
(B) The first verb has changed to would have taken. This conditional form changes the meaning, implying that the books’ completion was only hypothetical; it did not actually occur. Consider this example: the test normally would have taken 3 hours to complete, but she finished early.
(C) The present participle being is used with the progressive tense to indicate a continuing or ongoing action. Logically, however, the Dictionary's start must have been at a single point in time, rather than over the course of the book's development. The sentence also illogically implies that the launched and took 60 years actions occurred simultaneously.
(D) CORRECT. This choice uses an unusual (but completely acceptable) construction. Would take is an example of a future tense written from the point of view of the past. For example, consider this conversation: “I will go to the movies with you.” “What? I didn’t hear you.” “I said I would go to the movies with you.” In the last sentence, the word would is an example of a future tense from a past point of view: I said (in the past) that I would (in the future) go to the movies with you. This timeframe fits the actions given in the problem: the Dictionary was born (at a point in time in the past) and would take more than 60 years (from that point in time forward) to complete.
(E) This choice incorrectly adopts the construction was about to be born, which conflicts with the non-underlined portion of the sentence. The first half of the sentence indicates that the project was launched in 1860 in the past tense, making any reference to the book being about to be born at some future point in time incorrect.
[size=12.001199722290039px]我是觉得既然都是过去的事了(in 1860)用took也没问题吧
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