television

[modusoperandi]

Public-access cable television was created in the 1970s as a means to derive public benefit from the laying of private television cables on public land.

A from the laying of private television cables on public land

B from laying private television cables on the public land

C by the laying of private television cables on the public's land

D from private television cables being laid on public land

E by laying private television cables on land that was public

[Aqueel]

I was quite confused.
But then I would go with A.
I was refraining the usage of "benefit by" and "being".

[modusoperandi]

Why A over B ?

[Aqueel]

A from the laying of private television cables on public land
B from laying private television cables on the public land

A seems more appropriate to me as A conveys the meaning properly about the benefit. Benefit was generated from "the laying of".

Thats what my thinking was.

Would like to see how others think.

[kikipooh]

I like A over B as well. I think "the" is necessary because I don't quite know how to explain it.

[Excel_GMAT]

I will go with A. Here is my understanding.


Public-access cable television was created in the 1970s as a means to derive public benefit from the laying of private television cables on public land.

A from the laying of private television cables on public land (this means the benifit is from 'laying of private television cables on public land' - correct)

B from laying private television cables on the public land (this means public televisions cables were laid on the public land to get the benefit)

C by the laying of private television cables on the public's land ('Benifit by' is incorrect)

D from private television cables being laid on public land ('being' is incorrect)

E by laying private television cables on land that was public ('Benifit by' is incorrect)


I think the emphasis is on 'laying of private television cables on public land' and not just 'public land'.

What is the Official Answer?

[LegoLife]

My answer is A.

"to derive from" is the correct idiom.

Between A and B, "benefit from the laying of private television cables" provides the correct meaning.

[Crazygmat]

A is correct.
to derive from X: X has to noun or Noun phrase. The does the trick in making the laying of private television cables on public land a noun phrase.


"Derive by" is also correct i guess but public's land and land that was public sound awkward.

[modusoperandi]

Official Answer is A

"to derive X from Y," where X and Y are both nouns. In this sentence, the use of the noun phrase "the laying of private television" maintains consistency and parallelism with the noun “benefit” mentioned earlier in the sentence.