Before the late nineteenth century, timekeeping was a local affair, with each town setting its clocks by the sun. In 1883, major railroad companies in North America agreed to establish four standard time zones to prevent scheduling confusion and train collisions. Under this new system, millions of travelers and businesses could coordinate their activities across vast distances. The Canadian railway engineer Sir Sandford Fleming, who first proposed worldwide hourly standard time zones, was knighted by Queen Victoria for his achievements. By 1918, the United States Congress had officially adopted standard time, cementing standard time zones as a permanent fixture of modern life.
The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?
- AKept, because it introduces a key figure responsible for the global adoption of the time system mentioned throughout the passage.
- BKept, because it explains the connection between the establishment of local timekeeping and the rise of international railway systems.
- CDeleted, because it contradicts the passage's assertion that timekeeping was primarily a local, solar-based system before the late nineteenth century.
- Deleted, because it shifts the focus of the paragraph from the practical coordination and adoption of standard time zones to biographical trivia about Fleming.Answer