Practice mode Reading Comprehension

Why does the author mention Elisha Gray in the passage about Alexander Graham Bell?

Read the passage: In March 1876 Alexander Graham Bell, a Scottish-born teacher of the deaf working in the United States, was granted a patent for a device that could transmit speech electrically. A few days later he spoke the first clear words over his new telephone to his assistant, Thomas Watson, who was waiting in another room. Bell's claim did not go unchallenged. Other inventors, including Elisha Gray, had been working on similar ideas, and the question of who deserved the credit led to years of legal battles. Bell's company won most of these cases. Within a decade, telephone lines connected thousands of homes and businesses, and the device began to change how people conducted trade and kept in touch.

Correct answer A. To show that others were working on similar ideas and disputed Bell's claim

Explanation

The author mentions Gray right after saying Bell's claim 'did not go unchallenged', to show that rival inventors had similar ideas and contested the credit.

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Why does the author mention Elisha Gray in the passage about Alexander Graham Bell?

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