Sentence Correction

His studies of ice-polished rocks in his Alpine
homeland, far outside the range of present-day
glaciers, led Louis Agassiz in 1837 to propose the
concept of an age in which great ice sheets had
existed in now currently temperate areas.

(A) in which great ice sheets had existed in now
currently temperate areas
(B) in which great ice sheets existed in what are now
temperate areas
(C) when great ice sheets existed where there were
areas now temperate
(D) when great ice sheets had existed in current
temperate areas
(E) when great ice sheets existed in areas nowthat
are temperate

OA: B




Why is "existed" the correct verb while "had existed" is not? Unless I'm misinterpreting the sentence, but Louis is positing that these glaciers existed in the past. So if the verb "led" is in the passage, don't we need to use the verb "had existed" to indicate that the glaciers existed before Louis "led" his proposal.

Thanks.

JGmathelp wrote:His studies of ice-polished rocks in his Alpine
homeland, far outside the range of present-day
glaciers, led Louis Agassiz in 1837 to propose the
concept of an age in which great ice sheets had
existed in now currently temperate areas.

(A) in which great ice sheets had existed in now
currently temperate areas
(B) in which great ice sheets existed in what are now
temperate areas
(C) when great ice sheets existed where there were
areas now temperate
(D) when great ice sheets had existed in current
temperate areas
(E) when great ice sheets existed in areas nowthat
are temperate

OA: B

Why is "existed" the correct verb while "had existed" is not? Unless I'm misinterpreting the sentence, but Louis is positing that these glaciers existed in the past. So if the verb "led" is in the passage, don't we need to use the verb "had existed" to indicate that the glaciers existed before Louis "led" his proposal.

Thanks.

The past perfect (HAD + VERBed) serves to express a past action that STOPPED happening prior to ANOTHER PAST EVENT.
Note that the more recent past event NEED NOT BE A VERB.

Answer choice A: AN AGE in which great ice sheets HAD EXISTED.
In this phrase, there are two past events: AN AGE and HAD EXISTED.
The past perfect tense of had existed implies the following sequence:
The great ice sheets STOPPED existing at some point PRIOR TO THE AGE (the more recent past event).
Then came the age, in which the great ice sheets NO LONGER existed.
Not the intended meaning.

The intended meaning is that the two past events happened AT THE SAME TIME: the great ice sheets existed DURING the age.
To convey this meaning, the OA correctly uses the simple past tense:
AN AGE in which great ice sheets EXISTED.

JGmathelp wrote:Why is "existed" the correct verb while "had existed" is not? Unless I'm misinterpreting the sentence, but Louis is positing that these glaciers existed in the past. So if the verb "led" is in the passage, don't we need to use the verb "had existed" to indicate that the glaciers existed before Louis "led" his proposal.

In this question, the comparison is not between led and had existed; logically, the comparison is between now and existed.

great ice sheets existed in what are now temperate areas

Simple Past is an appropriate usage here, since obviously the existence of ice sheets is a thing of the past (in other words, they no longer exist).

Explanation Quoted from OG13:

In which or when can be used interchangeably in
this sentence.

Well,I would like to ask how could we use In Which/When here interchangeably.Knowing that "Concept of age" is a concept "In Which" blah blah.....

When should be used for a stated time period or for some instant time in history or future.

Plz Advice !!

Rgds,
TGC

Thanks

hi instructors,

I am always sunk in the issue that clause + prep + WH- pronouns

I am have no idea that
1/
relative pronoun stands for. the noun proceeding WH- or noun after WH-,

2/
what's the order of the prep + WH- clause ,

in this case, please help clarify.
it will be great if provide more examples.

thanks a lot
have a nice day

>_~

GMATGuruNY wrote:

JGmathelp wrote:His studies of ice-polished rocks in his Alpine
homeland, far outside the range of present-day
glaciers, led Louis Agassiz in 1837 to propose the
concept of an age in which great ice sheets had
existed in now currently temperate areas.

(A) in which great ice sheets had existed in now
currently temperate areas
(B) in which great ice sheets existed in what are now
temperate areas
(C) when great ice sheets existed where there were
areas now temperate
(D) when great ice sheets had existed in current
temperate areas
(E) when great ice sheets existed in areas nowthat
are temperate

OA: B

Why is "existed" the correct verb while "had existed" is not? Unless I'm misinterpreting the sentence, but Louis is positing that these glaciers existed in the past. So if the verb "led" is in the passage, don't we need to use the verb "had existed" to indicate that the glaciers existed before Louis "led" his proposal.

Thanks.

The past perfect (HAD + VERBed) serves to express a past action that STOPPED happening prior to ANOTHER PAST EVENT.
Note that the more recent past event NEED NOT BE A VERB.

Answer choice A: AN AGE in which great ice sheets HAD EXISTED.
In this phrase, there are two past events: AN AGE and HAD EXISTED.
The past perfect tense of had existed implies the following sequence:
The great ice sheets STOPPED existing at some point PRIOR TO THE AGE (the more recent past event).
Then came the age, in which the great ice sheets NO LONGER existed.
Not the intended meaning.

The intended meaning is that the two past events happened AT THE SAME TIME: the great ice sheets existed DURING the age.
To convey this meaning, the OA correctly uses the simple past tense:
AN AGE in which great ice sheets EXISTED.

Hi Mitch,

I wanted to know aren't Led and had existed connected. I am often confused if the 2 events are related or not to use past perfect tense. How do I determine if they influence each other and what kind of influence are we talking about?