SC help required ...PLS!!!

pkabraham · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:24 am Post subject: SC help required ...PLS!!!

A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.
(A) believed to be
(B) and that is believed to be
(C) and it is believed to have been
(D) which was, it is believed,
(E) which is believed to be

Could anyone pls help with this sc... as per me it should be (e).... but wanted to know if it is any other option .. if so pls explain why....

Pls help

punit.kaur.mba · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:46 am Post subject:

According to me it should be B. Pls tell the OA.
I could give my explaination.

pkabraham · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:56 am Post subject: hi

puneet, the ans is c as per the key... but the passive usuage doesnt sound right for me.. and more being that the usuage of passive inGMAT is not prefferd at all.....

punit.kaur.mba · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:09 am Post subject:

sorry, my answer is C.. not B. I just realised. Ya u r right, passive construction needs to be avoided... but in this case, all other choices are even worse. C is the best among all others..

Here is my analysis...

A)"believed to be" seems to be modifying 36 feet, since its immediately after 36 feet and a comma. - wrong

B)"and that is believed" . "that" seems to wrongly be referring to 36 feet. also usage of that is not required. we need a pronoun that refers to the animal.

C)"it" correctly refers to Quetzalcoatlus and the addition of "and" correctly separates it from the previous clause. So there is no problem of wrong modifiers here. Also the usage of "have been" denotes, continuity that the reptile was largest in the past and is now also.

D)which was, it is.. wordy and wronly modifying 36 feet

E)which is believed to be - again wrongly modifying 36 feet.

Hence C is the best ans.

Let me know if u still have doubts...