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by hey_thr67 » Thu May 10, 2012 9:08 am
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
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by Birottam Dutta » Thu May 10, 2012 10:11 am
IMO C!
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by Spidy001 » Thu May 10, 2012 11:47 am
In A, believed to be is modifying feet not the Quetzalcoatlus

In B , that is not clear what it refers to

in D and E, which is referring to feet/wing but not to Quetzalcoatlus

My Answer is C. (here it clear refers to Quetzalcoatlus )
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Thu May 10, 2012 9:15 pm
From a thread on this question the other day:
D and E use a relative clause (starting with "which"), but the clause appears to modify "wingspan." It's not the wingspan that is believed to be the largest flying creature.

A creates a run-on sentence; we need a subject to go with the verb "believed"

B uses a conjunction to link the clauses, but we still don't have a subject for "believed"

C successfully creates two clauses: "the Quezalcoatlus had a wingspan..., and it is believed..."
I love dinosaur questions :D
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by abhi.iitb » Fri May 11, 2012 7:05 am
Hi Bill,
I have one doubt in "B" option. Can't we consider "that" as a subject of the second clause similar as we are taking "it" as a subject in "C" option. please elaborate on this.

Thanks in advance.

Abhishek

Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:From a thread on this question the other day:
D and E use a relative clause (starting with "which"), but the clause appears to modify "wingspan." It's not the wingspan that is believed to be the largest flying creature.

A creates a run-on sentence; we need a subject to go with the verb "believed"

B uses a conjunction to link the clauses, but we still don't have a subject for "believed"

C successfully creates two clauses: "the Quezalcoatlus had a wingspan..., and it is believed..."
I love dinosaur questions :D
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Fri May 11, 2012 7:37 am
I suppose you could, but "that" is nearly always used as a conjunction on the GMAT.

If you use "that" as a subject for the second clause, you run into a reference error. "That" could refer to "Quetzalcoatlus" or "wingspan."
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