Sentence Correction

Q: 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

Can you please explain what should be the answer and why.....?

A i believe... "believed to be the largest" acts as participle for the creature

B .. and that.. not correct .. parallelism required..
C .. believed to have been... have been is wrong.. it dosn't exist today...further noun is singular... so have is incorrect
D and E... Which not modifying Quetzalcoatuls

The choices A,D and E are modifying feet.. So they are eliminated.

C is much better worded and gives way for formation of 2 proper clauses. B is ambiguous...

So C is the right answer.

Hope this helps.

naveenchandra kv wrote:The choices A,D and E are modifying feet.. So they are eliminated.

C is much better worded and gives way for formation of 2 proper clauses. B is ambiguous...

So C is the right answer.

Hope this helps.

As per the key C is the right answer.

Thanks for your explanation.

charan13387 wrote:Q: 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

Can you please explain what should be the answer and why.....?

To + verb = PRESENT infinitive.
The present infinitive serves to express CONTEMPORANEOUS action: an action happening AT THE SAME TIME as the main verb.
To illustrate:
John is proud TO SERVE his country.
Here, John IS proud (in the present) TO SERVE (also in the present).

To + have + VERBed = PERFECT infinitive.
The perfect infinitive serves to express PRIOR action: an action that happened PRIOR to the main verb.
To illustrate:
John is proud TO HAVE SERVED his country.
Here, John IS proud (in the present) TO HAVE SERVED (at some point in the past).

In the SC above, the reptile no longer exists, so the PERFECT infinitive is needed:
...the Quetzalcoatlus...is believed TO HAVE BEEN the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.

The correct answer is C.

Thanks GMATGuru... realy was unaware of this concept...

though do-ed phrase and doing phrase some times can be placed far from the entity they modify, the farness needs a reason. that is why "believed" in A is wrong.

Dear Mitch

Just wanted some explanation regarding the "main verb" in this sentence....could you break the sentence into clauses and tell which part of sentence is the main clause.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

charan13387 wrote:Q: 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

Can you please explain what should be the answer and why.....?

To + verb = PRESENT infinitive.
The present infinitive serves to express CONTEMPORANEOUS action: an action happening AT THE SAME TIME as the main verb.
To illustrate:
John is proud TO SERVE his country.
Here, John IS proud (in the present) TO SERVE (also in the present).

To + have + VERBed = PERFECT infinitive.
The perfect infinitive serves to express PRIOR action: an action that happened PRIOR to the main verb.
To illustrate:
John is proud TO HAVE SERVED his country.
Here, John IS proud (in the present) TO HAVE SERVED (at some point in the past).

In the SC above, the reptile no longer exists, so the PERFECT infinitive is needed:
...the Quetzalcoatlus...is believed TO HAVE BEEN the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.

The correct answer is C.

thank you expert.

the cost was/is cheap for Mr. X to have done this job.

in the above sentence, "was" or "is " is correct? pls explain, I am confused.

what is the difference between above sentence and the following sentenc

the cost is cheap for Mr.X to do this job.