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SC question: A huge flying reptile...

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SC question: A huge flying reptile...

by dinesh19aug » Sat Jul 24, 2010 8:38 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

I ruled out D and E as "which" was incorrectly refering to wingspan (Rule: Which should always refer to the noun preceding it).

I ruled out C because it use "Have been" should be used with a plural subject -------- AM I CORRECT about this??

B was ruled out because it uses that and it again refers to wingspan.

I chose A.


The OA is C.
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by grockit_andrea » Sat Jul 24, 2010 8:46 am
dinesh19aug wrote: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

I ruled out D and E as "which" was incorrectly refering to wingspan (Rule: Which should always refer to the noun preceding it).

I ruled out C because it use "Have been" should be used with a plural subject -------- AM I CORRECT about this??

B was ruled out because it uses that and it again refers to wingspan.

I chose A.

The OA is C.
In choice A, "believed to be" introduces a modifying phrase, which (just like choices D and E) modifies the noun preceding it, so you can eliminate A. In choice C, "it" refers to the Quetzalcoatlus, which is singular. In the perfect tense used here, "have been" is appropriate for either singular or plural, though. You could say "they were believed to have been" or "it was believed to have been," and both of those uses would be correct.
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by kvcpk » Sat Jul 24, 2010 12:58 pm
Good question... C makes sense!!
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by Shawshank » Sat Jul 24, 2010 7:33 pm
Its strange but I thouhgt that all the answers are wrong here..
Andrea has pointd out the mistakes...

Just one question. In "C" how do you identify what "it" is pointiing to ,,,, "Quetzalcoatlus" OR "wingspan". please clear my doubts..
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by grockit_andrea » Sat Jul 24, 2010 7:40 pm
Shawshank wrote:Its strange but I thouhgt that all the answers are wrong here..
Andrea has pointd out the mistakes...

Just one question. In "C" how do you identify what "it" is pointiing to ,,,, "Quetzalcoatlus" OR "wingspan". please clear my doubts..
There's really no way to determine what "it" refers to except common sense: a wingspan can't be a flying creature, because it's a distance. I think your point here is that the pronoun "it" doesn't have a single clear antecedent, which is true, and is often a reason to eliminate a choice. But the GMAT does occasionally have a correct answer with an ambiguous pronoun in it, and here, while it's not ideal, choice C is the best choice available.
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by dinesh19aug » Sun Jul 25, 2010 1:17 pm
Thanks Andrea ! I was able to rule out everything but did not knew that have been can be used with singular and plural. I was also thinking that I have never heard a sentence which says ".......... believed to has been".

Note to myself - Correct idiom: "......Believed to have been"
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by rashmi.kaushal » Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:14 am
Andrea,

Don't we use it for animals ? so how come "they were believed to have been" would have been correct ?

Can you pl explain ?
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by rashmi.kaushal » Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:15 am
Andrea,

Don't we use it for animals ? so how come "they were believed to have been" would have been correct ?

Can you pl explain ?
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by grockit_andrea » Sat Jul 31, 2010 5:51 am
rashmi.kaushal wrote:Andrea,

Don't we use it for animals ? so how come "they were believed to have been" would have been correct ?

Can you pl explain ?
I was referring to the use of the verb "have been" being appropriate with either the singular or the plural subject. In the context of this sentence, with a singular antecedent, "it" is the correct pronoun.
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