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by sangeethmani » Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:17 pm
It is possible that Native Americans originally have migrated to the western hemisphere over a bridge of land that once existed between Siberia and Alaska.
(a)have migrated ..once existed
(b)were mgrating to the western hemisphere over a bridge of land that existed once
(c)migrated over a bridge of land to the western hemisphere that once existed
(d)migrated to the western hemisphere over a bridge of land that once existed
(e)were migrating to the western hemisphere over a bridge of land existing once.

The OA is D obviously because of the tense.

My doubt is should the adverb once be placed before the verb existed or after the verb existed? Can someone throw some light on were the adverb should be placed. Would be glad!
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by gimmemoresalad » Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:51 pm
I can't explain why grammatically, because I never had to learn the rules for these things because I always got them right on gut instinct, but I think it's technically correct either way. "Once existed" or "existed once" could each be correct, depending on the rest of the sentence. The latter sounds more archaic and is a little less succinct, however, so the former would be the best choice in most situations.
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by sars72 » Sun Jan 31, 2010 7:17 pm
i think that if it follows "that" or "which", it should definitely be "once existed"

i believe that if there are other circumstances where we can use "existed once", the sentence should not stop there but should build on the "once" e.g. it existed once, way before you or I came into this world.
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