Sentence Correction

Radiocarbon dating of fossils taken from caves on islands along southeastern Alaska's coast suggest that at least a portion of the area was remaining ice-free during the last ice age.

a. suggest that at least a portion of the area was remaining
b. suggest at least a portion of the area remaining
c. suggests that a least a portion of the area remained
d. suggests at least a portion of the area that had remained
e. suggests at least a portion of the area to have remained.

What would be the correct answer and why?

Auzbee, IMO E.
Because it is having sub-verb problem as well as idioms and tense problem. According to the subject - Radiocarbon dating of fossils - verb should be SUGGESTS and 'AT LEAST' is the correct idiom to chose. What's the OA?

OA is C. Even I went for E but according to GMAT Prep it is C. If you don't believe it, see the included screenshot

I think there is a typo in the option C text.

Auzbee, really I selected C at first without looking at "A LEAST A". but when this came to my eyes, I canceled the option and chose E. Hey god if this kind of things happen what to do?

I am hoping that the main exam won't have such things.

Auzbee/Camitava:

Assuming that there was a typo, I still have a doubt. Should we be using present perfect (have remained) or just simple past (remained) for this sentence?

thanks.

The answer is definitely C.

First you need to check the verb agreement. The subject of the sentence is dating, not fossils, so "suggests" is the correct verb tense. Eliminate A and B.

The next thing that you should be looking for the verb tense of the form of "remaining, remained, etc." at the end of the statement.

C -- correct. Simple past tense is correct in this case because the verb tense here is describing how the area was DURING THE LAST ICE AGE. That means over the entire period. But the ice age itself is firmly in the past also.

D -- wrong verb tense

E -- wrong verb tense

Danielle, here I would like to mention one thing - In C, it is having "a least a" phrase with it. My question is - Is "a least a " a correct phrase / idiom? If it is, then obviously C is the best option to chose but if not, is E not the next better option to chose? Hey Danielle, don't take in other sense! I am just looking for your concern.

Thanks Eric. This option really did not made sense and took me by surprise.

Whoops! Guys, to be honest I didn't even SEE the typo -- I guess it's one of those things where your brain fills it in for you, or I might have been just as confused. Thanks Eric for stepping in on this one!

What a relief.........To ERR IS HUMAN(GMAC).

yep

all the BS / outlier questions get dropped onto Gprep i guess

dating .. suggests that....C typo will be because of the poster...no way gmatprep will have typo... iwould like one to be posted otherwise..