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has been versus have been?

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by piyushdabomb » Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:29 am
Hey,

Could someone please explain the difference between has been versus had been?

I'm looking at question #24 in the OG Purple book (page 237) and I'm confused between the answer choices:

The period when the great painted caves at Lazcaux and Altamira were occupied by Upper Paleothilic people has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are the reason for their decoration, the use of....and ...

(A) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are
(B) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine is
(C) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine is
(D) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are
(D) are established by carbon-14 dating, but that which is much more difficult to determine is

My assumption is that "has been" is singular and "have been" is plural and given that "period" is singular, I need to pick "B".

Thoughts?
-------------------
Sincerely,

Piyush A.
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by hitmewithgmat » Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:13 pm
Yes. I think the answer is B and your approach is correct.
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by scoobydooby » Tue Oct 06, 2009 11:16 pm
and also that the non underlined portion has "reason"-singular, so we need a singular is before "the reason". hence, B

both A and B have "has been". it is the "is/are" split that separted the two.
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by aanchal_2009 » Wed Oct 07, 2009 12:13 am
The main subject of the sentence is period
C, D and E go out

Left with A & B (its an is/are split)

Refer to word 'reason' - singular so 'is'
So B for me
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by umaa » Wed Oct 07, 2009 5:51 am
IMO A.

What is much more difficult ..... ARE is correct - B, C and E are out.

Period is singular - D is out.

OA pls
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by sreak1089 » Wed Oct 07, 2009 6:06 am
I would go with umaa's answer as well because we have a list at the end and hence the need for a plural verb ARE. OA please.
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