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Having been named for a mythological

by boomgoesthegmat » Thu Apr 28, 2016 11:49 am

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Having been named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, the asteroid named Ida, in the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, was discovered in 1884.

A) Having been named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, the asteroid named Ida, in the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, was discovered in 1884.

B) Discovered in 1884, the asteroid Ida, named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, is in the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

C) In the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, the asteroid Ida, discovered in 1884 and named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter.

D) The asteroid Ida, named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter and discovered in 1884, is in the middle of the belt of asteroids to orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

E) Ida, an asteroid discovered in 1884 and which was named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, is in the middle of the belt of asteroids to orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter

B
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by MartyMurray » Sat Apr 30, 2016 4:36 am

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(A) This version is funny. At first it may look ok, but then you realize that Having been named ... the asteroid ... was discovered, implies that the asteroid was named before being discovered.

Also, the named in named Ida is redundant, as that the asteroid was named has already been said.
Simply saying "asteroid Ida" would be better.

(B) This one flows logically by starting off with the discovery, going into the subject next, modifying the subject and then going into the predicate.

(C) There is no main verb in this version, which therefore has no independent clause.

(D) a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter and discovered in 1884 conveys that the nymph discovered in 1884.

Also, the belt of asteroids to orbit the sun does not make sense in that it seems to imply that the belt of asteroids exists in order to orbit the sun.

(E) This one repeats the to orbit the sun error.

Also, there is a more subtle issue with the following modifier, an asteroid discovered in 1884 and which was named for a mythological nymph. If you cut out discovered in 1884, you can more easily see that an asteroid which was named for a mythological nymph actually requires that instead of which in order to correctly create the restrictive modifier that was named for a mythological nymph. That way you would have an asteroid that was named for a mythological nymph and the complete version, an asteroid discovered in 1884 and that was named for a mythological nymph.

The correct answer is B.
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by Crystal W » Thu May 19, 2016 10:06 pm

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According to the meaning of the sentence, I believe the "discouver" should be the main verb but the choice B change it. Someone can correct me?
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by raffairon » Sat May 27, 2017 10:24 am

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Hi,
here's what the official solution says about answer A
"A. Opening with a past perfect passive verb, Having been named, this version of the sentence illogically suggests that being named for a mythological nymph preceded the discovery of Ilda"

Why Having been named is "past perfect passive"? The past perfect is formed by
subject + had + past participle
So the passive would be
Subject + had + been + past participle

In this case the past perfect passive would be "Had been named" and not "Having been named"

Can someone please explain?

Thanks
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by MartyMurray » Sun May 28, 2017 12:19 pm

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raffairon wrote:Hi,
here's what the official solution says about answer A
"A. Opening with a past perfect passive verb, Having been named, this version of the sentence illogically suggests that being named for a mythological nymph preceded the discovery of Ilda"

Why Having been named is "past perfect passive"? The past perfect is formed by
subject + had + past participle
So the passive would be
Subject + had + been + past participle

In this case the past perfect passive would be "Had been named" and not "Having been named"

Can someone please explain?

Thanks
The official explanation is a little misleading, in that the sentence does not open with a simple verb, it opens with a past perfect passive PARTICIPLE.

In case you are not clear about what participle is, I'll add that participle is a verb form that serves as a modifier modifying a noun or a clause and that takes a noun as its agent, the doer of the action expressed by the participle, or its receiver, the target of the action expressed by the participle.

There are present participles, past participles, and past perfect participles, and this sentences begins with a past perfect participle.

Present Participle:

Naming - conveys that the naming occurred at the same time as the main action in the sentence.

Example: Naming the planet after Ida, Jupiter recognized the nymph who had raised him.

"Jupiter" is the agent of "naming".

Past Participle:

Named - conveys that the action described by the participle happened in the past.

Example: Named after the dog in the movie, John's beagle Benji likes to play.

"Benji" is the receiver of "named".

The dog was named in the past and likes to play now.

Past Perfect Participle:

Having named - conveys that the action described by the participle happened before an action or event in the clause that follows the participle.

Example: Having named the planet after the nymph Ida, the astronomer decided to tell his friends.

So the astronomer,, the agent of "having named", named the planet and then told his friends.

Part Perfect Passive Participle:

Having been named - conveys that the agent of the participle was acted on before the event described in the main clause.

Example: Having been named after a nymph, the planet Ida became a favorite of many young students.

To be clear, the simple past participle conveys something very similar to what the past perfect passive participle conveys.

Example: Named after a nymph, the planet Ida became a favorite of many young students.

The difference between the meaning conveyed by the simple past participle and the past perfect passive participle is a subtle one.

The simple past is focused on merely describing the receiver. In the above example, "the planet Ida", which is the receiver of "Named" is described as "Named after a nymph".

The past perfect passive participle is used to clearly convey that the event described by the participle occurred before the event mentioned in the clause.
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by [email protected] » Fri Mar 29, 2019 10:02 am

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Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one issue at a time, and figure out the correct choice! First, let's take a quick look at the original question, and highlight any obvious differences between the options in orange:

Having been named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, the asteroid named Ida, in the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, was discovered in 1884.

(A) Having been named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, the asteroid named Ida, in the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, was discovered in 1884.
(B) Discovered in 1884, the asteroid lda, named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, is in the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
(C) In the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, the asteroid lda, discovered in 1884 and named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter.
(D) The asteroid Ida, named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter and discovered in 1884, is in the middle of the belt of asteroids to orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
(E) Ida, an asteroid discovered in 1884 and which was named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, is in the middle of the belt of asteroids to orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Whenever you see the entire sentence underlined, you have to think about both the minor differences between the options and the overall grammar issue the entire sentence deals with:

1. that orbit / to orbit (idioms)
2. having been named / named / which was named (verb tense)

...and our overall grammar concept?

3. Modifiers (placement and usage)

To begin, let's start with #1 on our list: that orbit vs. to orbit. This is an easy one that will knock 2-3 options out of contention quickly. It is idiomatically correct to say that "objects that orbit" and not "objects to orbit." So, let's see which options do this correctly:

(A) Having been named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, the asteroid named Ida, in the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, was discovered in 1884.
(B) Discovered in 1884, the asteroid lda, named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, is in the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
(C) In the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, the asteroid lda, discovered in 1884 and named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter.
(D) The asteroid Ida, named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter and discovered in 1884, is in the middle of the belt of asteroids to orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
(E) Ida, an asteroid discovered in 1884 and which was named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, is in the middle of the belt of asteroids to orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

We can eliminate options D & E because they don't use the right idiom "that orbit." How easy was that? Sometimes, starting with the simplest differences can rule out several wrong options without much effort!

Now that we're down to 3 options, let's focus on #2: verb tense. We know that these events happened in a particular order:

1. An asteroid was discovered in 1884.
2. The asteroid was named Ida after a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter.
3. Ida is located in the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Let's make sure that the verb tenses throughout each sentence tell the events in the right order, and don't create any confusion:

(A) Having been named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, the asteroid named Ida, in the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, was discovered in 1884.

This is INCORRECT because it puts the events in the wrong order! By using the past perfect "having been named," this suggests that the asteroid was named Ida BEFORE it was discovered?? That doesn't make sense, does it? Let's eliminate this one.

(B) Discovered in 1884, the asteroid lda, named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter, is in the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

This is CORRECT! The past tense "discovered" clearly shows that the asteroid was discovered in the past. The word "named" here is being used as a modifier, so it's fine how it is. We also like the use of the present tense "is" to show that Ida is still currently located in the same place, which makes sense!

(C) In the middle of the belt of asteroids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, the asteroid lda, discovered in 1884 and named for a mythological nymph who cared for the infant Jupiter.

This is INCORRECT because it's a sentence fragment! We have two modifiers (highlighted in red), and a subject - but it's missing a verb altogether!

There you go - option B is the correct choice! It uses the right idiom "that orbit" and it's a complete sentence with the right verb tenses!


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