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OG13 SC Question #128: Cannot agree with OG explanation

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by tanvis1120 » Mon Aug 11, 2014 3:01 pm
According to me answer should be D and not E.
OG says that "had descended" is a wrong tense.
But I think it is correct due to the fact that elephant "had descended" first and then its truck "evolved", which is the correct order. There is no reason to reject this answer choice for tense issue! Sentence structure is correct too.

I find E flawed. Firstly, "is descended" is wrong usage in this case.. the elephant has / had descended is correct, instead. I agree with the "that" structure though. If this OG explanation is valid, according to me, this question does not have a correct answer. Please explain.

Thanks.
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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Aug 11, 2014 7:57 pm
To descend from an animal means to be a descendant of that animal.
The past perfect (had + VERBed) serves to express an action that STOPPED HAPPENING AT SOME POINT IN THE PAST.
D: Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal.
Here, had descended implies that -- at some point in the past -- the elephant STOPPED BEING A DESCENDANT of an aquatic animal.
Not the intended meaning.
Since the elephant is STiLL a descendant of an aquatic animal, the present tense is required, as in the OE:
Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest that the elephant IS DESCENDED from an aquatic animal.
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by [email protected] » Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:02 pm
Hi tanvis1120,

It's possible to "bypass" all of the technical grammar that the OG13 offers in its explanation and focus on an easier issue:

Are elephants alive today or are they extinct?

If elephants are ALIVE, then you should refer to them in the present tense. If elephants are EXTINCT (meaning they're all dead), then you can refer to them in the past tense (to when they were alive).

Between D and E, the primary issue is past vs. present. Since elephants are alive today, the proper way to refer to an elephant is to say that it "IS descended from" an aquatic animal. If all elephants were extinct, then we could state that the elephant "was descended from" or "had descended from" an aquatic animal.

The correct answer is the one that is listed in the book.

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by tanvis1120 » Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:05 pm
Thanks Mitch and Rich.
I agree with the "had descended" problem.
But, then option E should have "has descended" and not "is descended".
Correct me, if I am wrong.

Regards,
TS
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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:32 pm
tanvis1120 wrote:Thanks Mitch and Rich.
I agree with the "had descended" problem.
But, then option E should have "has descended" and not "is descended".
Correct me, if I am wrong.

Regards,
TS
The present perfect (has descended) would not be appropriate here.
In the SC above, the scientists have discovered a GENERAL TRUTH about the elephant, an animal still in existence.
To convey a general truth -- something that is true now and is expected to be true in the future -- we use the SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE:
The elephant IS DESCENDED from an aquatic animal.

A word of caution:
Never look for a reason to prove that an OE is wrong.
Instead, strive to understand why the OE is CORRECT.
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