Sentence Correction

Fossils of a whale that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and was subsequently butchered by hominids have been recovered.

A. that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and was subsequently butchered by hominids have

B. that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and then was subsequently butchered by hominids has

C. that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago, which was subsequently butchered by hominids, has

D. having been beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and subsequently butchered by hominids, have

E. having been beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and then subsequently were butchered by hominids have

dreamv wrote:Fossils of a whale that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and was subsequently butchered by hominids have been recovered.

A. that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and was subsequently butchered by hominids have

B. that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and then was subsequently butchered by hominids has

C. that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago, which was subsequently butchered by hominids, has

D. having been beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and subsequently butchered by hominids, have

E. having been beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and then subsequently were butchered by hominids have

FOSSILES....HAVE. Drop B/C
E - then & subsequently (one of them redundant)
D - comma before HAVING missing and therefore its not clear whether HAVE is attached to FOSSILS
IMO A

B/C - Fossils has - wrong
D - having been beached is passive voice - wrong.
C/D - both have the comma problem. A modifier in the middle of the sentence should be within 2 commas or none as said by patanjali.
E - seems to be a run on sentence with having been ... have ..., then and subsequent - redundant

IMO A.

Thanks. OA is A. If comma is not there, D has no problem? and then Can D be an answer instead of A? IMO, because "beached ~ and butchered" happened before "recovered". Perfect past tense "Having been beached ~ and butchered" should be used instead of "beached ~ and butchered".

dreamv wrote:Thanks. OA is A. If comma is not there, D has no problem? and then Can D be an answer instead of A? IMO, because "beached ~ and butchered" happened before "recovered". Perfect past tense "Having been beached ~ and butchered" should be used instead of "beached ~ and butchered".

Having been beached is passive voice. It sounds as if someone has beached the whale. So its wrong.

A. Correct [Have been agrees with Fossils]
B. Incorrect [SVA - fossils/has been]
C. Incorrect [SVA - fossils/has been]
D. Incorrect [Passive - having been]
E. Incorrect [Passive - having been]

Regards,
Anshu Nadir

I have a small question about choice C. I eliminate C according to the has, But do someone know if the use of which is correct? If it is correct, does which refer to whale?
Thanks in advance!

Crystal W wrote:I have a small question about choice C. I eliminate C according to the has, But do someone know if the use of which is correct? If it is correct, does which refer to whale?
Thanks in advance!

C: more than a million years ago, which
Here, COMMA + which is incorrectly preceded by an adverb (more than a million years ago).
COMMA + which must be preceded by NOUN.
Eliminate C.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

Crystal W wrote:I have a small question about choice C. I eliminate C according to the has, But do someone know if the use of which is correct? If it is correct, does which refer to whale?
Thanks in advance!

C: more than a million years ago, which
Here, COMMA + which is incorrectly preceded by an adverb (more than a million years ago).
COMMA + which must be preceded by NOUN.
Eliminate C.

Dear Mitch,

Can you shed light on why choices D & E are incorrect??? I recall that 'having+ Verbed' implies that action should be completed by other action?

Here "beach and butchered" are completed before the 'recovered', Is this wrong? Do you spot any other errors in the sentence in choice D & E?

Thanks

Mo2men wrote:Dear Mitch,

Can you shed light on why choices D & E are incorrect??? I recall that 'having+ Verbed' implies that action should be completed by other action?

Do you spot any other errors in the sentence in choice D & E?

Thanks

A having + VERBed modifier must serve to a modify a CLAUSE.
This type of modifier CANNOT serve to modify only a noun.
For this reason, NOUN + having + VERBed is not a valid construction.
D and E: a whale having been beached
Eliminate D and E.

Also:
In E, then subsequently is redundant.

For the correct usage of having + VERBed, check my post here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/usage-of-hav ... 46877.html

Here "beach and butchered" are completed before the 'recovered', Is this wrong?

OA: Fossils of a whale that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and was subsequently butchered by hominids have been recovered.
Clearly, the actions in blue (expressed in the PAST tense) transpired before the action in green (expressed in the PRESENT PERFECT tense).