missing a concept

ayushiiitm wrote:A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.
(A) believed to be
(B) and that is believed to be
(C) and it is believed to have been
(D) which was, it is believed,
(E) which is believed to be


I know its a very famous question, and has been discussed on forum

But I was just not able to understand the explanations

Explanation given by Ron for choice A on MGMAT forum says that 'believed to be' is a adjective modifier and just like normal modifiers , it modifies what is adjacent so it modifies feet

but as I see believed is the past participle , hence it will modify the subject, which is clearly Quetzalcoatlus

So where am I going wrong

Participles act as adjective modifiers....... right?

Help needed

OA is C

The biggest issue here is tense. The Quetzalcoatlus is extinct, so we can't use present tense to describe its existence.

In believed to be, the present tense of the verb to be suggests that the Quetzalcoatlus still exists.

So A, B and E can be eliminated.

In D, the pronoun which refers incorrectly either to the wingspan or to 36 feet. Eliminate D.

The correct answer is C.

The construction believed to have been is correct because the present perfect tense of the verb to have been indicates that the Quetzalcoatlus existed in the past. (One use of the present perfect tense is to describe the present in terms of a past event.)

I would rule out A because believed to be modifies wingspan. "had a wingspan believed to be the largest flying creature".

I would rule out D and E for similar reasons.

That leaves B and C. I believe that the major problem with B is use of the word that. In this situation that can only refer to wingspan. In C, by using "it", the sentence refers back to the Quetzalcoatlus.

"the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, and "the Quetzalcoatlus" is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

ayushiiitm wrote:A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.
(A) believed to be
(B) and that is believed to be
(C) and it is believed to have been
(D) which was, it is believed,
(E) which is believed to be


I know its a very famous question, and has been discussed on forum

But I was just not able to understand the explanations

Explanation given by Ron for choice A on MGMAT forum says that 'believed to be' is a adjective modifier and just like normal modifiers , it modifies what is adjacent so it modifies feet

but as I see believed is the past participle , hence it will modify the subject, which is clearly Quetzalcoatlus

So where am I going wrong

Participles act as adjective modifiers....... right?

Help needed

OA is C

The biggest issue here is tense. The Quetzalcoatlus is extinct, so we can't use present tense to describe its existence.

In believed to be, the present tense of the verb to be suggests that the Quetzalcoatlus still exists.

So A, B and E can be eliminated.

In D, the pronoun which refers incorrectly either to the wingspan or to 36 feet. Eliminate D.

The correct answer is C.

The construction believed to have been is correct because the present perfect tense of the verb to have been indicates that the Quetzalcoatlus existed in the past. (One use of the present perfect tense is to describe the present in terms of a past event.)

Another issue that should be addressed:

A modifying phrase placed at the end of a sentence can function in different ways:

John ate all the cookies, upsetting Mary.

In the sentence above, the phrase upsetting Mary is modifying the noun John, because John is upsetting Mary by selfishly eating all the cookies. (If the word upsetting were modifying the noun cookies, the sentence would leave out the comma, as in John ate all the cookies upsetting Mary.)

The phrase at the end of the following sentence, however, is functioning differently:

John ate all the cookies, Mary's favorite food in the whole world.

In this sentence, the phrase Mary's favorite food is referring to the cookies. (In grammar terms, we say that the noun construction Mary's favorite food is in apposition to the noun cookies; one noun is being used to give us more information about the other.)

Looking at answer choice A in the sentence correction above:

A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.

The phrase believed to be the largest flying creature is modifying either wingspan or 36 feet. In order for the phrase to modify the Quetzalcoatlus, the phrase would need to be closer to the noun Quetzalcoatlus:

The Quetzalcoatlus, believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen, had a wingspan of 36 feet.

Does this explanation help?

Thanks GMATGuru

But I am still confused on this point

'believed' is the past participle , hence it will modify the subject, which is clearly Quetzalcoatlus


How to identify whether believed is appositive or past participle?

ayushiiitm wrote:Thanks GMATGuru

But I am still confused on this point

'believed' is the past participle , hence it will modify the subject, which is clearly Quetzalcoatlus


How to identify whether believed is appositive or past participle?

The past participle contained in a phrase at the end of the sentence should modify the closest noun that precedes it:

Mary read every play of Shakespeare, considered by many the best dramatist in history. (The past participle considered is modifying the closest preceding noun Shakespeare.)

The present participle in a phrase at the end of the sentence will modify the subject:

Mary read every play of Shakespeare, enjoying every word. (The present participle enjoying is modifying the subject Mary.

An appositive is not a participle but a noun that refers to another noun:

Mary read every play of Shakespeare, the most famous dramatist in history. (The noun dramatist is in apposition to the noun Shakespeare.)

Does this help?

From your last post, what I can make out is

believed is a appositive, which i thought to be a past participle.

Apart from this, you stated a rule

Past participle at the end will modify the neighboring noun, while present participle at the end will modify the subject

Should I take that as a rule.

Never heard of it before.

Or does the usage depend on the structure

Also how to identify whether believed is past participle or a appositive

I read somewhere that appositive can be verb modifier too

e.g She attempted to neutralize, or render harmless, the heat of boiling water that she had spilled

"or render harmless" is a verb modifier

ayushiiitm wrote:From your last post, what I can make out is

believed is a appositive, which i thought to be a past participle.

Apart from this, you stated a rule

Past participle at the end will modify the neighboring noun, while present participle at the end will modify the subject

Should I take that as a rule.

Never heard of it before.

Or does the usage depend on the structure

Also how to identify whether believed is past participle or a appositive

I read somewhere that appositive can be verb modifier too

e.g She attempted to neutralize, or render harmless, the heat of the boiling water that she had spilled

"or render harmless" is a verb modifier

I misspoke before: only a noun (or some sort of noun construction) can be in apposition to another noun. In the SC above, believed to be is simply a modifier. (I've corrected my earlier post in order to clear up the confusion.) Regarding the following sentence:

She attempted to neutralize, or render harmless, the heat of the boiling water that she had spilled.

The verb to neutralize is functioning as the direct object of the verb attempted. (What did she attempt? She attempted to neutralize.) So to neutralize is serving as a noun that is the direct object of attempted. The verb (to) render, therefore, is serving as a noun that is the appositive of to neutralize.

Wow! That's some heavy grammar!

Please note that it is not necessary to know such arcane grammar in order to ace sentence corrections. Your should look for far easier -- and more common -- errors in order to eliminate answer choices.

Regarding your request for a hard-and-fast rule, I'm always hesitant to state any rule in absolute terms; all rules have exceptions.

When a sentence ends with a past participle phrase, most of the time the phrase will be modifying the closest preceding noun.

There are exceptions:

Mary stared at the computer screen, focused and ready to ace the GMAT.

In the sentence above, focused is a past participle modifying the subject Mary. But in this sentence, there is no confusion: the reader would never think that the computer screen was focused and ready to ace the GMAT.

Your big concern should be the following:

If it's unclear what a modifier is modifying -- or if the modifier could be modifying more than one thing -- eliminate the answer choice. Ideally, a modifier should be as close as possible to what it's modifying.

Does this help?

Thanks a Lot GMATGuru. These concepts will go a long way.

Just to confirm if I have understood it correctly, Ill paraphrase my understanding and would like to know your feedback

'believed' is the past participle. Right?

Only noun or noun phrase can be appositives . Here the past participle is acting as an adjective, modifying the nearest noun


Regarding the heavily loaded example in my last post; it was taken from an article written by Stacey on appositives. But no doubt, it was a wonderful article.

ayushiiitm wrote:Thanks a Lot GMATGuru. These concepts will go a long way.

Just to confirm if I have understood it correctly, Ill paraphrase my understanding and would like to know your feedback

'believed' is the past participle acting as a appositive. Right?

Only noun or noun phrase can be appositives . Here the past participle is acting as a noun


Regarding the heavily loaded example in my last post; it was taken from an article written by Stacey on appositives. But no doubt, it was a wonderful article.

Please remember that answer choice A in the SC above is INCORRECT; you shouldn't try too hard to discern how words are functioning in a sentence that is grammatically incorrect.

That being said, you seem to understand correctly that in A, the past participle believed to be is an adjective incorrectly modifying the wingspan of 36 feet. (What kind of wingspan? A wingspan believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen. Of course, this last sentence doesn't make sense, which is why A is incorrect.)

The past participle cannot function as a noun, so it cannot be an appositive. An appositive is a noun that refers to and explains another noun.

Thanks Mitch,

I have got all the answers now.

Thanks a lot

Thanks Mitch this was very helpful.

Your advice makes sense: "If it's unclear what a modifier is modifying -- or if the modifier could be modifying more than one thing -- eliminate the answer choice. Ideally, a modifier should be as close as possible to what it's modifying. "