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karthikpandian19: Legendary Member; Posts: 1665; Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2011 7:04 pm; Thanked: 165 times; Followed by:70 members

Verb tense - progressive

by karthikpandian19 » Tue May 08, 2012 12:30 am

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

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Tue May 08, 2012 12:30 am

Bill@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1248; Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:57 pm; Location: Everywhere; Thanked: 503 times; Followed by:192 members; GMAT Score:780

by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue May 08, 2012 7:16 am

D and E use a relative clause (starting with "which"), but the clause appears to modify "wingspan." It's not the wingspan that is believed to be the largest flying creature.

A creates a run-on sentence; we need a subject to go with the verb "believed"

B uses a conjunction to link the clauses, but we still don't have a subject for "believed"

C successfully creates two clauses: "the Quezalcoatlus had a wingspan..., and it is believed..."

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