Sentence Correction

An OG 10 question. I found this question on another thread but the answer was not convincing enough

Astronomers at the Palomar Observatory have discovered a distant supernova explosion, one that they believe is a type previously unknown to science.
(A) that they believe is
(B) that they believe it to be
(C) they believe that it is of
(D) they believe that is
(E) they believe to be of



The explanation says "that" is redundant. Can anyone please explain why?
OA after some inputs.

Astronomers at the Palomar Observatory have discovered a distant supernova explosion, one that they believe is a type previously unknown to science.

(A) that they believe is --> INCORRECT: 'that' is really not required here; we can convey the same meaning without use of 'that' as the clause is a modifier, which is modifying supernova explosion.

(B) that they believe it to be --> INCORRECT 'that' is really not required here, we can convey the same meaning without use of 'that' as the clause is a modifier.

(C) they believe that it is of --> INCORRECT: 'that' is OK here , but "it is of type" not a concise construction at all.

(D) they believe that is --> INCORRECT: missing 'of' changes the meaning. supernova explosion is not "type" itself, it is a type of explosion

(E) they believe to be of -->Correct both the mistakes done in C & D are corrected here.


The close call was between C\E because both the IDIOMS are correct i.e "believe that" and "believe to be"
But C wins the race

Hope that helps!

loveusonu wrote:The close call was between C\E because both the IDIOMS are correct i.e "believe that" and "believe to be"
But C wins the race

Hope that helps!

So...just to clarify, you mean E wins the race, not C ?

"E" is my pick as well.

Hey guys,

Great question - even though this is one of the OG10 questions, I think it's pretty indicative of one of my favorite increasing trends in Sentence Correction - the "Accuracy" based error. These arise when an otherwise-grammatical statement would give an inaccurate or nonsensical meaning, such as:

The distant explosion is a type previously unknown...

This is inaccurate - one particular event cannot be a "type"; it can only be one of a type. The "type" is a category, not a single event. Furthermore, the sentences as written would be redundant - "a recently discovered explosion is a (NOUN) previously unknown to science" is redundant regardless of whether the noun (in this case "type") is logical or not. It it was just recently discovered, of course it was unknown before.

So, because any of the answer choices that call the "explosion" a "type" are incorrect, you can eliminate A, B, and D.

C is a poorly structured sentence. "One they believe that it is of..." The word "that" would need to be between "one" and "they" ("one that they believe is of..." would work) in order to be correct. So C is incorrect, and E is the correct answer.

Brian@VeritasPrep wrote:Hey guys,

Great question - even though this is one of the OG10 questions, I think it's pretty indicative of one of my favorite increasing trends in Sentence Correction - the "Accuracy" based error. These arise when an otherwise-grammatical statement would give an inaccurate or nonsensical meaning, such as:

The distant explosion is a type previously unknown...

This is inaccurate - one particular event cannot be a "type"; it can only be one of a type. The "type" is a category, not a single event. Furthermore, the sentences as written would be redundant - "a recently discovered explosion is a (NOUN) previously unknown to science" is redundant regardless of whether the noun (in this case "type") is logical or not. It it was just recently discovered, of course it was unknown before.

So, because any of the answer choices that call the "explosion" a "type" are incorrect, you can eliminate A, B, and D.

C is a poorly structured sentence. "One they believe that it is of..." The word "that" would need to be between "one" and "they" ("one that they believe is of..." would work) in order to be correct. So C is incorrect, and E is the correct answer.

thanks Brian,
Why so you say "Believe that" is Incorrect and "that believe" is correct?

Hey Sonu,

It's not really the difference between "that believe" and "believe that" - it's the placement of the word "that", which is used in this case to separate nouns to create an independent clause.

In choice C, we have the structure: "...a supernova explosion, one they believe that it is of". Here, "one" and "they" are two unrelated nouns smashed together before a verb, and they need to be separated to demonstrate how they relate. You can do this one of two ways:

1) Insert "that" as a separator to begin another clause: "...a supernova explosion, one THAT they believe is of"

2) Make the verb an infinitive ("to be"): "...a supernova explosion, one they believe to be of..." Here, the infinitive refers back to the first noun ("one", a placeholder for "explosion"), and the verb "believe" refers to the second noun ("they").

When you see unrelated nouns stacked on top of each other, you're often looking at a structural error that requires them to be separated and/or related, and the presence of "that" or "to be" is typically the way that the GMAT will accomplish that in a correct answer.

Astronomers at the Palomar Observatory have discovered a distant supernova explosion, one that they believe is a type previously unknown to science.

--->>>Explosion is not a type..it is "of a type"

(A) that they believe is
Wrong because of reason explained above

(B) that they believe it to be
Wrong because of reason explained above

(C) they believe that it is of
It is ambiguous..what is the antecedent of it ???
Astronomers or explosion

(D) they believe that is
Wrong because of reason explained above
�
(E) they believe to be of
Cream of the crap...Best one out there....