Sentence Correction

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

IMO - C.. OA plz

AIM GMAT 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

This is a good question, I remember this question so will share my concept later if needed, just chipping in my post to follow this thread

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 --------> seems as if wingspans are believed to be but over here we wana say that Quetzalcoatlus is believed to be the largest flying creature

(B) and that is believed to be

(C) and it is believed to have been --------> comma is used to join two IC's and this option correctly does that

(D) which was, it is believed, --------> awkward

(E) which is believed to be--------> which should refer to the nearest noun and in this nearest noun is wingspan which is wrong

whats the OA???

C is correct. We can ignore the introductory phrase and start with "the Quetzalcoatlus". The closing phrase need to indicate that the Quetzalcoatlus, not the wingspan, is the largest flying creature. C is the only one that cleanly gets that right.

AIM GMAT 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

The present infinitive expresses CONTEMPORANEOUS action (an action happening at the same time as another action):

I am happy to be president.

In the sentence above, I am happy (in the present) to be president (also in the present).

The present perfect infinitive expresses PRIOR action:

I am happy to have been president.

In the sentence above, I am happy (in the present) to have been president (in the past).

In the SC above, the reptile no longer exists, so the present perfect infinitive is needed:

...the Quetzalcoatlus...is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.

The correct answer is C.

+1 for C.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

AIM GMAT 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

The present infinitive expresses contemporaneous action (an action happening at the same time as another action):

I am happy to be president.

In the sentence above, I am happy (in the present) to be president (also in the present).

The present perfect infinitive expresses past action:

I am happy to have been president.

In the sentence above, I am happy (in the present) to have been president (in the past).

In the SC above, the reptile no longer exists, so the present perfect infinitive is needed:

...the Quetzalcoatlus...is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.

The correct answer is C.

I read this same explanation earlier in one of your post. Again i read this and equally enjoyed this post. This is awesome !!!

AIM GMAT 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

For Op B the only tempting choice, i once read Ron's post where he mentioned "THAT" acting as a subject is not preferred on writing...and here THAT is acting a subject for second clause hence wrong.

Could you let me know the source of this question. I would have expected a choice F as:

(F) and it is believed to be

For comparison, would you say:

Jesse Owens is believed to be the most gifted athlete the world has ever seen.

Or would you rather twist it and turn it and say the exceedingly complex:

Jesse Owens is believed to have been the most gifted athlete the world has ever seen.

"Believed to be" implies that the subject still exists. "Believed to have been" tells us that the subject existed for a period of time, but is no more. Jesse Owens died in 1980.

The more serious problem with B is still that the clause as placed refers to the wingspan, not the creature.

(D) which was, it is believed, --------> awkward

Why answer choice D is WRONG??? Because it sounds perfect!! Can gmatGuruny explain it for me??

Thanks Tani. Perhaps the issue is not whether Jesse Owens is still alive or not. The point is that the belief is still there (that Jesse is the most gifted athlete the world has ever seen).

While not the same, I would encourage you to look at Q45 in OG12. Again, I dont think whether Quasars are still there is besides the point.

p.s. I never said option B was correct. I do not think any option is correct here and hence the reason, why I wanted to confirm the source of this question.

cracktheverbal wrote:(D) which was, it is believed, --------> awkward

Why answer choice D is WRONG??? Because it sounds perfect!! Can gmatGuruny explain it for me??

In the clause which was...the largest flying creature, the pronoun which refers either to wingspan or to 36 feet, the nouns that immediately precede it. Since neither of these nouns was the largest flying creature, eliminate D.