Q 1:
NASA’s methodical approach to the exploration of Mars has not yet answered the questions of whether biological life forms ever emerged on Mars [u]and whether, presuming such life forms having left fossil traces to begin with, those traces can[/u] still exist in some moist recesses of the cold and arid planet.
(A)and whether, presuming such life forms having left fossil traces to begin with, those traces can
(B) and whether, if it is presumed that such life forms left some fossil traces to begin with, can those traces
(C)and whether, presuming such life forms left fossil traces to begin with, those traces
(D) and, presuming such life forms did leave some fossil traces to begin with, if they can
(E)and, presuming such life forms to have left fossil traces to begin with, if they
I chose C, but the published answer is A.
I found that the parallel phrase starts with 'whether' is 'whether + noun + ever + verb' form, so after "and" should also be 'whether + noun + can + verb' form.
But what is the difference of the meaning(or grammatical difference) between 'having left' and 'left'?
Thanks for positng explanations in advance.
5-Day Free Trial
5-day free, full-access trial TTP
Available with Beat the GMAT members only code
MORE DETAILS
sc question
This topic has expert replies
-
lonely gmatter
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2006 7:56 pm
-
aim-wsc
- Legendary Member
- Posts: 2469
- Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 12:09 pm
- Location: BtG Underground
- Thanked: 85 times
- Followed by:14 members
the word ''whether'' makes it necessary to have can in the last.
... thats all i came ur with.
apparently you hv already cut B, D & E so i am not presenting the explanation there.
sorry for replying late
... thats all i came ur with.
apparently you hv already cut B, D & E so i am not presenting the explanation there.
sorry for replying late
Getting started @BTG?
Beginner's Guide to GMAT | Beating GMAT & beyond
Please do not PM me, (not active anymore) contact Eric.
Beginner's Guide to GMAT | Beating GMAT & beyond
Please do not PM me, (not active anymore) contact Eric.
GMAT/MBA Expert
-
Stacey Koprince
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 2228
- Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm
- Location: Montreal, Canada
- Thanked: 639 times
- Followed by:694 members
- GMAT Score:780
Hi, can you tell me the source for this one? The word "having" in choice A is problematic - that is not grammatically correct.
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!
Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT
Contributor to Beat The GMAT!
Learn more about me
Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT
Contributor to Beat The GMAT!
Learn more about me
-
jainrahul1985
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 228
- Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:08 am
- Thanked: 4 times
-
aspirant2011
- Legendary Member
- Posts: 1574
- Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 am
- Thanked: 88 times
- Followed by:13 members
GMAT/MBA Expert
-
lunarpower
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 3380
- Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 am
- Thanked: 2256 times
- Followed by:1535 members
- GMAT Score:800
none of the answers to this problem are completely correct.
@mundasingh (who sent me a PM), do you actually have the original source of this problem? i'm going to assume that you found this thread by specifically searching for it, because it's almost four and a half years old (!!)
the modifier "presuming" is incorrectly used in a/c/d/e, because it doesn't have a subject (i.e., if "presuming" is used in a formal sentence, then the sentence needs to mention who is making the presumption). the passive form "it is presumed" in (b) is ok -- that's the point of this kind of passive form, actually (i.e., to avoid having to mention an unimportant subject).
as stacey said, "having" in (a) is incorrect.
"to begin with" -- which is present in all five choices -- is an informal construction that isn't acceptable in formal english (unless you are literally talking about beginning some process with something; this sentence is not doing that).
(b) says "whether can..."; that's not ok.
in (d) and (e) the second "whether" is inappropriately replaced by "if".
--
i feel like i've given this warning a million times before, but ... stay away from unsourced third-party questions!
the things that you "learn" from them will often be WRONG!
if you downloaded a bunch of questions from the internet and paid ... nothing, then those questions are going to be worth ... well, nothing.
(or even less than nothing, if they cause you to "learn" things that aren't actually true)
@mundasingh (who sent me a PM), do you actually have the original source of this problem? i'm going to assume that you found this thread by specifically searching for it, because it's almost four and a half years old (!!)
the modifier "presuming" is incorrectly used in a/c/d/e, because it doesn't have a subject (i.e., if "presuming" is used in a formal sentence, then the sentence needs to mention who is making the presumption). the passive form "it is presumed" in (b) is ok -- that's the point of this kind of passive form, actually (i.e., to avoid having to mention an unimportant subject).
as stacey said, "having" in (a) is incorrect.
"to begin with" -- which is present in all five choices -- is an informal construction that isn't acceptable in formal english (unless you are literally talking about beginning some process with something; this sentence is not doing that).
(b) says "whether can..."; that's not ok.
in (d) and (e) the second "whether" is inappropriately replaced by "if".
--
i feel like i've given this warning a million times before, but ... stay away from unsourced third-party questions!
the things that you "learn" from them will often be WRONG!
if you downloaded a bunch of questions from the internet and paid ... nothing, then those questions are going to be worth ... well, nothing.
(or even less than nothing, if they cause you to "learn" things that aren't actually true)
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.
--
Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron en castellano
Potete chiedere domande a Ron in italiano
On peut poser des questions à Ron en français
Voit esittää kysymyksiä Ron:lle myös suomeksi
--
Quand on se sent bien dans un vêtement, tout peut arriver. Un bon vêtement, c'est un passeport pour le bonheur.
Yves Saint-Laurent
--
Learn more about ron
--
Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron en castellano
Potete chiedere domande a Ron in italiano
On peut poser des questions à Ron en français
Voit esittää kysymyksiä Ron:lle myös suomeksi
--
Quand on se sent bien dans un vêtement, tout peut arriver. Un bon vêtement, c'est un passeport pour le bonheur.
Yves Saint-Laurent
--
Learn more about ron
-
rodrigozmn
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2015 10:49 am
-
sahilmalhotra01
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sat May 07, 2016 9:04 am
Hi @lunarpower,lunarpower wrote:none of the answers to this problem are completely correct.
i feel like i've given this warning a million times before, but ... stay away from unsourced third-party questions!
the things that you "learn" from them will often be WRONG!
if you downloaded a bunch of questions from the internet and paid ... nothing, then those questions are going to be worth ... well, nothing.
(or even less than nothing, if they cause you to "learn" things that aren't actually true)
I came across this question today in GMAT Prep : Practice Exam 5. Screen shot attached for your reference.
Its hard to understand that this question was discussed on BTG in 2006 and appeared in GMAT prep Practice Exam in 2016.
