Sentence Correction

In an area devoid of volcanic activity, a discovery has been made by a team of scientists from the University of California that a fragment of the Swiss Alps seems like it came from a depth as far down as 415 mies.`

A. discovery has been made by a team of scientists from the University cf California that a fragment of the Swiss Alps seems like it came from a depth as far down

B. discovery was made by a team of scientists from the University of California who found a fragment of the Swiss Alps that seems like it had come from a depth of as much

C. team of scientists from the University of California have discovered a fragment of the Swiss Alps that has seemingly come from a depth of as great

D. team of scientists from the University of California has discovered a fragment of the Swiss Alps that seems to have come from a depth as great

E. team of scientists from the University of California has made the disccvery of a fragment of the Swiss Alps that had seemingly come from a depth as far

The 3/2 split here is starting the main clause of the sentence with "a discovery" or "a team of scientists." The second option allows us to use "discover" as a verb, and by doing so we can create an active sentence.

C has an agreement error: "team" is singular, but the verb is "have discovered."

E is unnecessarily wordy: why say "has made the discovery" when we can say "has discovered"?

D works well. A team has discovered. The fragment seems to have come.

AndreiGMAT wrote:(E) In an area devoid of volcanic activity, a team of scientists from the University of California has made the discovery of a fragment of the Swiss Alps that had seemingly come from a depth as far as 415 miles.

1. Is the Past Perfect of "Had come" correctly used in this sentence?

Nope. The tense used to convey what the scientists have done is present perfect. So you don't need past perfect to differentiate the time when the fragment came from the time when the scientists made the discovery. The simple past, "a fragment ... that seemingly came", would make more sense.

2. Is "from a depth as far as 415 miles" less preferable than "greater" or not appropriate at all?

"from a depth as far as 415 miles" does not make sense. For one thing, the depth is greater than 415 miles, and "as far as" conveys that possibly the depth was equal to 415 miles.

Further, depth is not generally considered something that is far. In fact, far is meant to stand by itself.

He traveled as far as 415 miles from home, in order to find the part for his antique car.

Why is option B wrong?

shreya095 wrote:Why is option B wrong?

(B) discovery was made by a team of scientists from the University of California who found a fragment of the Swiss Alps that seems like it had come from a depth of as much

discovery was made by a team of scientists from the University of California who found a fragment

This conveys that discovery was made by a team, and the the team is made up of scientists who found a fragment.

So that version disconnects the discovery from the fragment.

The correct version clearly conveys that the discovery is the fragment.

team of scientists from the University of California has discovered a fragment of the Swiss Alps

Next: of the Swiss Alps that seems like it had come from a depth of as much

like is not the correct word. like is used to compare two nouns, and indicates that the two nouns are similar.

This cheap sports drink is like gasoline.

Comparing a fragment with it came from a depth is nonsensical.

This fragment is like others that I have seen.

This fragment is like it came from a depth.

The correct version clearly states that the fragment "seems to have come from a depth".

Finally: a depth of as much as

This issue is maybe not as clear as the other two, but the point is not that the depth is as much as 415 miles.

Does this make sense? "How much is the depth?"

How about this? "How great is the depth?"

much is used for uncountable quantities.

How much water did he drink?

How much sand was washed away by the storm?

great is used for numerical quantities.

How great is the greatest number in the set?

The height of this mountain is greater than the height of Everest.

The correct version uses great.

A. Usage of 'it' after 'like' makes the sentence awkward. Moreover 'As far as' is preferred over 'As far down as'. So, here "down" is redundant.
B. Usage of 'it' after 'like' makes the sentence awkward. Moreover, the use of "of" before "as much as" is wrong.
C. The use of "of" before "as great as" is wrong. Moreover, "team" is singular while "have discovered" is plural. This violates S-V agreement.
D. This answer choice has correct use of S-V agreement. Hence, D is the answer.
E. This statement changes the meaning of the sentence.

AndreiGMAT wrote:(E) In an area devoid of volcanic activity, a team of scientists from the University of California has made the discovery of a fragment of the Swiss Alps that had seemingly come from a depth as far as 415 miles.

1. Is the Past Perfect of "Had come" correctly used in this sentence?
2. Is "from a depth as far as 415 miles" less preferable than "greater" or not appropriate at all?

Highly appreciate your explanation

I think past perfect if fine. past perfect can be used with simple past and present perfect. there is a question from gmatprep which show had done can go with have done (ozone layer immune, I can not find the sentence).

the depth, the distance is not far but great. "the distance is far" is wrong. "the house is far" is correct. a place is far. the distance can not be far, but great.
so, choice e offer 2 errors, "far" and "wordy".