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OG 11 SC 59

by [email protected] » Mon May 26, 2008 1:27 pm
Hi,



The correct answer is B) but I need an explanation to better understnad why B is correct..... thanks

59. His studies of ice-polished rocks in his Alpine homeland, far outside the range of present-day glaciers, led Louis Agassiz in 1837 to propose the concept of an age in which great ice sheets had existed in now currently temperate areas.
(A) in which great ice sheets had existed in now currently temperate areas
(B) in which great ice sheets existed in what are now temperate areas
(C) when great ice sheets existed where there were areas now temperate
(D) when great ice sheets had existed in current temperate areas
(E) when great ice sheets existed in areas now that are temperate

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by chidcguy » Mon May 26, 2008 2:56 pm
If you don't take time to underline the portion that needs to be corrected, it gets difficult for people to answer the Q. People who try to answer will need more time to solve the problem. Please underline.
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by wawatan » Mon May 26, 2008 3:17 pm
can someone explain why we use simple past tense instead of past perfect?

i would think we need past perfect since this sentence obviously states his studies and also the ice sheets existed beforehand.
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Re posting with underline

by [email protected] » Mon May 26, 2008 3:49 pm
The correct answer is B) but I need an explanation to better understnad why B is correct..... thanks

59. His studies of ice-polished rocks in his Alpine homeland, far outside the range of present-day glaciers, led Louis Agassiz in 1837 to propose the concept of an age in which great ice sheets had existed in now currently temperate areas.
(A) in which great ice sheets had existed in now currently temperate areas
(B) in which great ice sheets existed in what are now temperate areas
(C) when great ice sheets existed where there were areas now temperate
(D) when great ice sheets had existed in current temperate areas
(E) when great ice sheets existed in areas now that are temperate

Thanks
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by chidcguy » Mon May 26, 2008 4:04 pm
A is wrong because now and current mean the same and induce redundancy

Is "in which" = when?? No

When refers to an exact time ( Some one correct me if I am wrong)

in which refers to a time period

So C, D & E are out.

Had existed is wrong because there are no 2 actions here and simple past is good enough
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by zura » Mon May 26, 2008 4:18 pm
past perfect is needed when one action happened before another in the past! for exmp: i gave her flowers, that i had brought for her! (both actions happened in the past)
so in his consept ice sheets existed and thats all. pp is not needed here.
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by rattanas » Mon May 26, 2008 11:39 pm
when refers to a time period or time but "concept of age" is a concept..concept is not a time period so c,d and e goes out...

a has redundant now and current..so only option is "b"
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by pepeprepa » Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:46 am
If some people read this post, I want to precise that OG correction tells us that we can use "in which" as well as "when"...

Thanks for the explanation on the verb tense, that's clear.
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by goelmohit2002 » Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:47 am
Can someone please explain why "e" is wrong here ?

And why both "in which" and "when" can be used interchangeably here as per the explanation of OG-11 ?
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by CANDOGIRL » Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:49 am
Questions:
1) I still don't fully understand why the simple past is preferred over the past perfect. Aren't we trying to say that the ice sheets "had existed" before Louis Agassiz "led to propose in 1837?" So "led" is in the simple past and so, shouldn't "had existed" be used to indicate that the ice sheets existed before his proposal?
2) In the OG, "In which" and "when" can be used interchangeably - I thought a hypothetical time frame requires "in which"
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by ansumania » Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:30 am
so , finally, is there any rule which says 'when' and 'in which' are always interchangeable or there are some specific instances?
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by lunarpower » Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:32 am
CANDOGIRL wrote:Questions:
1) I still don't fully understand why the simple past is preferred over the past perfect.
it isn't. the past perfect would absolutely be acceptable in this sentence; it just happens that both examples containing the past perfect are wrong for other, entirely unrelated, reasons.
specifically, (a) is unacceptably redundant, in that it says both "now" and "currently", while (d) suggests that the ice sheets actually existed in the current areas (an impossibility, since that would mean that past ice sheets existed in the present!).
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by lunarpower » Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:32 am
2) In the OG, "In which" and "when" can be used interchangeably - I thought a hypothetical time frame requires "in which"
again, both are acceptable.
you can use "in which" in any construction that would normally use the preposition "in".
for instance, i put my dirty clothes in that drawer <--> that is the drawer in which i put my dirty clothes
so, since things can happen in a time frame, it is acceptable to write "the time frame in which things happen".

to consider the acceptability of "when", you have to use an entirely different criterion -- this time not grammar, but, rather, context.
namely, if you are talking about a time period, then you can use the word "when". since this sentence is definitely talking about a time period, the use of "when" gets the green light here.
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by tnaim » Thu Jul 22, 2010 10:41 am
Ron, your explanations are always so clear and precisely address the source of my confusion, relieving me of the question marks I had aobve my head prior to reading your answer; we are lucky to have you as a member of this online forum Ron
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by lunarpower » Fri Jul 23, 2010 4:28 pm
tnaim wrote:Ron, your explanations are always so clear and precisely address the source of my confusion, relieving me of the question marks I had aobve my head prior to reading your answer; we are lucky to have you as a member of this online forum Ron
thanks!
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron en castellano
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