Sentence Correction

According to scientists at the University of California, the pattern of changes that have occurred in human DNA over the millennia indicate the possibility that everyone alive today might be descended from a single female ancestor who lived in Africa sometime between 140,000 and 280,000 years ago.

(A) indicate the possibility that everyone alive today might be descended from a single female ancestor who
(B) indicate that everyone alive today might possibly be a descendant of a single female ancestor who had
(C) may indicate that everyone alive today has descended from a single female ancestor who had
(D) indicates that everyone alive today may be a descendant of a single female ancestor who
(E) indicates that everyone alive today might be a descendant from a single female ancestor who

pattern - indicates (D/E)

may.. D

IMO E

A,B,C wrong use of plural verb

B/W D and E...i like Might, moreover in my idiom book there is an idiom

Descent From Ancestors

so in this we can apply the same it should be descendant from NOT descendant of

Hence E

OA D

AIM GMAT wrote:OA D

can you please reveal the source or the OE..if u do not have the OE please ask help from some expert...

Moreover i double checked the IDIOM i mentioned and its correct...

Thanks

(D) indicates that everyone alive today may be a descendant of a single female ancestor who
(E) indicates that everyone alive today might be a descendant from a single female ancestor who

must have figured out why A, B and C are eliminated. as far as D and E are concerned i have my thoughts. both sentences have their problems. Questions cannot be designed for natives and non natives. ....such as this. i have my points...

may and might are both Modals (helping verbs). "may" is much more formal than "might". the use of may has considerably reduced and is often limited to asking permissions. "might" also is used in past tense of may. eg we dont say it may have rained. we say it might have rained.

Another point-----

i have read people saying descendant of is idiomatic than descendant from. well the difference is that descendant of is more humble and respectful.

i am from Wisconsin.
i descended from historic st paul de metis. ( not used, its still not incorrect but not very polite when talking about living)
i am a descendant of ancestors. (more polite)

hence i feel D is a stronger choice than E. However still not a good SC question on international platform.

Don't get disappointed seeing such questions guys.

All the best....

atulmangal wrote: can you please reveal the source or the OE..if u do not have the OE please ask help from some expert...
Moreover i double checked the IDIOM i mentioned and its correct...
Thanks

The two issues that will help to choose between D and E:-

1. "may be" and "might be": Every one alive today - so needs "may". "Might" may also indicate past possibility but "may" only does so for present and future possibilities.

2. "descendant of" and "descendant from" - thats entirely about the correct idiom. "descendant of" is better than "decendent from".

Here we are using decendant and not descended.

You would be a member of a band but not a member from a band.

So we may be decended from XYZ OR We may be decendent of XYZ.

The source is said to be GMAT Prep, its a part of compiled document i have .
Hope that helps.

atulmangal wrote:IMO E
A,B,C wrong use of plural verb

atulmangal,

C is incorrect not because it has a plural verb, but because it changes the meaning.

C changes the meaning from "the pattern indicates XXXX" to "the pattern may indicate XXXX".
The plural verb "indicate" is fine after "may".

singh181 wrote:

atulmangal wrote:IMO E
A,B,C wrong use of plural verb

atulmangal,

C is incorrect not because it has a plural verb, but because it changes the meaning.

C changes the meaning from "the pattern indicates XXXX" to "the pattern may indicate XXXX".
The plural verb "indicate" is fine after "may".

Thanks Singh

for the needed correction in my point, gr8

Australian embryologists have found evidence that suggests that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal, and its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel.

(a)..
(b) that has suggested the elephant descended from an aquatic animal, its trunk originally evolving
(c)suggesting that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal with its trunk originally evolving
(d) to suggest that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal and its trunk originally evolving
(e) to suggest that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal and that its trunk originally evolved

AIM GMAT wrote:Australian embryologists have found evidence that suggests that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal, and its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel.

(a)..
(b) that has suggested the elephant descended from an aquatic animal, its trunk originally evolving
(c)suggesting that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal with its trunk originally evolving
(d) to suggest that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal and its trunk originally evolving
(e) to suggest that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal and that its trunk originally evolved

"evolving", a present participle, is incorrect in B, C,and D. C and D have other problems "had descended" means that elephants are no longer considered descended of aquatic animals
B --> "evidence that has suggested the elephant" is awkward structure
A---> "evidence that suggests that" awkward also, the second part of the sentence is also suggested by the evidence

IMO E

AIM GMAT wrote:Australian embryologists have found evidence that suggests that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal, and its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel.

(a)..
(b) that has suggested the elephant descended from an aquatic animal, its trunk originally evolving
(c)suggesting that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal with its trunk originally evolving
(d) to suggest that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal and its trunk originally evolving
(e) to suggest that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal and that its trunk originally evolved

I think "to suggest" is wrong here.
Xs have found evidence to suggest .. blah blah = It looks like, Xs want to suggest something and for that they have found evidence.
B is a run-on sentence.
C = changes the tense
IMO A

AIM GMAT wrote:According to scientists at the University of California, the pattern of changes that have occurred in human DNA over the millennia indicate the possibility that everyone alive today might be descended from a single female ancestor who lived in Africa sometime between 140,000 and 280,000 years ago.

(A) indicate the possibility that everyone alive today might be descended from a single female ancestor who
(B) indicate that everyone alive today might possibly be a descendant of a single female ancestor who had
(C) may indicate that everyone alive today has descended from a single female ancestor who had
(D) indicates that everyone alive today may be a descendant of a single female ancestor who
(E) indicates that everyone alive today might be a descendant from a single female ancestor who

In A and B, indicate (plural) does not agree with its subject pattern. Eliminate A and B.

In C, the verb had lived should not be in the past perfect tense. Eliminate C.

In E, descendant from is not idiomatic. X descends from Y, but X is a descendant of Y. Eliminate E.

The correct answer is D.

Australian embryologists have found evidence that suggests that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal, and its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel.

(a)..
(b) that has suggested the elephant descended from an aquatic animal, its trunk originally evolving
(c)suggesting that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal with its trunk originally evolving
(d) to suggest that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal and its trunk originally evolving
(e) to suggest that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal and that its trunk originally evolved

IMO- E
since its a past event we will go with evolved.

I too will go with D.