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SC - Verb Tense & Redundancy

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by karthikpandian19 » Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:59 pm
Resolving a long-standing controversy among paleontologists, well-preserved feathered dinosaur fossils discovered in recent years provide incontrovertible support for the theory that birds are descendants of dinosaurs.

(A) are descendants of dinosaurs

(B) had been descendants of dinosaurs

(C) are species descending from dinosaurs

(D) had been species descending from dinosaurs

(E) are species which had been descended from dinosaurs
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Karthik
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by bubbliiiiiiii » Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:53 am
IMO A?
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Pranay
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by Ashujain » Mon Jun 18, 2012 4:38 am
karthikpandian19 wrote:Resolving a long-standing controversy among paleontologists, well-preserved feathered dinosaur fossils discovered in recent years provide incontrovertible support for the theory that birds are descendants of dinosaurs.

(A) are descendants of dinosaurs

(B) had been descendants of dinosaurs

(C) are species descending from dinosaurs

(D) had been species descending from dinosaurs

(E) are species which had been descended from dinosaurs
A theory is always expressed in simple present tense and hence A
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by abcgmat » Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:22 am
A - General fact
B- had been descendant , which implies that the birds are no more descendants- Not intended
C- descending doesnot imply ancestor or evolutionary , it would mean decreasing- Not intended
D- had been implies - no more - Not intended
E- same as D
A looks fine
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by karthikpandian19 » Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:57 pm
OA is A
Regards,
Karthik
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by karthikpandian19 » Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:58 pm
Pls provide reasoning when you post the IMO answers
bubbliiiiiiii wrote:IMO A?
Regards,
Karthik
The source of the questions that i post from JUNE 2013 is from KNEWTON

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by bubbliiiiiiii » Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:02 pm
karthikpandian19 wrote:Resolving a long-standing controversy among paleontologists, well-preserved feathered dinosaur fossils discovered in recent years provide incontrovertible support for the theory that birds are descendants of dinosaurs.

(A) are descendants of dinosaurs

(B) had been descendants of dinosaurs

(C) are species descending from dinosaurs

(D) had been species descending from dinosaurs

(E) are species which had been descended from dinosaurs
The underlined portion is a subordinate clause whose subject is birds (plural). Thus the verb should be plural. Moreover, there is also a tense issue. Since we are stating a general fact the sentence should be in simple present tense. This eliminates B and D.

E also has a tense issue since it uses 'had been'. Moreover the sentence is wordy. This eliminates E.

Between A and C:

Idiomatic issue. Descendants of is correct. Thus A.

Hope it helps.
Regards,

Pranay
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