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The period when the great painted

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The period when the great painted

by heymayank08 » Mon May 14, 2012 4:52 am
The period when the great painted caves at Lascaux and Altamira were occupied by Upper Paleolithic people has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are the reason for their decoration, the use to which primitive people put the caves, and the meaning of the magnificently depicted animals.
(A) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are
(B) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine is
(C) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine is
(D) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are
(E) are established by carbon-14 dating, but that which is much more difficult to determine is

[spoiler]I narrowed it down to A and B. The OA is B, but I am confused as to why A is not the answer. Answer (a) has a list of three following it ( difficult to determine are X,Y, and Z) ... Shouldnt are be used here ??

I am reallly confused with this one[/spoiler]
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by mathbyvemuri » Mon May 14, 2012 5:19 am
what is much more difficult to determine is X,Y and Z

The other way of expressing this is:
what factors that are much more difficult to determine are X,Y and Z

I agree with option "B"
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by GmatKiss » Mon May 14, 2012 7:48 am
Please underline the question first!!

The period when the great painted caves at Lascaux and Altamira were occupied by Upper Paleolithic people has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are the reason for their decoration, the use to which primitive people put the caves, and the meaning of the magnificently depicted animals.

(A) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are
(B) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine is
(C) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine is
(D) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are
(E) are established by carbon-14 dating, but that which is much more difficult to determine is


IMO: B
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by avik.ch » Tue May 15, 2012 10:38 pm
heymayank08 wrote:
I narrowed it down to A and B. The OA is B, but I am confused as to why A is not the answer. Answer (a) has a list of three following it ( difficult to determine are X,Y, and Z) ... Shouldnt are be used here ??

I am reallly confused with this one
"But" is a connector --- "what is much more difficult to determine" is a noun clause and since all noun clause are considered singular, it should be followed by "is".


I think you are getting confused with the case of extraposed structures.

There are three dogs...
There is a dog...

But please note these are different construction than the one above.

Hope this helps !!
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by heymayank08 » Wed May 16, 2012 9:35 am
thanks all
thanks @avik
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by joshmachine » Wed May 16, 2012 9:58 am
The period -- has been
the reason -- is

If you invert the construction -- The reason for their decoration IS
The REASONS for their decoration ARE

IMO: B
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