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Five hundred million

by atulmangal » Sat Mar 26, 2011 9:52 am
Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent of them vanishing.

A. Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth, nearly 99
percent of them vanishing.
B. Nearly 99 percent of five hundred million different species of living creatures that appeared on
Earth have vanished.
C. Vanished are nearly 99 percent of the five hundred million different species of living creatures
that appeared on Earth.
D. Of five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth, nearly
99 percent of them have vanished.
E. Of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth,
nearly 99 percent have vanished.

Looks like a simple question but i picked up the wrong answer choice...and still didn't get the correct logic
can anyone suggest which OP is correct b/w B and E and why?????
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by tetura84 » Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:12 am
IMO B

I see tense issue here.
PAST + PRESENT PERFECT = this pattern should be applicable here.
500 million creatures APPEARED (in the past, it has to be simple past)
Out of them, 99% have vanished (present perfect, started in the past, and continues to present).

I have seen this tense pattern in many questions.
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by atulmangal » Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:24 am
tetura84 wrote:IMO B

I see tense issue here.
PAST + PRESENT PERFECT = this pattern should be applicable here.
500 million creatures APPEARED (in the past, it has to be simple past)
Out of them, 99% have vanished (present perfect, started in the past, and continues to present).

I have seen this tense pattern in many questions.
I also picked B but the OA is E, and i think may be its because of intended meaning
"have appeared on Earth", (present perfect) means appeared till now, while in B it suggests appeared some time ago in past
"nearly 99 percent have vanished" (again present perfect) means vanished till date which is same like Op B...

In Sum, Op B means that Species appeared some time ago in past...means that action is not carried to present while in Op E that same action is carried to present...

Although, I'm 100% sure about my reasoning...by looking at the OA i started thinking in this way...
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by aspirant2011 » Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:45 am
When i first read the sentence and looked for the options i narrowed it down to D and E because in E if you see "have appeared and have vanished" used in the sentence is parallel and the tense used is also fine...............
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by tetura84 » Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:56 am
aren't we missing of them in option E?
nearly 99 percent of them have vanished.

Also what sort of construction is option E?
I am seeing this structure first time. Any highlight on this will be much appreciated.
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by atulmangal » Sat Mar 26, 2011 1:01 pm
tetura84 wrote:aren't we missing of them in option E?
nearly 99 percent of them have vanished.

Also what sort of construction is option E?
I am seeing this structure first time. Any highlight on this will be much appreciated.
I don't think THEM is necessary, the meaning is clear without them....and i studied somewhere that if meaning is already clear then we must avoid using extra pronouns..
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by AIM GMAT » Sat Mar 26, 2011 10:10 pm
I too chose B , but i get the catch now from the above discussion .

Atul whats the source of this question ? You post really good questions but i m not fan of this one , may be coz i dnt like much past perfect ... anything perfect concerning to tense :) . Picked lots of learnings from this question .
Thanks & Regards,
AIM GMAT
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by atulmangal » Sat Mar 26, 2011 10:47 pm
AIM GMAT wrote:I too chose B , but i get the catch now from the above discussion .

Atul whats the source of this question ? You post really good questions but i m not fan of this one , may be coz i dnt like much past perfect ... anything perfect concerning to tense :) . Picked lots of learnings from this question .
Thanks for the appreciation buddy,

I think the original source of this question is Manhattan....wel i have a question bank of SC designed by a person who scored perfect 800....but these are not his original questions...i checked on internet thats y i think its from Manhattan but the explanation page of Manhattan was not opened up...

Secondly the tense used here is Present perfect NOT past perfect....and even i opted option B, and didn't find any reason why its wrong...when tetura pointed out the TENSE thing...then i got some clue about OpE...but i still believe there is something more to learn in this question...may be if some expert shed some light..and share some hidden concept...that gonna be good
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by AIM GMAT » Sat Mar 26, 2011 10:54 pm
Hey guys i found a wonderful explanation given by Mitch Hunt :-
B and C combine the past tense appeared and with the present perfect tense have vanished. The sequence of events is unclear. If the species appeared in the past, how can they still be vanishing in the present? Eliminate B and C.

In A and D, it's not clear whether them refers to species or to living creatures. Eliminate A and D.
For more details refer to the below link :-

https://gmatclub.com/forum/sc-living-cre ... 79-20.html
Thanks & Regards,
AIM GMAT
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by atulmangal » Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:06 pm
AIM GMAT wrote:Hey guys i found a wonderful explanation given by Mitch Hunt :-
B and C combine the past tense appeared and with the present perfect tense have vanished. The sequence of events is unclear. If the species appeared in the past, how can they still be vanishing in the present? Eliminate B and C.

In A and D, it's not clear whether them refers to species or to living creatures. Eliminate A and D.
For more details refer to the below link :-

https://gmatclub.com/forum/sc-living-cre ... 79-20.html
Thanks for the link.....Interesting to see the use of the word "The" which makes a great difference....regarding tense issue...its really feel good that i pointed out the same thing in my earlier post...because i'm really poor in tenses....
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