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past perfect vs simple past tense!!

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by ashish1354 » Sat Sep 06, 2008 7:30 am
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 what are now temperate areas

(A) in which great ice sheets had existed in what are now 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

between b) and a) which one is correct??
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by samesame » Sat Sep 06, 2008 7:36 am
IMO B; 'had existed' indicates that the ice sheets no longer existed during the theoretical 'age'
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why not a)

by ashish1354 » Sat Sep 06, 2008 8:13 am
i think had simply suggests that ice sheets existed in those ages and have ceased to exist now, which represents a action finished in the past which precedes the following action: studies of ice-polished rocks in his Alpine homeland, far outside the range of present-day glaciers, led Louis Agassiz in 1837

can someone explain please
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Re: why not a)

by anju » Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:37 am
ashish1354 wrote:i think had simply suggests that ice sheets existed in those ages and have ceased to exist now, which represents a action finished in the past which precedes the following action: studies of ice-polished rocks in his Alpine homeland, far outside the range of present-day glaciers, led Louis Agassiz in 1837

can someone explain please
Let me try to explain..
"age in which great ice sheets had existed in what are now temperate areas "

"great ice sheets had existed in what are now temperate areas" is referring to age and since there are only 1 event mentioned i believe it shoud use only existed verb. Had there been two events completed in past with one event completed earlier than the second then had existed should be used.
I am not sure whether I was able to explain myself... lemme know ..
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by vivek.kapoor83 » Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:10 pm
i think anju is absolutely right and it should be B with the same reason'
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by hengirl03 » Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:50 pm
What's the OA?
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still puzzled

by ashish1354 » Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:21 am
led Louis Agassiz in 1837

great ice sheets had existed

are the two actions i am referring to and because ice sheets existed before discovery i am inclined towards past perfect wot say...??
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by NSNguyen » Wed Sep 10, 2008 7:24 am
IMO: B
Please share your idea and your reasoning :D
https://bmnmed.com/home/
https://nguyensinguyen.vietnam21.org
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by gurudev » Wed Sep 10, 2008 7:43 am
I wil also go by B:

See the construction of the sentence..

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 what are now temperate areas

The underlined part is a modifier of "AGE", the underlined part is describing the age, and it has nothing to do with the Louis Agassiz proposal.

Had must have been used in case
1) "Louis Agassiz" did any 2 things in the past...or some thing which affected his "Proposal of age".
2) The modifier of age stated 2 things happend in past.

But here the underlined part is just an add on information added by "which", stating only 1 past event about the age.

Hope it helps...
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by niraj_a » Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:56 am
anju and gurudev are bang on the money
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by pseudononymous » Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:21 am
B is correct.

The past perfect requires 2 events in the past. This sentence only has 1 event in the past.

If the sentence was "...an age in which great ice sheets had existed before they melted due to temperate climates", then you could use the past perfect.

Note that in the original sentence, "temperate areas" is not an event and has no verb attached to it.
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by hooray » Thu Jul 30, 2009 7:29 pm
I don't understand this either.

MGMAT says the following is correct in its SC Guide:

The teacher THOUGHT that Jimmy HAD CHEATED on the exam.

Isn't this the same idea?

... studies LED him to propose that ... HAD MELTED

Please explain!
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by gabriela13 » Fri Jan 22, 2010 8:32 am
I tend to go with B because the ice sheets existed first and then Louis was led to propose the concept. I believe that the past perfect is appropriate.
Good luck to you all (now working on the gmat) and thank you all (who took it).
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by rahul.s » Fri Jan 22, 2010 9:56 am
this is a tricky one. IMO it's B. 'had existed' is redundant, whereas 'existed' goes well with 'led.'
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by bedazzled » Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:36 am
IMO B because when we talk about the action began in the past and continues into the present we use past perfect or if action preceeds the earlier past action otherwise simple past.

Hence 'had existed' replaced by 'existed'
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