1000 SC 8# a huge flying reptile

[mundasingh123]

A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.
(A) believed to be
(B) and that is believed to be
(C) and it is believed to have been
(D) which was, it is believed,
(E) which is believed to be

OA C

In A) believed is modifying Quetzalcoatlus.Example :He ran into the building,excited to meet his friend.
So i chose A

In B and C,that and it are ambigous.

[vijaynaik]

That's what i thought and went with A. But if u rearrange the sentences then i agree with OA- C.

the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, and it is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.

[mundasingh123]

That's what i thought and went with A. But if u rearrange the sentences then i agree with OA- C.

the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, and it is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.

How did you rearrange the sentence?

[GMATGuruNY]

A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.
(A) believed to be
(B) and that is believed to be
(C) and it is believed to have been
(D) which was, it is believed,
(E) which is believed to be

OA C

In A) believed is modifying Quetzalcoatlus.Example :He ran into the building,excited to meet his friend.
So i chose A

In B and C,that and it are ambigous.

The easiest issue to address is tense.

The present infinitive (to go, to run, to see, etc.) expresses contemporaneous action (an action happening at the same time as another action):

John is happy to be president. [John is happy (in the present) that he is president (also in the present)].

The present perfect infinitive (to have gone, to have run, to have seen) expresses past action:

John is happy to have been president. [John is happy (in the present) that he was president (in the past)].

In the SC above, the Quetzalcoatlus was the largest flying creature 65 million years ago. So the present perfect infinitive is needed, as in C:

...it is believed (in the present) to have been (in the past) the largest flying creature...

Eliminate A, B and E.

In D, the pronoun which refers either to wingspan or to 36 feet, but it was the Quetzalcoatlus that was the largest creature. Eliminate D.

The correct answer is C.

In A, there are too many nouns that believed to be could be modifying: 36 feet, wingspan, the Quetzalcoatlus. If it's not clear what a modifier is modifying, eliminate the answer choice.

In the following sentence, the meaning is clear:

John left the building, excited that he had just aced the GMAT.

The comma and the intended meaning of the sentence help us to know that excited is not modifying the building; the only other noun is John, so we know that excited must be modifying John.

[mundasingh123]

Thanks Mitch for the amazing explanation on the infinitives as well as the -ed modifier,but Mitch,I am still confused about the "it" in option C.The pronoun could refer to the wingspan , 36 feet or quatzelcotlus.Do we go by the intended logic of the sentence in this case?
Thanks a m lot Mitch,It would be great if you resolve this issue as well

[GMATGuruNY]

Thanks Mitch for the amazing explanation on the infinitives as well as the -ed modifier,but Mitch,I am still confused about the "it" in option C.The pronoun could refer to the wingspan , 36 feet or quatzelcotlus.Do we go by the intended logic of the sentence in this case?
Thanks a m lot Mitch,It would be great if you resolve this issue as well

Generally, we use the pronoun it to refer to the subject of the preceding clause. We use the pronoun which to refer to the direct object. Consider the following sentence:

The ball hit the roof.

If we want to refer to the subject (the ball), we use the pronoun it:

The ball hit roof, and it struck hard enough to leave a permanent hole. (it = ball)

If we want to refer to the direct object (the roof), we use the pronoun which:

The ball hit the roof, which now bears a permanent hole. (which = roof)

In the SC above, we know that it refers to the subject of the preceding clause (the Quetzalcoatlus), because we'd use the pronoun which if we wanted to refer to the direct object (the wingspan).

[GMATGuruNY]

Thanks Mitch for the amazing explanation on the infinitives as well as the -ed modifier,but Mitch,I am still confused about the "it" in option C.The pronoun could refer to the wingspan , 36 feet or quatzelcotlus.Do we go by the intended logic of the sentence in this case?
Thanks a m lot Mitch,It would be great if you resolve this issue as well

Generally, we use the pronoun it to refer to the subject of the preceding clause. We use the pronoun which to refer to the direct object. Consider the following sentence:

The ball hit the roof.

If we want to refer to the subject (the ball), we use the pronoun it:

The ball hit the roof, but it didn't leave a permanent hole. (it = ball)

If we want to refer to the direct object (the roof), we use the pronoun which:

The ball hit the roof, which luckily was not left with a permanent hole. (which = roof)

In the SC above, we know that it refers to the subject of the preceding clause (the Quetzalcoatlus), because we'd use the pronoun which if we wanted to refer to the direct object (the wingspan).

[mundasingh123]

Thanks Mitch for the amazing explanation on the infinitives as well as the -ed modifier,but Mitch,I am still confused about the "it" in option C.The pronoun could refer to the wingspan , 36 feet or quatzelcotlus.Do we go by the intended logic of the sentence in this case?
Thanks a m lot Mitch,It would be great if you resolve this issue as well

Generally, we use the pronoun it to refer to the subject of the preceding clause. We use the pronoun which to refer to the direct object. Consider the following sentence:

The ball hit the roof.

If we want to refer to the subject (the ball), we use the pronoun it:

The ball hit the roof, but it didn't leave a permanent hole. (it = ball)

If we want to refer to the direct object (the roof), we use the pronoun which:


The ball hit the roof, which luckily was not left with a permanent hole. (which = roof)

In the SC above, we know that it refers to the subject of the preceding clause (the Quetzalcoatlus), because we'd use the pronoun which if we wanted to refer to the direct object (the wingspan).

Thanks Mitch for the great explanation.This was very helpful