The Atlantic Ocean,formed when Europe split away from

[BTGmoderatorDC]

The Atlantic Ocean,formed when Europe split away from America 130 million years ago and still expands today, will be Earth's largest ocean at some point in the distant future.

A. formed when Europe split away from America 130 million years ago and still expands today, will be
B. formed when Europe split away from America 130 million years ago and still expanding today, will be
C. formed when Europe split away from America 130 million years ago and still expanded today, becoming
D. forming when Europe split away from America 130 million years ago and still expanding today, will be
E. forming when Europe split away from America 130 million years ago and still expanding today, becoming

OA B

Source: Magoosh

[deloitte247]

A crucial difference between these two structures is the first comma, after the subject. If the subject is followed by a comma, there must be a modifier on the other side of that comma, not the main verb. Here, the subject, the ''Atlantic ocean'', is immediately followed by a comma. This is a case in which the punctuation gives us a crucial piece of information about the sentence. We know the overall structure of the sentence must be choice #2 - it cannot be choice #1, because of the presence of that first comma, immediately followed the ''Atlantic ocean''. The modifiers are participial phrases. Which answer choices do follow the ''choice #2'' pattern?

So, let's see as the verb agree and cancel out the improper agreement.

OPTION A - INCORRECT
The Atlantic Ocean [participial phrase] ''and'' (verb) , (verb) = incorrect

OPTION B - CORRECT
The Atlantic Ocean (participial phrase) ''and'' (participial phrase), (verb)''.
Verb or verb forms in parallel do NOT need to be in the same tense. Here, in fact, having the same tense would make absolutely no sense.
The first participle, about the formation of the Atlantic, is about something that happened 130 million years ago - since that's not particularly recent, we would need a past participle for that: formed.

OPTION C - INCORRECT
The Atlantic Ocean (participial phrase) ''and'' (participial phrase), (participial phrase)'' = incorrect (missing verb mistake)

OPTION D - INCORRECT
The Atlantic Ocean (participial phrase) ''and'' (participial phrase), (verb)''
The first participle, about the formation of the Atlantic, is about something that happened 130 million years ago - since that's not particularly recent, we would need a past participle for that: ''formed''. The second participle is about something happening ''today'', so this has to be a present participle: ''expanding''. This option illogically makes them the same tense, which leads to a present participle for an event that happened 130 million years ago - Absolutely incorrect!

OPTION E - INCORRECT
The Atlantic Ocean (participial phrase) ''and'' (participial phrase), (participial phrase)'' = incorrect (missing verb mistake)