Quasars, at billions of light-years from Earth the most distant observ

B is correct.

A -> in missing a verb 'are', sentence becomes broken and awkward
C,D -> 'some' tries to suggest people but isn't clear
E -> 'it' has no referent

Hi Tommy,
I did not not undersatand your explanation. Do you mind elaborate - A vs D

we see them as they were during vs they appear to us as they did in

we see them as they were during - we see the Quasars as Quasars were during Does'nt this mean that we "currently" see Quasars as Quasars were in the past(during the formation of the universe)

they appear to us as they did in Quasars appear to us as Quasars did inQuasars looks the same as they were in the past

i think - both mean the same.

Thanks in advance for your explanation.

Regards

ms

No.. there is slight misunderstanding in your second statement...
they appear to us as they did in - actually gives an impression that you saw them before (during formation) and hence you comment that they look like they did in the past.... once you see them again...currently..

But the first statement.... gives an impression that u see them as you have known about them during formation... it does NOT give an impression that you travelled back in time and saw them forming... and hence it is correct..

Hope this helps... else Tommy would respond back to you on this...!

JT is absolutely right. Thanks for clarifying that one for me.

In the correct answer, we have "as they were", the "they" being the quasars, the "were" being merely the action of being.

In D, we have "as they did", the "they" being the quasars, the "did" standing in for "appear to us". They could not have appeared to us in the distant past, because we weren't around.

Hopefully that helps. Thanks again, JT!

-tommy

Quasars, at billions of light-years from Earth the most distant observable objects in the universe, believed to be the cores of galaxies in an early stage of development.
(A) believed to be
(B) are believed to be
(C) some believe them to be
(D) some believe they are
(E) it is believed that they are

A - the sentence is a fragment in that it does not have a working verb. the correct verb would be are believed to be
B - correct
C - what does the pronoun some refer to? it makes the sentence wordy. the subject 'some' is not required. the sentence can work in passive voice better.
D - same issue about 'some'
E - it is believed that they are makes the sentence unnecessarily wordy and awkward

Quasars, at billions of light-years from Earth the most distant observable objects in the universe, believed to be the cores of galaxies in an early stage of
development.

(A) believed to be
(B) are believed to be
(C) some believe them to be
(D) some believe they are
(E) it is believed that they are

Please explain strategically

Hi,
Quasars, at billions of light-years from Earth the most distant observable objects in the universe, believed to be the cores of galaxies in an early stage of development.
(A) believed to be
(B) are believed to be
(C) some believe them to be
(D) some believe they are
(E) it is believed that they are

Meaning- the phrase "in an early stage of development" - does it indicate the Past tense?
means - Quasars were believed to be the cores of galaxies (in an early stage)?
I am confused in meaning.
Answer is B: means- it is fact, that Quasars are believed to be cores of galaxies. I am confused in this. please help me for the same.

Thanks,
Mugdha.

Hi Mugdha,
You need the sentence to have a main verb to make it error free. Only option B supplies that

Quasars [Subject], at billions of light-years from Earth the most distant observable objects in the universe [modifier] , ARE [Main verb] believed to be the cores of galaxies in an early stage of development.

If you remove the fluff you get : Quasars ARE believed to be the cores of galaxies in an early stage of development.

Hope tht clears it up.

Hi Mugdha,

Thanks for posting your doubt here.

Quasars, at billions of light-years from Earth the most distant observable objects in the universe, believed to be the cores of galaxies in an early stage of development.

In this official problem, the Subject "Quasars" has no verb. Hence, we do not even have a sentence here. Choice B brings in that missing Verb "are" for the plural Subject "Quasars".

Now let's talk about the prepositional phrase "in an early stage of development". This prepositional phrase in the original sentence modifies the action denoted by the verb-ed modifier "believed". When are Quasars believed to be the core of the galaxies? They are believed to be the core of the galaxies in the early stage of development. Even though this prepositional phrase does modify the action denoted by the word "believed" in Choice A or the verb "are believed" itself in Choice B, it has no bearing on the tense of the action. It is just an additional information about the action that it modifies.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Bumping up this post for certain clarifications.

Quasars are so distant that their light has taken billions of years to reach the Earth; consequently, we see
them as they were during the formation of the universe.
(A) we see them as they were during
(D) they appear to us as they did in

In the first look, I chose 'D' but understood that 'D' is wrong after a 2-3 minute analysis --> in the exam, I willnot have that comfort. So, some quick doubts.

Doubt 1.
When two independent clauses are separated by a semicolon or a co-ordinating conjunction, shouldn't the construction be of the type
subject + phrase ; subject/subject pronoun + phrase?

So construction Quasars are so distant .... ; they appear .... should be correct, correct?

Please let me know not from the PoV of the above question

Doubt 2. Suppose I rephrase the option D as
they appear to us as they were during
Would 'D' be a more preferred choice than 'A' ?

Hello sivasanjeev
My opinion for your doubt.



First, a semicolon is used to separate two clauses, the first clause is main, the second clause is dependent (it can't stand alone). There is no definition as in your structure (S + V; repeated S + V). All we need to pay attention is meaning. The second clause must be matched with the first one in meaning. Thus, Option A is correct.



I would say your own sentence is wrong. "Appear" is main verb that expresses what Quasars did (particular action). However "were" is NOT a main verb, but auxiliary verb that expresses how the Quasars were (characteristics). --> Technically, characteristics and action can't be used interchangeably. Thus, the sentence is wrong in both grammar and meaning.
Let see another example:
He played a soccer game very well as he was ..... <== Does it make sense? Nope! "played" expresses what he did. "was" expresses how he was/ his characteristic.

Hope it makes sense.

the hard point in ellipsis is that all the clause is ommited. C ilustrate this hard point. whenever we see conjuction+preposition used as adverbial, it is possible that all the clause is omitted.

C means

we see them as if we see them dering the formation of the uviverse.

we we can make full the ellipsis, we realize the meaning problem in C.

You need a subject-verb agreement.

A) lacks a correct verb that follows "quasars", believed in itself is not sufficient because it creates ambiguity. Besides, a past participle (verb-ed) cannot stand on its own without a preceding modifier. A is wrong (but the best wrong answer)

B) The only difference between A and B is that we now - correctly - have the "are" in front of the past participle believed. This is correct

C) "Quasars... some believe them to be" makes absolutely no sense, is grammatically incorrect and does not preserve the intended meaning of the author. C is gone

D) We eliminate this for the same reason as C

E) "it is believed that they are" seems like a perfect trap for foreigners but for those experienced with american english, this sounds awfully awkward. E is gone

Hi guys,

I was studying this "believed to be" structure and I got puzzled with the experts' explanations about the subject in this phrase. I think that the subject in this phrase is indeed "the cores of galaxies". I'm basing this analysis in a similiar GMATPrep problem that brings the same structure and requires a more-precise suject-verb agreement. Check this out:

"Among the surest indications on Earth of sunspot cycles is believed to be the rate at which trees grow,[...]"

As you could see, the singular verb "IS" was necessary to agree with the subject following "believed to be" structure.

Please, let me know what are your thoughts.

Cheers,

Answer-B

a. doesn't have verb for Quasars. Believed to be is a modifier here. (verb-ed)
b. correct.
c. no verb for quasars.
D same as C.
E. same as C.

Believed to be - correct idiom.

(A) believed to be : singular
(B) are believed to be :correct
(C) some believe them to be : only some believe
(D) some believe they are : only some believe
(E) it is believed that they are : it no referant

C D E have two subjects witch is not acceptable. That is why B is the right answer.