Some scientists suggest the moon had been formed out of part

Some scientists suggest the moon was formed out of part of the Earth, having perhaps been dislodged by a meteor.

-ING form ALWAYS modifies the subject of the sentence touching it with COMMA unlike WHICH and other modifiers

Subject of "Some scientists suggest the moon was formed out of part of the Earth" - moon
so the sentence tells - Moon was dislodged by a meteor - does not make sense because moon did not even exist when meteor hit - So nonsense

the other errors: suggest that not there

Hi Abhicoolmax,
"Having + past participle" is special usage of participle and known as Perfect participle.
The perfect participle indicates completed action.

Here sentence mean that "When moon was formed out of part of Earth, the moon was already dislodged by meteor" which is wrong.

Giving kudos is a decent way to say "Thanks". If my post helps you please give me kudos.
All the best for your exam.

Guys,

Need to have more discussion on this Question.

I think this question is not good....

2 issues I have with this question....

The use of suggest (subjunctive verb) needs that +sub+ plural verb construction where as the correct ans B has a verb "was formed" which is Singular....hence cannot be correct. Option C does correct this error but then in C we have other issues

that part of the Earth formed the moon, which was dislodged perhaps....here which refers to moon and the sentence means that part of the earth formed the moon and the moon was dislodged perhaps by meteor....now which should ideally refer to part of the earth and not the moon....

What do you think let me know.....

Experts,please chip in

More discussion on this question some-scientists-suggest-the-moon-had-been-formed-out-of-part-116058.html#p938854

well.

First of all let me say that the question for me is good: at the first time it seems easy but indeed you need some brain power to disentagle.

Some scientists suggest the moon had been formed out of part of the Earth, which was dislodged perhaps by a meteor.

A) the moon had been formed out of part of the Earth, which was dislodged perhaps

X suggest ---> as soon as you see this, the question is : what ?? what they say. I immediatly think to THAT: we need a restrictive modifier because a priori the meaning of the sentence is: a part of something drifted away from this, going to form another corpus (the moon). That say, we need a resticted modifier to convey the scope of a general noun to a relevant subset. Basically, the other options also communicate that the entire earth took part in this process. And this is wrong: we have ONLY one part comes into the picture.

B) that the moon was formed from part of the Earth that had perhaps been dislodged

here we have the use of THAT correctly used. The sentence is parallel and the events, in their unfolding, are pretty much clear. CORRECT

C) that part of the Earth formed the moon, which was dislodged perhaps

her we have THAT + WHICH: thi is the worst scenario we could have. really far from home

D) the moon was formed out of part of the Earth, having perhaps been dislodged

same as A does + having (remember in general the use of having is really really bad on the gmat)

E) that the moon had been formed from part of the Earth, which perhaps had been dislodged

sama as C

This could comes in handy https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/that-vs-which-on-the-gmat/

Hope this helps

The question was driving me crazy on my way back home and I got hold of Manhattan SC to understand the Subjunctive mood and I do like to change my views on this question...

Pg 112, Manhattan SC says that Command Subjunctive is used with certain Bossy verbs such as require or propose(can be used with to as well). BOSSY VERBS TELL PEOPLE TO DO THINGS

For Subjunctive verb the sentence structure is

Trigger word (Demand/Dictate/Insist/Mandate/Recommend/Request/Stipulate/Suggest)+ THAT+ Sub+ Plural verb (irrespective of the sub before the verb).

Now I had problem with option C precisely because of the verb used "was formed" which is Singular...hang on it should have been plural...

On Pg 115, MGMAT SC says that few Bossy verbs can be used in NON-BOSSY ways: Eg Her presence suggests that she is happy...In this context, suggests means "PROBABLY MEANS"....It is not acting bossy....

AS ALWAYS PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE MEANING...

Option C is out because which refers to moon and thus incorrect....


I am at peace now

OE says that the use of which in A is wrong: the relative pronoun ???which??? must
refer to the immediately preceding noun, suggesting illogically in this case that ???the Earth??? was dislodged by a meteor.
I was under impression that the use of which is not so strict and that which can also refer to a group of words. Concretely, I thought that which could correctly refer to 'part of the Earth' in A and that A is wrong for other reasons.
Can which refer to part of the Earth in A?

The use of "which" in A is alright - it refers to "part of the earth". Similarly the use of "that" in B is also alright. These are examples of one particular type of exception of the modifier touch rule - the following excerpt from Manhattan SC guide explains this exception:

In general, noun modifiers must touch their nouns. However, there are a few exceptions to the Touch Rule.
1. A “mission-critical” modifier falls between. This modifier is often an Of phrase that defines the noun. The less important modifier refers to the noun plus the first modifier.
Right: He had a wav OF DODGING OPPONENTS that impressed the scouts.
Here, the “mission-critical” modifier of dodging opponents defines the noun way.

How to apply the mission critical modifier rule?

In this case, 'that' or 'which' can refer to 'part of the earth'. But consider the below MGMAT wrong answer choice:

'The defeat of the Spanish Armada, which stymied the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also due to the sacrificing of eight war ships as fireships, vessels filled with pitch, brimstone, gunpowder, and tar and sent downwind toward the closely-anchored Spanish fleet.'

Why does 'which' refer here to 'Spanish Armada' alone and not to 'Defeat of the Spanish Armada'. I am not able to understand under what circumstances must one apply the mission critical modifier rule.

Hi Vyshak,

Please consider the discussion at this link: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/forums/stymieing-the-armadaa-s-plans-to-meet-up-with-the-duke-t30250.html

Ron Purewal, in his reply to a question posed by a user on the thread, has indeed said that the use of "which" is fine in such constructions. I agree that the original question on the Manhattan thread is a little different in that it has fewer details in the sentence (for example : your sentence reads Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, whereas the question there just has Flanders), but the essence of the construction wrt to the use of "which" is the same.

Cheers!

In my opinion, "which" is not the reason that this option is wrong - here "which" correctly refers to "The defeat of the Spanish Armada", not "Spanish Armada".

The correct answer is C because of the need to use that and past perfect. Only in C, the relative pronoun which refers correctly to moon.

for the correct answer B, why we use 'that had perhaps been dislodged', perfect past tense. i would assume the moon was dislodged after it was formed from part of the Earth. so if the 2 events are not in the same time line, it should be the front clause uses perfect past tense and becomes 'that the moon had been formed from part of the Earth that was perhaps dislodged by a meteor'

Experts please help! Many thanks1

Why dont we use an article here. That made me confused. I mean, shouldnt we say "a part of the earth" and not just "part of the earth". Every choice sounded wrong thanks to this...

Posted from my mobile device

Hi VeritasKarishma GMATNinja

I have one doubt in this question.

The word "suggest" needs subjunctive verb (i.e. it needs a plural verb), whereas in choice B, "that the moon was formed from part of the Earth" clearly uses singular verb.

Please help me in pointing out where I am faltering.

The subjunctive is generally used in a situation that is desired or anticipated. This is sometimes true when using the word "suggest," but not always.

Consider this example:

"I suggest that she attend the meeting unless she wants to be fired."

Here, I am expressing something that I want to happen. This thing hasn't yet occurred, so there is some level of doubt involved. I could similarly (but more rudely) "demand that she attend the meeting," or (less rudely) "advise that she attend the meeting." These are all proper uses of subjunctive.

The official example is a bit different. The scientists are not demanding or advising that the moon do anything. There is no anticipation or doubt -- instead, the scientists just think that something might be true right now. What do they think might be true? That "the moon was formed from part of the Earth that had perhaps been dislodged by a meteor."

Perhaps more to the point, there aren't any subjunctive options on the table in this question, so you don't have to worry about it too much .

I hope that helps!

Hello expert
sayantanc2k

I HAVE COUPLE OF DOUBTS REGARDING THIS QUESTION. PLEASE ENLIGHTEN

1. can you please highlight any mistake that i have made in poe?
A. PAST perfect is at incorrect place and we would have had better sentence if had that after suggest.eliminate.
C. grammatically correct but meaning does not make sense. part of the earth can not form moon.eliminate
D.though comma +having is modifying earlier clause and making sense with subject moon but it is illogical because earth was dislodged by meteor not the moon. eliminate.
E. we do not need double use of past perfect. eliminate
B remains

2. can we eliminate option A on the basis of non essential modifier( WHICH)?

3.does authors WANTED to show the sequence of activities? i thought the idea could have been explained by simple past tense but we do not have simple past in options so chose B.

Thanks and regards

Hello kadamhari825,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe that we can resolve your doubts.

1. The error in Option C is that "moon" is modified with "which was dislodged", illogically suggesting that the moon was dislodged rather than the part of the Earth that formed the moon. Further, one issue that you missed is the use of the "comma + which" construction; the use of this construction in this sentence is incorrect, as "comma + which" is only used to refer to extra information, but the fact that part of the Earth had been dislodged is information that is vital to the core meaning. Remember, “that” is used to provide information needed to preserve the core meaning of the sentence, and the “comma + which” construction is used to provide extra information.

2. As mentioned above, the use of the non-essential modifier is indeed incorrect in both A and E.

3. The use of past perfect is necessary here, as we have two events that concluded in the past and one concluded before the other; it has nothing to do with the intention of the author; the past perfect tense is simply the correct tense to use here.

To understand the concept of "Past Perfect Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Which" vs "That" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F61rK86ND44

All the best!
Experts' Global Team