A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million

Why is B not correct?
I believe both "That" in option B and "It" in option C can refer back to both wingspan and the reptile.
And which one is correct - "to be" or "to have been".
I am confused in between these things.
Please help.

hazelnut AtlanticGMAT daagh

Had a small doubt.
If the sentence went something like this :
A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet and it is believed to have been the largest the world has ever seen.

In this case, option C is wrong because we do not the antecedent for 'it.'
Is my thought process correct?

What if the sentence was -

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

In this case, that would directly imply that we are talking about the wingspan, isn't it?

please explain the role of present perfect in option C. Is it better to use present tense instead ?

Hi GMATGuruNY,

Request your help to understand the verb tense sequencing in the correct answer choice.
I read your note on Perfect infinitives in the "Combining physical strength.. Neanderthals" question.
In that you have mentioned that in "appear to have been equipped", the perfect infinitive happens before while the present infinitive is at the same time as the verb.

In this sentence.

and it is believed to have been.

Sequencing the verbs
1) is believed is present.
2) to have been the largest flying creature is perfect infinitive that happens before believed.
akin to She claims to have been president.

3) the world has ever seen modifies the largest flying creature.
My concern is this modifier is still relevant today ? If so how as the bird was the largest flying creature.
AS per my understanding and I am not certain should it be "that the world had ever seen"

I am unable to sequence the "that clause : the world has ever seen" in context of grammar.

Also, is it right to say that
1) She claims to have been president = She claims that she has been president.

2) She claimed to have been president = She claimed that she had been president.

In 1) Is the Action over but just relevant OR Action Continues in to the present.
can we use the perfect infinitive for both these options or just the "action over part"

GMATNinja egmat

Hi,

Please help me in understanding these queries:-

1) In option B, Why "that" can't refer only to "Quetzalcoatlus" as we know that pronouns can jump, and also no other noun makes sense to the sentence, so logically "that" should only refer to "Quetzalcoatlus"

2) (This might be noob one, but I have constant doubt in verb tenses.) We are using "have been" in option C. Now we do know that there is "it", which is referring to "Third person", for "Third-person singular" we use "has been" rather than "have been".
So my doubt is, why we are using "have been", rather than "has been" in option C.

egmat

Thanks a lot. That resolves my query. I was taking "have been" as the verb. I guess I have to revise the verb and tenses.

But I didn't quite get the part why B is wrong because of structure. I get this part that by the introduction of "comma + and" we are introducing an independent clause. But still, we can use "that" to refer to "Quetzalcoatlus" as in option C "it" is referring to "Quetzalcoatlus".

Also as "is believed" is the verb, thus there shouldn't be quite an issue if you are using "to be" or "to have been".

Please help me with this query

Hello sid0791,

The word "that" in Choice B acts as a noun modifier that does modify the noun "Quetzalcoatlus". But this modifier starts a dependent clause. If you just analyze the "that" clause, it does not present complete information just on its own. Therefore, it is a "dependent" clause. It is "dependent" on an independent clause to present the logical meaning. Hence, there is a structural error in Choice B.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Great question!

Here's my logic for which C is ok grammatically:

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

First, let's get to the core of this sentence. Everything up to "years ago" is a warm-up that can be ignored. So now we have:

"The Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, and it is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen."

Now, we essentially have an interesting case of parallelism here:

The Quetzalcoatlus...
1. had a wingspan of...
2. is believed to have been...

Since we are dealing with parallelism, we really only have one subject in the sentence: the Quetzalcoatlus. Thus, both the "had" and "is" clauses refer to the bird itself.

That help?

Brett

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet and is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Tenses + Pronouns

• The pronoun “that” is used to refer to a variation of the subject, and the pronoun “it” is used to refer to the exact same subject.
• In a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction.
• "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refers to the noun just before the comma.
• The present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.
• The simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.

A: Trap. This answer choice incorrectly modifies "wingspan of 36 feet" with "believed to be...ever seen", illogically implying that a wingspan of 36 feet is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen; the intended meaning is that the Quetzalcoatlus is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen; please remember, in a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction. Further, Option A incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "be" to refer to an event that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.

B: Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "be" to refer to an event that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature. Further, Option B incorrectly uses "that" to refer to the exact same subject - "the Quetzalcoatlus"; please remember, the pronoun “that” is used to refer to a variation of the subject, and the pronoun “it” is used to refer to the exact same subject.

C: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase "and it is believed", avoiding the meaning errors seen in Options A, D, and E and conveying the intended meaning - that Quetzalcoatlus is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen. Further, Option C correctly uses the present perfect tense verb "have been" to refer to an event that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present. Additionally, Option C correctly uses the pronoun "it" to refer to the exact same subject - "the Quetzalcoatlus".

D: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "wingspan of 36 feet" with "which was, it is believed...ever seen", illogically implying that a wingspan of 36 feet is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen; the intended meaning is that the Quetzalcoatlus is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen; please remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.

E: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "wingspan of 36 feet" with "which is...ever seen", illogically implying that a wingspan of 36 feet is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen; the intended meaning is that the Quetzalcoatlus is believed to have been the largest flying creature the world has ever seen; please remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "be" to refer to an event that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Phrase Comma Subject" and "Subject Comma Phrase" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1minute):



To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



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



All the best!
Experts' Global Team