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fmik7894
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved 22 Sep 2017, 06:37
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been at the peak of its evolution.


A. speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been

B. speculate for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared

C. speculate for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared to have been

D. have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared

E. have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved 28 Sep 2017, 16:07
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adkikani, you're on the right track. The sentence is saying that it currently appears to us that the Anasazi culture was at its peak at the time of the move. So it appears (now) to have been (then) at its peak.
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved 22 Sep 2017, 07:42
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fmik7894
Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been at the peak of its evolution.

a. speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been
b. speculate for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
c. speculate for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared to have been
d. have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
e. have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been
Show more

"speculated for decades": "for" here prefers perfect tense. Hence eliminate A, B, C/

"had moved" agrees with "by the time". The adverb here is "at the time", so "had moved" is incorrect. "moved" is prefered.

Also, "appear at the peak of" makes the sentence awkward. "appeares to have been" correctly refers to the past. E is the correct answer.
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved 22 Sep 2017, 10:29
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fmik7894
Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been at the peak of its evolution.

a. speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been
b. speculate for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
c. speculate for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared to have been
d. have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
e. have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been

"speculated for decades": "for" here prefers perfect tense. Hence eliminate A, B, C/

"had moved" agrees with "by the time". The adverb here is "at the time", so "had moved" is incorrect. "moved" is prefered.

Also, "appear at the peak of" makes the sentence awkward. "appeares to have been" correctly refers to the past. E is the correct answer.
Show more


Hey Broall,

I eliminated answer choices with "had moved" because there is no "past of the past" and past event to refer to.
Both the following events:
1. Anasazi moved from CC to somewhere else
2. Their culture was at the peak of evolution

happened at the same time. Hence, we do not need past participle.

However, IMO "have been" must be used only when the effects of the event still persists today. Anasazi culture was at its peak in the past. Hence, simple past would have sufficed here.
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved 22 Sep 2017, 13:09
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fmik7894
Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been at the peak of its evolution.

a. speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been
b. speculate for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
c. speculate for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared to have been
d. have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
e. have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been

"speculated for decades": "for" here prefers perfect tense. Hence eliminate A, B, C/

"had moved" agrees with "by the time". The adverb here is "at the time", so "had moved" is incorrect. "moved" is prefered.

Also, "appear at the peak of" makes the sentence awkward. "appeares to have been" correctly refers to the past. E is the correct answer.
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Hi I have doubt regarding the expression appears to have been
 .
The sentence is in the past tense but we are using appears to have been .
Please clarify in detail .
Regards ,
Arvind
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved 22 Sep 2017, 21:40
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Please clarify the usage of "have been".
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved 26 Sep 2017, 06:30
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fmik7894 arvind910619

I am no expert, but let me add my two cents.

We definitely need have speculated (present perfect) since the archaeologists had speculated in past
and are still speculating. It is not a point of time event (speculated, ie simple past tense) that happened in past.

Also appears (simple present - suggesting a fact) to have been (present perfect) makes sense since the effect is still continuing
as suggested by - have been .

Let me know if these helps!
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved Updated on: 02 Jan 2019, 21:01
Originally posted by pineapple123456 on 02 Jan 2019, 20:18.
Last edited by chetan2u on 02 Jan 2019, 21:01, edited 1 time in total.
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Archaeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been at the peak of its evolution.

a) speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been
b) speculate for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
c) speculate for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared to have been
d) have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
e) have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved 02 Jan 2019, 21:06
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pineapple123456
Archaeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been at the peak of its evolution.

a) speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been
b) speculate for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
c) speculate for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared to have been
d) have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
e) have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been
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Please post the questions as per the rules of the forum.

As far as the answer is concerned, the biggest giveaway is the verb speculate

1) speculated Vs speculate Vs have speculated..
Speculation is an ongoing thing here, from a decade or so.. therefore you require present perfect HAVE speculated.
Only D and E left
2) D is awkward in the phrase " their culture appeared at the peak". The meaning gives a sense of physical appearance.. therefore appears to have been at peak is correct

Only E is left
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved 03 Jan 2019, 03:21
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Archaeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been at the peak of its evolution.

a) speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been
b) speculate for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
c) speculate for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared to have been
d) have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appeared
e) have speculated for decades about why the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to an unknown location at the time when their culture appears to have been
Show more

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Merging topics.
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved 08 Jan 2019, 07:21
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why it is 'had moved' instead of 'moved' ?

isn't it something that has already happened before.

quite confused by this. please clarify
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Archeologists speculated for decades about why the Anasazi had moved 05 Sep 2023, 09:46
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@Gmatninja

Kindly help.

In option D does it mean that at the time Anasazi moved from Chaco canyon to unknown location their culture appeared to be at the peak i.e their culture appeared that it was at the peak in the past and not now??

However in E it means that it appears to have been at the peak intending that it still appears in the present context that their culture was at the peak.
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