Astronomers have recently deduced the age of the oldest

Question

Astronomers have recently deduced the age of the oldest living star in the known universe, a metal-poor star that is a fossil formed in the early history of the universe and endured some 13.2 billion years.

A.endured
B.endures
C.is enduring
D.enduring
E.it endured

Please provide an answer with explanation

1 endured
2 endures
3 enduring
4 it endured
5 is enduring

crashVcrush · Accepted Answer

Astronomers have recently deduced the age of the oldest living star in the known universe, a metal-poor star that is a fossil formed in the early history of the universe and endured some 13.2 billion years.

A.endured
B.endures
C.is enduring
D.enduring
E.it endured

Please provide an answer with explanation

thus the reduced stem appears to be :

A fossil formed (X)......................AND...................Endured (Y).......... some 13 billion yrs ago.

X & Y = has to be Parallel

vertical scan reveals only 3 to fit the bill :

3. X ( Formed = past participle ) ..................... AND.......................Y ( Enduring = present Participle) = Parallel

Since the star is a living one : Correctly connects Formed ( past Sequence ) & Enduring ( Since living = present Sequence).

Leading to 3 = my take

thevenus · Answer

This place has been taken for the official explanation.

Let's discuss and contribute ideas !!!

TomB · Answer

Hi skmskm

Can you please explain in detail? How could you strike off the sentence up to "star that is". There is a relative clause starting with "that".

crashVcrush · Answer

Hi Buddy,

1. The first part before the comma is nothing but an initial modifier : Striking this off doesn't make any difference in getting to the intent/flavour of the sentence.

2. After the comma : The star THAT is a fossil............ ( some narratives related to the fossil )

Now we are not actually concerned about the star but about the fossil and the description of it ( where the answer is masked ) ; As suggested in the stem the star is nothing but a fossil ............

so striking off till THAT after skimming/ understanding the stem brings you nearer to the masking zone ( without destroying / interfering with the logical flow ) :

fozzzy · Answer

Astronomers have recently deduced the age of the oldest living star in the known universe, a metal-poor star that is a fossil formed in the early history of the universe and endured some 13.2 billion years.

A.endured
B.endures
C.is enduring
D.enduring
E.it endured

Please provide an answer with explanation

A endured
B endures
C enduring
D it endured
E is enduring

Can you please provide detailed explanations! Thanks!

Zarrolou · Answer

Merging similar topics.

We have to express the idea that this action happened over a long period of time, so only C and E remain.

"the oldest living star", "a star that is a fossil formed (...) and is enduring". "enduring" correctly modifies the fossil, "is" is not necessary and makes the sentence unclear: "a star that is a fossil and (...) is enduring" does it modify "fossil" or "star"? not clear
Hope it's clear

Hope it's clear

daagh · Answer

Yes. The answer is C; I couldn’t agree more with Zarrolou. We need a modifier that describes the oldest living star in the unverse. This is best done in C by providing a compound modifier using two factors namely, a metal –poor star formed of and a long enduring one. The modifier is going to be a phrase without a verb; we may see, all the choices except C a are having verbs rather a verbal participle.

EducationAisle · Answer

Good analysis. Curious to know what the source is, because it seems to be a rip off of the following OG problem:

Scientists have recently discovered what could be the largest and oldest living organism on Earth, a giant fungus that is an interwoven filigree of mushrooms and rootlike tentacles spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago and  extending  for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.

By the way, in the sentence under consideration, "formed" is "past participle", while "enduring" is "present participle". From a structural parallelism perspective, this is completely ok. For example:

Team India,  battered  by successive defeats, but  raring  to go, put up a mighty performance.

fozzzy · Answer

The source of the question is Grockit...

avohden · Answer

here is the   official explanation   from Grockit.

Answer C   - The subject matter of this sentence is enough to confuse some people, but the grammar isn’t that bad when we simplify the sentence to what we need here. Since we’ve just got one word underlined, we must be looking for its proper form. We can mentally edit what matters in the sentence to: “Astronomers have... deduced the age of... a   fossil... formed... and... -----.”

Now that the sentence is simplified, it should be easier to notice that everything after the word “fossil” merely describes that fossil (the oldest living star). And if it describes, then it’s not used as a verb... it’s used as a participle. A little logic can help us next: if the star is a living star, then has it stopped enduring? Of course not! So we should keep the tense active, and we should use the participle form parallel to “formed.”

Here’s how to think it through: “a fossil     formed... and   enduring.” The word “that” wasn’t used after “fossil,” so the word “was” was properly excluded, too. And since “was” wasn’t used, then “is” shouldn’t be, either... especially since they're both being used as participles (to describe fossils-- they're not meant as verbs).

A. The star is still enduring, so the past tense “endured” is the wrong verb tense.
B. “Endures” is the wrong word. It’s the present-tense verb, not the present tense participle.
 C. This is the credited response. “Enduring” is the correct present participle, parallel to “formed.” 
D. “It endured” is not only the wrong form, but it is also the wrong tense: the star is still alive.
E. Although tempting, “is enduring” is the wrong form; it is the progressive verb, not the present participle. Since “  was” was excluded, “is” can’t be included, either.

ankitaprsd · Answer

Astronomers have recently deduced the age of the oldest living star in the known universe, a metal-poor star that is a fossil formed in the early history of the universe and endured some 13.2 billion years.

A.endured
B.endures
C.is enduring
D.enduring
E.it endured

Please provide an answer with explanation

A.endured
B.endures
C.is enduring
D.enduring
E.it endured

Please provide an answer with explanation

mehulsayani · Answer

IMO A for me. Are you sure D is the right answer? What is the source? D does not follow parallelism.

dshuvendu · Answer

Experts kindly provide your insight, I believe Option A is Verb-ed modifier, Option B is a very and option D is a Verb-ing modifier. I believe formed is playing a role of verb-ed modifier and hence selected option A to maintain parallelism. However if I reframe the sentence, fossil that is formed in early history of the universe and that is endured some 13.2 billion years. Do we have a meaning change here ? A thing that is x and that is y - does it refer to same entity ? If yes, then option A should be correct :help2

KyleWiddison · Answer

I'll be honest, this question leaves a bad taste in my mouth...

The correct answer is D. You really have to eliminate your way to the answer and it's hard to feel comfortable with the "correctness" of the correct answer.

The star is still "living" so A & E are eliminated. Choice B can be eliminated because we can't use the simple present here, we would need the present perfect (has endured). That leaves us with C or D. The sentence is trying to create parallelism between "formed" (a modifying participle) and either "is enduring" or "enduring". Since "formed" is not a verb but a modifier, we need to match it to another modifier not a verb, so we eliminate "is enduring" and are left with "enduring" (Choice D).

Choice D doesn't feel great because while the parallel elements are both modifiers they don't feel parallel: formed & enduring. This was question was not created by the GMAT and I'm a little skeptical that you would see one like this on the real test.

KW

ankitaprsd · Answer

Source is grockit.com, one of the verbal quizes.

KyleWiddison · Answer

Nicely done...I stand corrected. The GMAT would test you on parallel modifiers like that.

The bad taste is still in my mouth...this question perfectly reinforces the principle that you have to eliminate your way to the correct answer and you may be left with a sentence you don't love, but that is correct. KW

mkarthik1 · Answer

But isn't the mentioned star said to be a fossil? I thought it endured because, if it is a fossil, it must have endured so many years.

sallysea · Answer

Merged topics. Please, search before posting questons!

ASHISH456 · Answer

I get confused, where to use verb-ed modifier and verb-ing modifier.
Why both verb-ed modifier cannot be used at both place in this question

Astronomers have recently deduced the age of the oldest

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Astronomers have recently deduced the age of the oldest

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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