I would like to know : - please correct me if Im wrong

Tree was planted by Ram and that provided mangoes in the month of May .
Clause 1: Tree was planted by Ram
Subject : Tree
verb : Was planted

Clause 1: that provided mangoes in the month of May
Subject : That (pronoun)
verb : provided

here clause 1 and 2 are BOTH independent clause , then should it not be

Tree was planted by Ram , and that provided mangoes in the month of May .
<independent clause > , and < independent clause> ?

on similar lines


the correct form

Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal and that its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel.

This has <Australian embryologists ( =subject) have found ( = verb) > and <that = subject , evovled = verb >

should it not have comma before and ???
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What would u say when u want to mean ancestry r lineage?
He/she is a descendant of XYZ. Is descendant is nothing but that. On the contrary when u say he/she descended from XYZ it would mean going down. Also if u do Poe.
A. Evidence that suggest that is a bit redundant plus comma and sets an independent clause here which is not appropriate here.
B. Evolving is not correct , u have to understand that the embryologists suggested two things and each should have a. Verb.
C. Subject verb issue
D.has descended again would mean gone down. Plus this is a reporting structure you need Another that after and to maintain parallelism.
E. Correct. Proper parallelism maintained subject verb issue resolved.

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Both the usage are different.
Consider the following example:
A- Elephant is descended from ... : In this descended is a predicate adjective ... similar to the one in sentence " The laundry is washed" . Hence it shows a state of being of the elephant.
Also the sentence can be rewritten as Descended from an aquatic animal, the elephant has a huge trunk.
B- Elephant has descended from an aquatic animal ...: In this sentence "Descend" is used in the capacity of an action verb. Hence it conveys a different mean as in the "elephant is descending from ...."

IMO D has correct parallelism because these parts are parallel:
"to suggest that the elephant has descended from an aquatic animal and [that is omitted] its trunk originally evolved"

But D use active form has descended and it means that elephant move down
and E use passive form is descended and it means that elephant a blood relative of (a specified ancestor)
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Hi, I have 2 doubts regarding the usage of verb tense here. Can someone please clarify these doubts?

1.I thought the first sub clause should be in past tense, since the action of descending took place in the past. So it should be either descended or was descended. But since as per few explanations descended means coming down, it should be was descended.
2.The second sub clause should be in present perfect tense, since the action of evolving took place in a period of time and still the effect of action is there. Can you please clarify the misconception in my thought process?

Thanks in advance.
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we discuss again and again this hard question.

a.
we need the second "that" before "its" . if we dont have "that", the ending clause is parallel to main clause "embryologiy have found". no sense.
b,
structured as in b, "its" is ambiguous, refering to elephant or animal.
c
"its" refers to animal. no sense.
d
we need the second "that" before "its"

a is correct.

though I can analyze above thing, I possibly can not do so in the test room. this is a hard question
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I'm just talking about E. Here, the correct sentence is:
Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal and that its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel.
This sentence works like------
Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest
a) that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal (x)
and
b) that its trunk originally evolved (y)
So, the whole sentence looks like----
Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest x and y. This sentence will also be fine if I say: Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest Mr. Robert and Mr. John.
This x and y should be equivalent to some activities (like tense or clause) to make the original sentence legitimate. We can't say that ''I have found evidence to suggest pen (x) and paper (y)''. We should write the activities of 'pen and paper'. So, the complete sentence will be something like below.
I have found evidence to suggest pen is used to write something on the answer script and paper is used for making answer script.
In the above sentence, there should have a conjunction like THAT to animate the part ''I have found evidence to suggest''. So, the correct sentence will be:
I have found evidence to suggest THAT pen is used to write something on the answer script and paper is used for making answer script.
In the above sentence, I suggested two things simultaneously. So, if I break down the whole sentence into several parts, then the sentence will be like following.
I have found evidence to suggest THAT
1) pen is used to write something on the answer script
and
2) paper is used for making answer script.
So, if I write the above sentence into separate parts, then it'll work perfectly. Here are the separate parts of the above sentence:
1/ I have found evidence to suggest THAT pen is used to write something on the answer script.
2/ I have found evidence to suggest THAT paper is used for making answer script.

Now, if I write the sentence like below, then it'll be...
I have found evidence to suggest THAT pen is used to write something on the answer script and THAT paper is used for making answer script.
If I breakdown this sentence, then it'll be...
I have found evidence to suggest THAT
a) pen is used to write something on the answer script
and
b) THAT paper is used for making answer script.
So, if I write the above sentence into separate parts, then it'll NOT work perfectly. Here are the separate parts of the above sentence:
1/ I have found evidence to suggest THAT pen is used to write something on the answer script.
--->OK
2/ I have found evidence to suggest THAT THAT paper is used for making answer script.
---->NOT OK
SAME thing is happened in the original sentence of Official Guide!
Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal and that its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel.
Now, if I break down this sentence into several parts it'll be....
Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest that
a) the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal
and
b) that its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel
So, if I write the above sentence into separate parts, then it'll NOT work perfectly. Here are the separate parts of the above sentence:
1/ Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal.
----->OK
2/ Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest that that its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel.
-----> NOT OK (doesn't make sense to me!)

Again,
if we break down the original sentence into several parts like below, then it'll be....
Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest
a) that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal (X)
b) that its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel (Y)
The whole sentence is something like below....
Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest X and Y.
So, the above sentence is ''SENTENCE FRAGMENT''

Hi daagh, sayantanc2k, IanStewart, chetan2u, mikemcgarry, VeritasPrepKarishma, egmat
It seems that I'm questioning the Official Answer. I've some confusion in this problem, but unfortunately, all the confusion is in the correct option, which is E. So, can you help me to find out my mistake so that I can easily accept E as a correct option, please?
Thank you all my honorable expert!
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(A) that suggests that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal, and its trunk originally evolved
The sentence is trying to tell us that the evidence suggests two things: 1) that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal and 2) that the elephant's trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel; in order to avoid a parallelism issue, we would have to change, "..., and its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel" to "and that its trunk evolved as a kind of snorkel." Furthermore, this sentence has a string of relative clauses ("evidence that suggests that the elephant...", and the GMAT considers it "awkward and confusing to string together relative clauses." For these two reasons, choice A can be eliminated.

(B) that has suggested the elephant descended from an aquatic animal, its trunk originally evolving
The simple present tense ("suggests") should be used instead of the present perfect tense ("has suggested") because we are describing a present action (what is the evidence currently doing?) and not referring to what the evidence was doing in the past. Present perfect is typically used to describe how long an action has been going on, for example, "For the past 100 years, most evidence has suggested (present perfect) that the elephant is descended from a land animal; however, new evidence suggests (simple present) that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal." Furthermore, a past tense should be used instead of "evolving" because we are talking about a past action (how the trunk evolved in the past, not how it is evolving now), so choice B can be eliminated.

(C) suggesting that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal with its trunk originally evolving
This choice can easily be eliminated because the past perfect ("had descended") is not the appropriate tense (we do not have two past actions occurring at different times). Also, a past tense should be used instead of "evolving" (see choice B notes).

(D) to suggest that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal and its trunk originally evolving
Again, the past perfect ("had descended") is not the appropriate tense. Also, this choice contains a parallelism issue ("its trunk originally evolving..." is not parallel to "that the elephant had descended.."), and a past tense should be used instead of "evolving" (see choice B notes).

(E) to suggest that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal and that its trunk originally evolved
Here the infinitive "to suggest" is properly used as an adjective to modify "evidence". This choice also avoids parallelism issues ("suggest that the elephant is descended... and that its trunk originally evolved..."). The predicate adjective "descended" follows the linking verb "is" and properly modifies "the elephant". This might not sound right because we are used to hearing "descend" used as a verb (ie "I descended a flight a stairs."), but you shouldn't trust your ear when analyzing SC problems! Choice E is correct.
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I am unable to figure out the difference between 'to suggest' and 'that suggest'.


Australian embryologists have found evidence that suggests that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal, and its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel.

We use simple present tense to show a habit, a fact, or a general information. So use of 'is' is correct here because that fact is still true in the current context.
If we use present perfect (has/have+ present participle), it would show that elephants descended from ........but this information is not true anymore.
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