The Official Guide for GMAT Review 2018 Practice Question Sentence Correction Question No.: 702 Between 14,000 and 8,000 b.c. the ice cap that covered northern Asia, Europe, and America began to melt, uncovering vast new areas that were to be occupied by migrating peoples moving northward. (A) began to melt, uncovering vast new areas that were to be occupied (B) began melting, to uncover vast new areas to be occupied (C) began, by melting, to uncover vast new areas for occupation (D) began, after melting, uncovering vast new areas which are to be occupied (E) would begin to uncover, through melting, vast new areas for occupation Old Ice Cap (A) CORRECT (B) Verb / Meaning (to uncover) (C) Meaning (by melting) (D) Verb (are); Meaning (after melting) (E) Meaning (through melting) First glance The opening words in each choice indicate that something is going on with verb tense and meaning: began or would begin ? And then what form should the sentence use for the word melt ? Issues 1) Verb / Meaning: to uncover Meaning: by melting; after melting; through melting Verb: are The opening split between began and would begin turns out to be a red herring; both versions can be used in this context. The melting part, however, is faulty in some choices. Choices (A) and (B) both have melt(ing) as part of the main verb, while choices (C), (D), and (E) move the word into a prepositional phrase placed after the main verb. What difference does this make? Answer (D) has the biggest problem: the ice cap didn’t begin to uncover new areas only after it melted; rather, the act of the ice melting uncovered these areas. The meaning is illogical. For similar reasons, answers (C) and (E) are less preferable. The point of the sentence is that the ice caps began to melt (or began melting ) and therefore the new lands were uncovered. Answers (C) and (E) seem to imply that the point is that the ice cap began to uncover new areas …with the melting as an afterthought. Eliminate choices (C) and (E) for ambiguous meaning and (D) for outright illogical meaning. Answer (B)’s began melting construction is fine, but the usage of to uncover is problematic. When an infinitive verb is used right after a conjugated (or tensed) verb, the implication is that intent is involved. You began studying (in order) to get a good GMAT score. The ice cap, though, did not begin melting (in order) to uncover vast new areas. The ice cap does not have any intent; rather, that second event just happened as a result of the first. Eliminate choice (B) for faulty meaning. Finally, while examining answer (D), you might have thought that the are verb sounded funny. While it is possible that the migrating peoples have not yet moved northward and will be doing so soon, the melting ice caps took place so far in the past (and humans have covered so much of the earth today!) that it is extremely unlikely that these areas are to be occupied sometime in the future. This probably already occurred in the past. The Correct Answer Correct answer (A) uses a comma –ing modifier to convey what happened as a result of the ice caps beginning to melt. Note: Some people might be tempted to eliminate choice (A) due to the were to be occupied language. This verb tense can be used to indicate something that took place at a later point in the past than some other event. In this case, the sentence talks about the time when the ice cap began to melt; from the point of view of that timeframe, the new areas were (later in the past) to be occupied by the migrating peoples.

Last visit was: 19 Nov 2025, 18:42

It is currently 19 Nov 2025, 18:42

Toolkit

Sentence Correction (SC - EA only)

GMAT Club Daily Prep

Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.

Go to My Error Log Learn more

Request Expert Reply

Confirm Cancel

Nov 20
UCR MBA Impact - Live Q&A with UCR AdCom & Student
07:30 AM PST
-
08:30 AM PST
Learn what truly sets the UC Riverside MBA apart and how it helps in your professional growth
Nov 22
GMAT RC Masterclass
11:00 AM IST
-
01:00 PM IST
Do RC/MSR passages scare you? e-GMAT is conducting a masterclass to help you learn – Learn effective reading strategies Tackle difficult RC & MSR with confidence Excel in timed test environment
Nov 23
Conquer Algebra on the GMAT Focus Edition
11:00 AM IST
-
01:00 PM IST
Attend this free GMAT Algebra Webinar and learn how to master the most challenging Inequalities and Absolute Value problems with ease.
Nov 25
Try OnDemand GMAT Masterclass
10:00 AM EST
-
11:00 AM EST
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors.

Back to Forum

Create Topic

Between 14,000 and 8,000 b.c. the ice cap that covered northern Asia,

1 2 3

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

Joined: 13 Aug 2009

Last visit: 19 Nov 2025

Posts: 7,443

Own Kudos:

69,787

[2]

Given Kudos: 2,060

Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors

Location: United States (CO)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46 Verified score

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Posts: 7,443

Kudos: 69,787

[2]

29 Aug 2022, 16:05

Kudos

Bookmarks

a123bansal

GMATNinja

Deeksha93

Hi egmat GMATNinja I have a query in option A

A) Began to melt, uncovering

, verb + ing form shows cause and effect which is perfect in this case.

However, I eliminated this option based on the "to" after began. Does the "to" not indicate the purpose of began. I.E. the ice caps began in order to melt. This got me confused and I eliminated option A. Can you please explain when we use "to" for purpose and when we use it otherwise.

That is certainly one usage of "to + verb", i.e. "I worked hard to improve my GMAT score."

However, that is not the ONLY usage of "to + verb". For example:

intends

Or better yet:

"It is starting to snow."
It would be a little strange to claim that "it" intends "to snow," right? But again, there's no problem here -- we're just conveying a general state of affairs.

Unfortunately there is no list of black and white rules that will help you with this sort of thing. Unless you're 100% sure that a "to" construction is absolutely wrong, be conservative and leave it. Eliminate the options with obvious errors and then compare the rest of the choices based on meaning.

I hope that helps!

Hi GMATNinja Sir,

In continuation,

Can you please help me out with the below doubt?

is the use of "to melt" means below in A option?

"that the intent of the action "began" is "melting" because it uses the infinitive verb formation "to melt"".

Thanks in advance sir

The infinitive form doesn't necessarily imply some sort of intention.

There's a big difference between: 1) the ice cap melted and 2) the ice cap began to melt. The first suggests that the ice cap COMPLETELY melted between 14,000 and 8,000 b.c, while the second suggests that the ice cap only STARTED to melt between 14,000 and 8,000 b.c (and maybe it continued to melt after 8,000 b.c.).

In other words: this is about timing, not intention.

I hope that helps!

VerbalBot

Non-Human User

Joined: 01 Oct 2013

Last visit: 04 Jan 2021

Posts: 18,830

Own Kudos:

986

Posts: 18,830

Kudos: 986

30 Aug 2023, 04:51

Kudos

Bookmarks

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.