Combining enormous physical strength with higher intelligence, the Nea

Hi Alexander,

Here goes the answer to your question:

Combining enormous physical strength with higher intelligence, the Neanderthals appear as equipped for facing any obstacle the environment could put in their path, but their relatively sudden disappearance during the Paleolithic era indicates that an inability to adapt to some environmental change led to their extinction.


Neanderthals existed in the past. They do not exist anymore. But the way this sentence has been written, it suggests that they still exist. They “appear” as equipped…. This is the flaw in this sentence. We need a verb that suggests that Neanderthals are extinct.


Now let’s see the sentence with the correct answer choice:


Combining enormous physical strength with higher intelligence, the Neanderthals appear to have been equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their path, but their relatively sudden disappearance during the Paleolithic era indicates that an inability to adapt to some environmental change led to their extinction.


This choice corrects the verb tense error in the original sentence. Verb phrase “appear to have been equipped” correctly suggests that Neanderthals when alive were equipped to face any environmental problem. They were equipped at that time.


If choice B were worded as “appear to be equipped to face…”, it would be incorrect because again it would convey the same meaning as Choice A.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Hi Alexander,

Here goes the answer to your question:

Combining enormous physical strength with higher intelligence, the Neanderthals appear as equipped for facing any obstacle the environment could put in their path, but their relatively sudden disappearance during the Paleolithic era indicates that an inability to adapt to some environmental change led to their extinction.


Neanderthals existed in the past. They do not exist anymore. But the way this sentence has been written, it suggests that they still exist. They “appear” as equipped…. This is the flaw in this sentence. We need a verb that suggests that Neanderthals are extinct.


Now let’s see the sentence with the correct answer choice:


Combining enormous physical strength with higher intelligence, the Neanderthals appear to have been equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their path, but their relatively sudden disappearance during the Paleolithic era indicates that an inability to adapt to some environmental change led to their extinction.


This choice corrects the verb tense error in the original sentence. Verb phrase “appear to have been equipped” correctly suggests that Neanderthals when alive were equipped to face any environmental problem. They were equipped at that time.


If choice B were worded as “appear to be equipped to face…”, it would be incorrect because again it would convey the same meaning as Choice A.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

I understand in this question as "have been equipped" comes after 'to' so it is not a verb .

Is it because for present perfect continuous we need have been <Verb in ing form> and as that is not the case so this is present perfect .

If above is true , can you explain how 'been' is correctly used in the above present perfect

Hi Can someone pls help me with my below doubt -

I understand in this question as "have been equipped" comes after 'to' so it is not a verb .

But I also read in another @e-gmat article that even if hypothetically 'have been equipped' was a verb it would be present perfect tense and not present perfect continuous tense. Can someone explain to me why please.

Is it because for present perfect continuous we need have been <Verb in ing form> and as that is not the case so this is present perfect .

If above is true , can you explain how 'been' is correctly used in the above present perfect

That's correct KARISHMA315. "to have been equipped" is called "perfect infinitive". Please refer to this post for details.


Yes, all "continuous" forms would have Verbing form.


Basically, present perfect has the following structure:

has/have + past participle

"been" is the past participle of "to be".

So, it's like this:

John is sick.
- Simple present

John was sick.
- Simple Past

John has been sick.
- Present perfect

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Present perfect tense, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

So in this case as the main verb of the sentence is "appears" in present tense , the perfect infinitives indicates the the event happened before (so the equipped part is before )?

To express a general truth, we use the SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE.
In the non-underlined portion, the usage of indicates -- simple present tense -- makes it clear that the intent is discuss a GENERAL TRUTH about the Neanderthals and their disappearance.
For this reason, the two main verbs must be in the simple present tense, as follows:
The Neanderthals APPEAR to have been equipped, but their disappearance INDICATES...an inability.

Analogy : The earth (APPEARED/APPEARS) to have been born 5 billion years ago but Research X prooves that Earth was born 2 billion years ago.

^^ GMATGuruNY

As an analogy - which makes more logical sense -- appeared or apears ?



I would say APPEARED makes as much sense as APPEARS does. Because the modifier in the yellow is prooven to be factually wrong because of Research X - - Hence earth NO LONGER appears to have been born 5 billion years ago (ever since reearch x prooved that thikning wrong)

Thoughts ?

Thanks so much !

Was also curious what GMATGuruNY - thought about the original question

Original question here

....
The Neanderthals were in fact unable to adapt to some environmental change.
In other words, APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING.
Although the Neanderthals appear to have been well-equipped, they in fact were not.
........

Once that fact (that they were not well equipped) is established, Neanderthals stop appearing to be well-equipped.