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 disappearnce during the paleolithic era indicates that an inability to adapt to some environmental change led o their extinction.

NOTE : This question gives us a BIG TAKEAWAY, never miss the non-underlined part. Read the complete sentence. Because here from the non-underlined part we come to know about the TENSE of the sentence, which helps in choosing between appear VS appeared!

(A) appear as equipped for facing any obstacle the environment could put in their path
(B) appear to have been equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their path,
(C) appear as equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their paths,
(D) appeared as equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their path,
(E) appeared to have been equipped for facing any obstacle the environment could put in their path,

ANALYSING THE ERRORS IN THE ORIGINAL SENTENCE :

1. equipped to VERB VS equipped for VERBING
Equipped To VERB -- IDIOMATIC USAGE
Equipped For VERBING -- NON IDIOMATIC USAGE

2. appear as equipped VS appeared as equipped VS appear to have been equipped
Appear as equipped -- it implies as if neanderthals right now appear as equipped. However, as per the intended meaning of the sentence neanderthals are extinct now. INCORRECT
Appear to have been equipped -- when we say that Neanderthals appear to have been equipped, we do not mean that neanderthals are equipped right now. They were equipped sometime in the past. However, this fact is what appears to us now.
Appeared as equipped -- The use of simple present ‘indicates’ in the second independent clause indicates that the sentence is talking about the present. Therefore, we need simple present “appear” as the verb, instead of “appeared”. Logically also, the sentence seems to say that it ‘appears’ that Neanderthals were equipped. It doesn’t seem to say that it so appeared in the past but not now.

3. PATH vs PATHS
As we are talking of a single obstacle, so we must be talking of a single path and not multiple paths. Therefore, usage of "path" is logical.

After POE, only choice B remains.

Why is "appear to have been equipped" in Option C better than "appeared to have been equipped" in Option D?

It is talking about past; why is "appeared" incorrect?

Thanks
Avijit

The split "appear" / "appeared" is only to confuse the candidates - both are correct. Option D is wrong because of use of the wrong idiom " appear as".

The thought process for solving this problem may go as follows:
Split 1: "appear / "appeared": both make sense - cannot eliminate any option.
Split 2: "appear as" / "appear to be": "appear as" wrong - means to come in sight as something (e.g., He appeared as a joker in the circus.) Eliminate A,C and D.
Split 3: "to face" / "for facing": "for facing" wrong - purpose requires use of infinitive "to face" - eliminate E.
Correct Option B.

Check out our detailed video solution to this problem here:
https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-soluti ... ection_755
_________________

I do not 100% understand why the OA of this question is B.

As I thought this question is stating about neanderthals (a kind of human from the past) so the tense should be past simple -> I omit A, B, and C.

We have the idiom "appear to V" and it is "to V"; therefore, why can't we state "appear to be equipped" but "appear to have been equipped" like the OA?

Thank you so much for your precious response, I really appreciate that!

Ron's answer -

by default, "appear" is in the present tense, since we're talking about the way these things appear to present-day observers.

if there were a context that would place "appear" in the past, then you could use the past tense. for instance: to nineteenth-century observers, they appeared to have been equipped...
but, absent such a context, you should go with the present, for simplicity (the default assumption is that this "appears" to be the case to present observers).

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

in this case, you've also got parallelism between "appear" and "indicates", two descriptions that both describe observations made in the present.
since "indicates" is not underlined, that determines the tense context. so your other observation, which is made at the same time, should be parallel to it.


-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"to have VERBed" is a type of infinitive that refers to actions in a timeframe previous to the timeframe of the sentence itself. this is actually the only kind of infinitive that can do this, so it will take the same form regardless of the tense of the main clause.

so, if you write
"the students seem to have cheated"
then
* the sentence itself is in the present ("seem"). so, the sentence is talking about the way things appear to a present observer.
* according to that present observer, it seems to be the case that the students cheated at some point in the past.


if you write
"the students seemed to have cheated"
then
* the sentence itself is in the past ("seemed"). so, the sentence is talking about the way things appeared to a past observer.
* according to that past observer, it seems to be the case that the students cheated at some point earlier in the past.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Mitch's answer

In English, we have two infinitive tenses: the present infinitive (TO + VERB) and the perfect infinitive (TO + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE).

The present infinitive expresses CONTEMPORANEOUS action (an action happening AT THE SAME TIME as the main action):
John IS proud TO BE president.
Here, John IS proud (in the present) TO BE president (also in the present).

The perfect infinitive expresses PRIOR action (an action that happened PRIOR to the main action):
John IS proud TO HAVE BEEN president.
Here, John IS proud (in the present) TO HAVE BEEN president (in the past).

One definition of to appear is to seem.
The intention of the SC above is to discuss WHAT SEEMS TO BE TRUE about the Neanderthals.
The Neanderthals appear to have been equipped to face any obstacle..
Here, the Neanderthals APPEAR (in other words, they SEEM -- right now, in the present) TO HAVE BEEN EQUIPPED (in the past).
_________________

Two critical cues may help us to get over this complicated issue of verb and idiom usage.

1. 'appear as equipped' and 'appeared as equipped' are both wrong because 'as equipped' suggests that the Neanderthals seem to be equipped even today since the main verb of the clause is 'indicates' as seen in the non-underlined part. This will effectively remove A, C, and D.

The second cue is that there was a purpose for their being equipped and that purpose is to face any obstacle. This intent is best expressed by an infinitive phrase 'to face' as in B rather than by a prepositional phrase 'for facing' as in E.

B is the eventual winner. Tense questions are always tricky.
_________________

I get the justification of "appear" vs "appeared." However, I eliminated "appear" do to the plural form instead of the single form "appears" to match with the Neanderthals." Is "appear" one of those verbs that can appear plural or singular.

TIA!!!

Hi thealchemist89,

The Neanderthals is, in fact, plural, so appear is correct.

The singular is Neanderthal, and that would need appears.
_________________

Hello All,

I understand that in this example "Appear" needs to be followed by "To". what I am puzzled with is the use of "Have + P.P"; the state of being equipped is something that was happened and completed in the past so was its effect. Shouldn't we use "appear to had been equipped" instead?

Hi hamed288,

The to here introduces an infinitive. Infinitives are not full verbs, and the only form we can use after the to in an infinitive is the plain (simplest) form. The plain form of have is have.

In other words, we should not apply our knowledge of tenses to infinitives, as infinitives are not (full) verbs.
_________________

Here's my take on this question. I hope it can be helpful


_________________

Hi experts / egmat,

This might be an extremely silly question, so very sorry for asking - but I understand the usage of perfect infinitive (to have been Verb-ed). But what I fail to comprehend is how does "appear(ed) as equipped" point to present tense? What is the actual verb in the sentence that points to the present tense of the act of being equipped in either "appear as equipped for facing any obstacle the environment could put in their path" or "appeared as equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their paths," ?

Thank you!

Hi Soubhik, appear is the verb.

Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Perfect infinitive. This might enhance your understanding. Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.

_________________

Thanks for the nice explanation, GMATGuruNY
So, can we say that E is wrong because we don't know which one (appeared VS equipped) happened first? Also, can we remove any choice(s) if it has 'past form (e.g., appeared)' with any 'perfect infinitive (TO HAVE verbED)'?
Appreciating your help.
_________________

The perfect infinitive may serve to modify a past tense verb.
Carol was proud to have served her country.
Conveyed sequence:
was proud = past
to have served = an action performed BEFORE Carol was proud
This structure is rare.
In most cases, the perfect infinitive serves to modify a present tense verb.



Conveyed sequence in E:
appeared = past
to have been equipped = an action performed BEFORE the Neanderthals appeared
The sequence is clear but incorrect.

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.



PAST TENSE + PERFECT INFINITIVE is a valid construction, but it is unlikely to appear in an OA.
_________________

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.


(A) appear as equipped for facing any obstacle the environment could put in their path,- Neanderthals are history. Appear as used for present tense.

(B) appear to have been equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their path,- Hmm! appear to have been is used for past and "their" refers back to "Neanderthals". Let's keep it.

(C) appear as equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their paths,- Same error as A.

(D) appeared as equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their paths,- "appeared as" is incorrect to say

(E) appeared to have been equipped for facing any obstacle the environment could put in their path, "appeared to have been" is not correct with verb. It can be "appear to have been".

So, I think B.

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.


(A) appear as equipped for facing any obstacle the environment could put in their path,

(B) appear to have been equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their path,

(C) appear as equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their paths,

(D) appeared as equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their paths,

(E) appeared to have been equipped for facing any obstacle the environment could put in their path,


We need to use logic and grammar to solve this question.

Appear as suggests that Neanderthals still exist. This would make the sentence illogical. Hence we need to use appear to have been - (once- in the past) to show that when they existed they were equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their path. Eliminate options A, C, and D.
E- equipped for facing is incorrect. Equipped to is the correct idiom.
(B) appear to have been equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their path,
B is correct.


Vishnupriya
CrackVerbal Prep Team
_________________

According to this logic, (C) can be a potential answer too. What am I missing?