Even though Clovis points, spear points with longitudinal grooves chip

Even though Clovis points, spear points with longitudinal grooves chipped onto their faces, have been found all over North America, they are named for the New Mexico site where they were first discovered in 1932.

This question checks Nouns modifier and intended meaning. There is a property of something, but comparison is done with something else.

(A) Even though Clovis points, spear points with longitudinal grooves chipped onto their faces, have been found all over North America, they are named for the New Mexico site where they were first discovered in 1932.-> Okay. Clovis Points spear points..., 2nd one "Clovis Points have been found...", 3rd one "Clovis Points have been found...", and 4th one "Clovis Points are named for the...". Where talks about New Mexico Site, which makes sense. So far, so good. Let's keep it.

(B) Although named for the New Mexico site where first discovered in 1932, Clovis points are spear points of longitudinal grooves chipped onto their faces and have been found all over North America. -> Intended meaning is asking for comparison of "found all over North America" with "named for the New Mexico site". IN this option, we are comparing "named for the New Mexico site" with "spear points of longitudinal grooves chipped". It is not correct.

(C) Named for the New Mexico site where they have been first discovered in 1932, Clovis points, spear points of longitudinal grooves chipped onto the faces, have been found all over North America. ->Just! do look at verb tense error "have been first discovered in 1932". Easy pick!

(D) Spear points with longitudinal grooves that are chipped onto the faces, Clovis points, even though named for the New Mexico site where first discovered in 1932, but were found all over North America.-> Spear points "but were found all over North America". It doesn't make sense. It should be Clovis points.

(E) While Clovis points are spear points whose faces have longitudinal grooves chipped into them, they have been found all over North America, and named for the New Mexico site where they have been first discovered in 1932.->Just! do look at verb tense error "have been first discovered in 1932". Easy pick!

So, I think A.

Even though Clovis points, spear points with longitudinal grooves chipped onto their faces, have been found all over North America, they are named for the New Mexico site where they were first discovered in 1932.


(A) Even though Clovis points, spear points with longitudinal grooves chipped onto their faces, have been found all over North America, they are named for the New Mexico site where they were first discovered in 1932. Correct

(B) Although named for the New Mexico site where first discovered in 1932, Clovis points are spear points of longitudinal grooves chipped onto their faces and have been found all over North America.

-“where first discovered” is wrong and particularly devoid of any meaning
-“and” in “and have been found” is wrong…there’s no need for a conjunction there

(C) Named for the New Mexico site where they have been first discovered in 1932, Clovis points, spear points of longitudinal grooves chipped onto the faces, have been found all over North America. X

-“have been first discovered” is wrong…there’s no need to mix the present perfect with the past tense…the past tense ‘where they were first discovered’ is sufficient

(D) Spear points with longitudinal grooves that are chipped onto the faces, Clovis points, even though named for the New Mexico site where first discovered in 1932, but were found all over North America. X

-‘where first discovered’ is wrong
-‘but’ is an unnecessary conjunction

(E) While Clovis points are spear points whose faces have longitudinal grooves chipped into them, they have been found all over North America, and named for the New Mexico site where they have been first discovered in 1932. X

-‘and named for the…’ is wrong …again you don’t need that conjunction
-‘where they have been first discovered’ is wrong
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daagh AjiteshArun EMPOWERgmatVerbal egmat

While I understood the main flaw with this option, the highlighted part of above sentence caught my attention.

Isnt this part missing a pronoun ? Is this kind of usage correct ?

'named for the New Mexico site where they were first discovered in 1932'

SD0715

You're right; we don't want to say "where first discovered." I can use a similar construction as an adverbial modifier, but it doesn't make sense here, and I don't think any version with "where" would work. But I could say something like "When first discovered, the drug appeared promising."
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Great question, SD0715!

While it's not grammatically wrong to say "named for the New Mexico site where first discovered," it's not the way most of us write or speak anymore. It's a bit "old fashioned" to leave out pronouns like that. So yes, if you were writing something like this for your own work, you could absolutely add in the words "they were" to make it clearer (and a bit more modern) for your readers.

We hope that helps! Keep tagging us at EMPOWERgmatVerbal with any more questions you run into!
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I know C) is wrong because it uses the past perfect "have been first discovered in 1932" for an action that has no effect/continuity in the present as indicated by "in 1932".

Supposing that "discovered in 1932" was used in C), can I say that C) is wrong because the 2 independent clauses of the sentence are linked with a comma and no conjunction ?

Thanks

Hello Naptiste,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe that we can help resolve your doubt.

Option C does not join two independent clauses with a comma (also known as the error of comma splice), as it does not feature two independent clauses. The only independent clause found in Option C is "Clovis points...have been found all over North America."; "Named for the New Mexico site where they have been first discovered in 1932" and "spear points of longitudinal grooves chipped onto the faces" are both modifying phrases that act upon "Clovis points".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Thank you for your answer.

Why are "named for the New Mexico site where they have been first discovered in 1932" and "spear points of longitudinal grooves chipped onto the faces" both not independent clauses?

Is it because they do not make sense on their own?

Thanks

Hello Naptiste,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your question, yes; these two are not independent clauses because they cannot stand on their own as complete sentences. More elaborately, the first lacks a subject and an active verb, and the second lacks an active verb.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Can anyone please tell me what 'their' in underlined sentence is referring to ? egmat EMPOWERgmatVerbal

Hi meluthra,

In option A, their refers to spear points.

1. spear points with longitudinal grooves chipped onto their faces
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Hello meluthra,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here, "their" refers to "spear points".

The reference to the "face" of the spear points may have thrown you off, but a close look at the sentence will show that there is no other noun that "their" can logically refer to.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Why have been found is correct here ? I feel are found should be used.

akt715

The present perfect ("have been") has two main uses: one is to show ongoing activity ("I have been reading all day."), and the other is to show accomplishments or benchmarks ("A vaccine for Covid-19 has been developed."). You can think of this case as the latter of those. The sentence is saying that at various times, Clovis points have been found at points throughout the continent. It isn't necessarily saying that they ARE CURRENTLY found all over, or that these occurrences are common. I don't know how rare it is to find a Clovis point, but this can make a difference. For instance, imagine that someone said "Plane crashes have occurred with every major airline." That wouldn't be too alarming, given how long we've had airlines. Contrast this with "Plane crashes occur with every major airline." This now sounds like something to expect.

We can also interpret this sentence using the first main use, as a description of something that is still happening. Clovis points HAVE BEEN found previously, and we can expect that more will still be found, but not necessarily all over, in the way that "are found" would imply. Note that it's also just fine to switch the tense of verbs if there's a reason for the difference. Tense switches are only wrong if they actually create confusion or inaccuracy. So that's why present perfect works. As for the simple present, the clearest reason not to pick it is that it isn't offered!
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Hello akt715,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the use of the present perfect tense verb "have been found" is correct because the action of finding the Clovis points concluded in the past but is still relevant in the present; the use of the simple present tense verb "are found" is incorrect because it incorrectly implies that Clovis points being found is a routine or habitual action that takes place in the current time frame; remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present, and habitual actions are best conveyed through the simple present tense.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of "Present Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Thanks DmitryFarber for explaining the use case of present perfect tense.

waytowharton


"Are found" wouldn't be incorrect, but there is a good reason to use present perfect. Please see my post on the issue above. It looks like others, including ExpertsGlobal5 directly above, have addressed this use of present perfect, so let us know if you have specific follow-up questions on anything.
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Hi Karishma,

Following is a question from OG -

A site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, has been recently discovered where patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle.

Here,

We have used present perfect with "Discovery". and not past tense

Is it because - the discovery was done recently and is not associated with any specific time.
However, specific time "First" is used in this question

Is My analysis correct? Please explain

Thanks,

egmat

Hi,

option B] starts with 'Although' Can we say for sure that a dependent clause should start with 'Although'. Here there is no verb hence incorrect use?

Also, we have a relative pronoun clause starting with 'WHERE'. However, there is no verb but verbal. Again, can we say that its a wrong grammatical construction?