Native American burial sites dating back 5,000 years indicate that the

notice that the sentence include a reference in time at that time, so simple past is the correct verb tense.
eliminate B and D

In option E which cannot refer to people; it also uses past perfect, but it's not necessary.

Option C presents two problems
First is wordier than A
Second I think that you cannot say "a culture that was Algonquian-speaking". Can a culture be Algonquian-speaking? Can a culture speak?


The best answer choice is A.

IMO - A

(A) were part of a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people >> CORRECT
(B) had been part of a widespread culture of people who were Algonquian-speaking >> incorrect - had been. plus wordy construction.
(C) were people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking >> culture was not Algonquian-speaking, but people.
(D) had been people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking >> incorrect - had been. culture was not Algonquian-speaking, but people.
(E) were a people which had been part of a widespread, Algonquian-speaking culture >> incorrect - which, had been.

Native American burial sites dating back 5,000 years indicate that the residents of Maine at that time were part of a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people.

(A) were part of a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people - correct!

(B) had been part of a widespread culture of people who were Algonquian-speaking

Residents had been people who were – “had been” is wrong. With the usage of “had been” it seems that there was a time when American were once not the part of this culture.

Had is anyway incorrect because there are no two events we are talking about for which we need to show the order of their happening.

(C) were people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking

People are Algonquian-speaking not the culture
Residents were people who were – this is redundant. Two times using were.

(D) had been people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking

People are Algonquian-speaking not the culture

Residents had been people who were – “had been” is wrong. With the usage of “had been” it seems that there was a time when American were once not the part of this culture.

(E) were a people which had been part of a widespread, Algonquian-speaking culture

People are Algonquian-speaking not the culture

Residents were people who were – this is redundant. Two times using were.

The New Yorker - OCTOBER 11, 1982 ISSUE LINK

_________________

Option (A) - use of simple past tense "that the residents of Maine at that time were" seems to be correct.

Option (B)- use of past perfect tense "had been" is incorrect:
* as sequence of events are clear
* changes the original meaning of the sentence

Option (C) - Redundancy error - "were people who were part of a widespread culture"
instead "were part of a widespread culture" could have been used.

"culture that was Algonquian-speaking" use of that was changes the original meaning of the sentence because it's the people who speak Algonquian language, not the
culture.

Option (D) - use of "had been" is wrong as discussed in option-B.

Option (E)- "were a people which had been part"
use of "had been" wrong as discussed in option-B.
Pronoun error- to refer to people, we use who or whom, and not which.
"Algonquian-speaking culture" - Algonquian is a language not a culture.

Hence, correct answer is- Option (A)

(A) were part of a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people

Correct.

(B) had been part of a widespread culture of people who were Algonquian-speaking

Errors :

1. "had been" is not required as we are not referring two different times in the past. It is not that "Algonquian-speaking people" were part of culture at one time in the past and at the other time they were not.

2. Passive voice : People who were Algonquian-speaking : Unnecessary wordy construction.

(C) were people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking

Errors.

1."The residents of Maine ..... were people" is awkward construction.

2. "Culture" was not "Algonquian-speaking", but people were.

(D) had been people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking

Errors of B and C combined included in this choice

(E) were a people which had been part of a widespread, Algonquian-speaking culture
Errors ;

1."which cannot modify people.

2. "a people" is incorrect. We are talking about specific people, so "the people" is preferred to "a people"

3. Use of "had been" is incorrect.

4. Last modifier is incorrect.

We can not say "people had been part of widespread".

Comma before "Algonquian-speaking culture" makes the sentence nonsensical.
_________________

+1 for A

were part of a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people- uses the correct simple past form and conveys a logical meaning that residents were part of culture of xyz.

Hi experts! GMATNinja CrackVerbal MartyTargetTestPrep egmat GMATNinjatwo generis BillyZ

Within E, what does the "had been" mean exactly? The way I'm interpreting it is as follows: there was a group of people and they were a type of culture but not anymore, resulting in a different meaning. Is this correct?

By using "had been," the sentence expresses that the people had been part of a culture but was no longer part of that culture.

There's nothing particularly wrong with using "had been" to express that. Maybe that meaning is correct. Maybe the people really "had been" part of a widespread culture. The only reason "had been" helps to make the choice "incorrect" is that we can tell what the question writer thought made sense.

(E) is more clearly incorrect for other reasons.
_________________

(A) were part of a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people -- Correct.

(B) had been part of a widespread culture of people who were Algonquian-speaking -- Present perfect is incorrect. Simple past is better. This is so since present perfect conveys that it is still valid in present. That is not intended by the sentence.

(C) were people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking -- Incorrect. Meaning change. Culture that was X vs Culture of Y (culture of Y that was X -- not intended by original sentence)

(D) had been people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking -- Incorrect. Same as B.

(E) were a people which had been part of a widespread, Algonquian-speaking culture -- Incorrect. Use of relative pronoun "which" to modify "people" is incorrect.

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.
_________________