Nicknamed the Napoleon of the dinosaur kingdom, N. Hoglundi seemed as

Question

Nicknamed the Napoleon of the dinosaur kingdom, N. Hoglundi  seemed as armed with a smaller body to adapt to their Cretaceous Arctic environment that  experienced seasonal temperature extremes and variations in available food sources.

A. seemed as armed with a smaller body to adapt to their Cretaceous Arctic environment that
B. seemed to have been armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment that had
C. seems as armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment that
D. seems to have been armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment that
E. seems to be armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment that had

TargetKellogg2024 · Answer

A.  Nicknamed the Napoleon of the dinosaur kingdom, N. Hoglundi   seemed as  armed with a smaller body to adapt to their Cretaceous Arctic environment that  experienced seasonal temperature extremes and variations in available food sources.  - "Seemed as" is an incorrect idiom. "Seem" could be used as "It seems that...", "You seem to be...", "Seemed as if...", "She seems ..." etc.

B.  Nicknamed the Napoleon of the dinosaur kingdom, N. Hoglundi  seemed to have been armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment that  had   experienced seasonal temperature extremes and variations in available food sources.  - "Had" is incorrectly used. "Had" is used for the earlier of the two events concluded in the past. There are no two relative events in the sentence, hence the sentence requires simple present tense

C.  Nicknamed the Napoleon of the dinosaur kingdom, N. Hoglundi   seems as  armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment that  experienced seasonal temperature extremes and variations in available food sources.  - Incorrect idiom used

D.  Nicknamed the Napoleon of the dinosaur kingdom, N. Hoglundi   seems to have been  armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment  that    experienced  seasonal temperature extremes and variations in available food sources.  - Issue with the tense and the idiom fixed. No other grammatical or structural issue with the sentence

E.  Nicknamed the Napoleon of the dinosaur kingdom, N. Hoglundi   seems to be  armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment that had  experienced seasonal temperature extremes and variations in available food sources.  - "Seems to be armed..." is present tense. However, N. Hoglundi is not in the present, but past. Therefore, "seems to have been" is better use

brt · Answer

Nicknamed the Napoleon of the dinosaur kingdom, N. Hoglundi seemed as armed with a smaller body to adapt to their Cretaceous Arctic environment that experienced seasonal temperature extremes and variations in available food sources.

A. seemed as armed with a smaller body to adapt to their Cretaceous Arctic environment that
B. seemed to have been armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment that had
C. seems as armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment that
D. seems to have been armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment that
E. seems to be armed with a smaller body to adapt to its Cretaceous Arctic environment that had

I feel the question is wrong......
when you use seems it implies that N. Hoglundi is singular.........then the verb has to be "has been" but not "have been".........
but at the same time seems to has been does not sound correct.
I think it should be "seems to be armed with........that"

TargetKellogg2024 · Answer

Hi  brt

That's a valid question. However, grammatically speaking, "seems to have been" is absolutely correct. Whereas "seems" is undoubtedly referring back to the singular subject, "To have been" is used as an infinitive phrase that combines the infinitive form of the verb "have" with the past participle "been." In such a construct, it indicates an action or state that occurred in the past. It is not directly affected by subject-verb agreement.

Take for an example - She wanted to have a vacation after a strenuous year

Here, "wanted" is the verb and "to have" is used in the infinitive form of "having" to indicate what she wanted to "have".

That being said, "have" can be used in many ways, apart from a plural verb. Here are some of those cases:
Auxiliary verb for forming perfect tenses: "Have" is used as an auxiliary verb to form the perfect tenses in English. For example: "I have eaten," "She has written," "They have seen."

Possession: "Have" is used to indicate possession or ownership. For example: "I have a car", "They have a house."

Auxiliary verb for forming the passive voice: "Have" is used as an auxiliary verb to form the passive voice in English. For example: "The book has been read," "The project will have been completed."

Auxiliary verb for forming conditionals: "Have" can be used as an auxiliary verb to form conditionals, particularly in the subjunctive mood. For example: "If she had known, she would have come."

Hope this helps.

brt · Answer

Thank you for the reply.....
It really helped me. Once I see it as infinitive it completely makes sense.

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Nicknamed the Napoleon of the dinosaur kingdom, N. Hoglundi seemed as

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Nicknamed the Napoleon of the dinosaur kingdom, N. Hoglundi seemed as

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