Astronomers at the Palomar Observatory have discovered a distant super

Thanks for your question, Tracy95! Make sure that you go back to each of these questions and look over the official explanations in the "Spoiler" section.

For this question, option A has a couple problems, as outlined in the official explanation:

1. It has an extra pronoun "that," which doesn't need to be there because "one" already covers it.
2. It doesn't have the "of" it needs to convey the correct meaning. Since the sentence is talking about "one of a type" we need to keep the "of."

Since these two sentences are a bit different, they will need different things for the correct answer. If you have any other questions, feel free to tag me at EMPOWERgmatVerbal or send a message!

Use of that? one already works as pronoun, use of that is not required.
“Believe + to be” is correct construction
A B out
C that it is – one is already used as a pronoun therefore it here is redundant
D unidiomatic. That follows verb believe, this type of construction indicates start of new subject verb.
S+V THAT S+V However in this choice the construction is incorrect.
E CORRECT: they believe to be of a type

Hi GMATNinja,

Could you please explain the difference between choice A and choice D? I am not sure what this question is testing.

Thanks in advance/

Hi GMATNinja

Please could you help us with the analysis of (A) vs (D)?

Thanks!

Let's start with choice (D):


If we ignore the "that" clause, we have "Astronomers at the Palomar Observatory have discovered a distant supernova explosion, one they believe." So it sounds like the astronomers BELIEVE the distant supernova explosion. Does that mean that there are sometimes fake supernova explosions but that the astronomers believe this one is legit? Or that supernova explosions are sometimes liars but that the astronomers find this one to be trustworthy??

Of course, these interpretations are a bit absurd -- the astronomers don't believe the supernova explosion itself. Rather, the astronomers believe something ABOUT the supernova explosion: that it's of a type previously unknown to science, as expressed in the correct answer choice (E).

The placement of "that" in choice (A) gets us a little closer to the right meaning. But do the scientists believe that the recently discovered supernova explosion is, itself, a type? Or that this particular supernova explosion belongs to a previously unknown type (or category) of supernova explosions?

The latter makes more sense, so (E) wins over (A).

I agree with DmitryFarber. The "that" in A is NOT wrong. And "believe is" in A is NOT wrong. What A is actually saying is that:

"one that they believe is" --> "one that, they believe, is" The two commas here might not be grammatically correct here but will help you understand how "they believe" comes into play. "They believe" is only "inserted" in the sentence, kind of similar to this example: "I love you", he said, "marry me." Here, "he said" is inserted. You get the idea.

E is correct but you need to know that E actually omits a "that" like the one in A.

A is wrong because it is missing "of".

egmat

According to Noun +noun modifier case
option A should be correct can you please help me with my understanding why in this case its wrong

Can someone please answer this, a very valid question. If "believe to be" is idiomatic, then why does it not conform in another similar question?

zhanbo - Request you to please guide what are we missing.

I do not have a definitive answer as to why sentence (1) is necessarily wrong.

(1) Scientists believe the severe allergy to be turning into an epidemic.
(2) Scientists believe (that) the severe allergy is turning into an epidemic.

I hope someone else has better idea to address this official GMAT question. What we can probably agree is that sentence (2) is not only shorter (shorter is better) but also more straightforward in conveying its meaning. So I would choose (2) , but, like you, I wonder whether there is something fundamentally wrong with sentence (1).

i'm not sure this is right. there is an assumed "that" in the correct answer choice. "that" + they is an absolute modifier modifying one.

The usage of 'One', 'that' and 'it' in the same sentence is redundant. Any one of them will suffice to refer to an antecedent. So A, B, C, and D can be eliminated quickly.


Cheers and Kudos

Dear Team,
As per Manhattan SC book, Both "Believe to be" and "Believe that" idioms are correct.
However, in this question, I am not convinced why E is right and Why D is wrong?
Please support to elaborate

"Believe to be" and "Believe that" are both correct, but are not interchangeable in every circumstance:

"I believe that aliens live on Mars." [Correct]

"I believe aliens to be living on Mars." [Incorrect]

"Hers was a discovery believed to be revolutionary in the field of medicine." [Correct]

"Hers was a discovery believed that it would revolutionize the field of medicine." [Incorrect]

The following two are ....probably interchangeable?

"I believe that dogs are the kindest creatures on earth."

"I believe dogs to be the kindest creatures on Earth."

Now, as to D and E:


Astronomers at the Palomar Observatory have discovered a distant supernova explosion, one that they believe is a type previously unknown to science.

(D) they believe that is
(E) they believe to be of


E is correct. Let's specify why D is wrong:

We more or less have:

"[Astronomers discovered an explosion], one they believe that is a type previously unknown to science."

So this second part of the sentence, "one [blah blah blah]," is a kind of modifier. We're describing the explosion.

Okay, what is the structure of 'they believe that is...'?

The word 'that' has many uses in sentence.

I can say "I believe that dogs are the kindest creatures on Earth."

Here 'that' is a conjunction of sorts--it's saying the idea I believe.

"that" can also be a modifier indicator, as in:

"Dogs that play with children well make the best pets." and "The dogs that the animal shelter rescues deserve a good home."
(Also something like "I like that dog" where 'that' is pointing to the dog I like).

"That" can also be a pronoun. "The increase in shoe sales out paced that of socks." ('that' being 'the increase in sales') Or: "I believe that is a vase from the Ming dynasty." (presumably, here, we're looking at a vase, and 'that' is a pronoun pointing to it).

Some of these usages of 'that' definitely don't work in D:

"one they believe that is a type previously unknown to science..."

It seems to be the most likely usage here is the conjunction, as in the "I believe" structure... But that doesn't work, because what follows next isn't a clause. We don't have a subject, just the verb 'is.'

So it's... the pronoun? The looking at the vase example? "they believe that is a type of explosion..."

However, what is the antecedent of 'that'? The Distant Supernova Explosion... But what is the 'one?' Also the DSE...

So we have,

"Astronomers have discovered a distant supernova explosion, [a distant supernova explosion] they believe [the distant supernova explosion] is a type of explosion..."

This makes no logical sense.

It really seems like D is trying to have 'that' serve two roles, as a conjunction and as a pronoun. The conflation leads to a completely muddled structure.

A, B, C, and D all repeat the same issue why using "it" or "that". "one" is used just before the phrase and there is no logical reference for "that"

E is left and doesn't repeat the errors seen in the other options

Astronomers at the Palomar Observatory have discovered a distant supernova explosion, one that they believe is a type previously unknown to science.

(A) that they believe is
(B) that they believe it to be
(C) they believe that it is of
(D) they believe that is
(E) they believe to be of

Hello expert,
This question really confused me, cuz I have met a similar question but the correct answer is different. Would you help to compare these 2 questions?
The question is here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-recent-stu ... 54641.html
A recent study on Lyme Disease suggests that people who are bitten by ticks, especially by the lone star tick, develop a severe allergy to meat that scientists believe to be turning into an epidemic
A. to be
B. would be
C. is
D. it is
E. it would be
The correct answer of this question above is C. And I saw an expert’s explanation is [scientists believe] is an inserted phrase, so the sentence is: develop a severe allergy that, scientists believe, is turning into an epidemic.
If as per this thought of thread, we can consider [they believe] in original question an inserted phrase either, so the sentence would be: one that, they believe, is a type previously unknown to science. If so, where is wrong with A?
Experts pls help, and much thanks in advance.