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Hi,

My thought process is as follows,

1. Option A and Option B: .......held the individual development. (Is a wrong start)

2. Option D: start is fine, but the 'Previously all the evolutionary stage' (changes the meaning of the original sentence)

3. Option E: Had and Previously (one of them is redundant)

And there are also other mistake.. leaving C the only option.

Please give me Kudos, if you agree with the above.



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Ernst Haeckel held the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to have passed through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to its species.

A) the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to have passed through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to its species
B) the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to pass through previously all the evolutionary stages from single cell organism to that species
C) that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, passes through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to the species of these organisms
D) that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, previously pass through all the evolutionary stages from single cell organism to their species
E) that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, had passed through all the evolutionary stages previously from single cell organism to the current species

Hi,
I doubt the provided OA. Is it really B?
I find option C to be much more convincing than B because of following reasons:
- In option B, it seems awkward (meaning) that EH held "individual development of X" to pass (showing purpose), indicating EH himself passed through stages.
- In option B, "That species" does not have valid antecedent. Nevertheless, option C clarifies which species is been talked about.
- Also C has better idiomatic usage "EH held that X".

Please clarify. If B is OA then kindly provide explanation to my misconceptions, if any.

OA fixed.
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C is suspicious since it uses present simple after HELD which is in past. is this a fact that is still true?
the individual development passed before he held this statement.
past perfect would be more appropriate, no?
anyone can explain this?
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A and B are out because of the missing 'that'. One cannot hold development. One holds a view, which will require a 'that'. Between C, D and E --- Since the view is a fact that still holds the use of past tense in options D and E is unjustified. C, using present tense, correctly reflects that the view is a known fact. Option C

Kudos.. if you like...[/quote]

Is the from X to Y correct?
Single cell organism is Noun.
its species is also a noun.

Species of that organism is also noun phrase. Can we have X = Noun and Y = Noun Phrase?
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A and B are out because of the missing 'that'. One cannot hold development. One holds a view, which will require a 'that'. Between C, D and E --- Since the view is a fact that still holds the use of past tense in options D and E is unjustified. C, using present tense, correctly reflects that the view is a known fact. Option C

Kudos.. if you like...

Is the from X to Y correct?
Single cell organism is Noun.
its species is also a noun.

Species of that organism is also noun phrase. Can we have X = Noun and Y = Noun Phrase?[/quote]


From X to Y is the correct idiom
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Should be C
A and B do not include 'that' which changes the meaning.
Ernest didn't held the individual development, instead he held a belief (or a fact).
Tense is incorrect in E. The development still passes through all of the stages
D is obscure with 'previously pass through'

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Indeed, this question is not an easy one to crack. Catagorizatoin into different groups helped me remove one group and concentrate on rest few options. Knowledge of subject verb agreement and noun pronoun agreement helped me solve this question.
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souvik101990


Ernst Haeckel held the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to have passed through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to its species.

A. the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to have passed through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to its species

B. the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to pass through previously all the evolutionary stages from single cell organism to that species

C. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, passes through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to the species of these organisms

D. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, previously pass through all the evolutionary stages from single cell organism to their species

E. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, had passed through all the evolutionary stages previously from single cell organism to the current species

A says Ernst Haeckel held the individual development of biological organisms to have passed through.....there is no proper verb and no that after held.
B does not sound correct since it says He held development to pass through sth. This does not make sense.
C is correct verb held makes proper sense now due to the presence of that. Development of organisms is a fact and is in present tense correctly.
D previously is used wrongly and plural verb pass does not make sense for development.
E wrongly uses past perfect tense.
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"that" is a must....without "that" the meaning changes...so we can eliminate A & B
D--> individual development....pass through .....(wrong)
E--> altered position of "previously" changes meaning...

IMO...C is correct
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A. the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to have passed through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to its species

Hold or held should be followed by "that" in this case

B. the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to pass through previously all the evolutionary stages from single cell organism to that species

Hold or held should be followed by "that" in this case

C. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, passes through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to the species of these organisms

Correct Answer - "Held that" "Passes is the correct verb tense"

D. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, previously pass through all the evolutionary stages from single cell organism to their species

Previously should not modify "pass" this changes the meaning of the sentence. The meaning of the sentence is that EH believes that organisms have passed through all the evolutionary stages but this answer choice changes that to EH believes that all organisms have previously passed through these stages. Previous to what?!

E. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, had passed through all the evolutionary stages previously from single cell organism to the current species

This answer choice uses the past perfect for some reason. So the sentence reads that EH believed that all organisms had already passed through these stages. This seems a bit strange. Also, previously modifies when the organisms would have passed the stages not the stages themselves. So this changes the meaning.
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My Answer : C
My analysis:
A - That is required to connect to the other independent clause.
B - That is required to connect to the other independent clause.
C - Correct
D - previously is the adverb modifying the verb pass whereas it should be modifying the evolutionary stages as an adjective
E - previously is the adverb modifying the verb pass whereas it should be modifying the evolutionary stages as an adjective
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A. the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to have passed through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to its species --- that is missing

B. the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to pass through previously all the evolutionary stages from single cell organism to that species--- that is missing.

C. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, passes through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to the species of these organisms -- This is the correct choice, since all scientific theses are finally about universal truths and not just evidences from which the truth is drawn and hence a present tense verb such as passes is required.

D. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, previously pass through all the evolutionary stages from single cell organism to their species ---- “pass through” is S-V agreement problem

E. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, had passed through all the evolutionary stages previously from single cell organism to the current species -- had passed is wrong tense. May it was so in all species that were in the past years. But the passage talks of current species. So a past perfect has no place in such descriptions.

Obviously the answer is C.
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Answer is C

Held will be followed by that . Its sort of a commanding word.

A and B out .

In option D previously is not required . and its makes no sense.

E : Had not required at all .
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seems like a case of SV agreement.. Also, A and B rule out just because someone cannot hold 'the individual development' of something. Among the rest of the 3 options, D and E does not fit as both are in the past tense and does not agree with the subject. Hence final answer is
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daagh
A. the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to have passed through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to its species --- that is missing

B. the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, to pass through previously all the evolutionary stages from single cell organism to that species--- that is missing.

C. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, passes through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to the species of these organisms -- This is the correct choice, since all scientific theses are finally about universal truths and not just evidences from which the truth is drawn and hence a present tense verb such as passes is required.

D. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, previously pass through all the evolutionary stages from single cell organism to their species ---- “pass through” is S-V agreement problem

E. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, had passed through all the evolutionary stages previously from single cell organism to the current species -- had passed is wrong tense. May it was so in all species that were in the past years. But the passage talks of current species. So a past perfect has no place in such descriptions.

Obviously the answer is C.




hi daagh, could you pls elaborate the reason for not using past perfect in choice E. I am unable to understand your explanation: "May it was so in all species that were in the past years. But the passage talks of current species. So a past perfect has no place in such descriptions."

Since the first part of the sentence is in past tense (Ernst Haeckel held), how can it not use past perfect referring back to its previous period. pls clarify.
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The facts are presented in Present tense.... eg. Ice melts to form water.
Ernest held that...it is a fact so present tense.
That is required for the subjunctive purpose.
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12Sums wrote

Quote:
hi daagh, could you pls elaborate the reason for not using past perfect in choice E. I am unable to understand your explanation: "May it was so in all species that were in the past years. But the passage talks of current species. So a past perfect has no place in such descriptions."

Since the first part of the sentence is in past tense (Ernst Haeckel held), how can it not use past perfect referring back to its previous period. pls clarify.

I wrote
Quote:
E. that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, had passed through all the evolutionary stages previously from single cell organism to the current species -- had passed is wrong tense. May be it was so in all species that were in the past years. But the passage talks of current species. So a past perfect has no place in such descriptions.
My intended point was: For example, in the case of species that are things of past, say such as the dinosaurs, we can agree that held was a later event and had passed its past perfect. However, the tenor of the passage is to espouse a time-less universal theory; Using a past perfect tense limits the reference to a finished chapter, and closes the usage to any era contemporary or future
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option C seems best: that the individual development of biological organisms, from embryos to adult forms, passes through all the previous evolutionary stages from single cell organism to the species of these organisms

reason as why E is wrong: the intent of the sentence is to put forward THAT Ernst Haeckel held or propounded some theory which is true in entirety SO that FACT should be presented in PRESENT TENSE and NOT in PAST PERFECT as is done in E
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