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555-605 Level|   Grammatical/Rhetorical Construction|   Idioms/Diction/Redundancy|   Subject Verb Agreement|                                 
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is "evidence" always uncountable? We are using "are" in option E, while in another SC question "is" was used: The best evidence that we have is the statistics from the Government and the opinions of scientists at leading universities.
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kaomanfen
Yes, evidence is always singular/uncountable. That doesn't mean that a noun that serves as evidence must also be singular. In E, we're saying that the samples (plural) are evidence (singular). Together, the set of samples serve as evidence. By contrast, in the example you provided, evidence is the actual subject, so we must use a singular noun.
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TomB
Rock samples taken from the remains of an asteroid about twice the size of the 6-mile-wide asteroid that eradicated the dinosaurs has been dated to be 3.47 billion years old and thus is evidence of the earliest known asteroid impact on Earth.

(A) has been dated to be 3.47 billion years old and thus is
(B) has been dated at 3.47 billion years old and thus
(C) have been dated to be 3.47 billion years old and thus are
(D) have been dated as being 3.47 billion years old and thus
(E) have been dated at 3.47 billion years old and thus are

Show SpoilerSOLUTION
Attachment:
gmatprep2 sc1.jpg

Agreement; Idiom

The plural subject of this sentence, Rock samples, requires plural verb phrases—have been dated and are rather than has been dated and is. The idiomatic way of expressing estimation of age is with the phrase dated at.

(A) The subject and verbs do not agree; dated to be … is not idiomatic.

(B) The subject and verb do not agree; the conjunction and thus should be followed by a verb.

(C) Dated to be is not idiomatic.

(D) As being is not idiomatic; the conjunction and thus should be followed by a verb.

(E) Correct. The plural verbs match the plural subject, and the wording of the sentence is idiomatic.

The correct answer is E.

I think this is one of the rare official questions in which the correct answer hinges on an idiom - and that too what some might say is debatable. My two cents - don’t take too much stock of this question, and keep on low priority memorizing tons and tons of idioms!
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ExpertsGlobal5
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
TomB
Rock samples taken from the remains of an asteroid about twice the size of the 6-mile-wide asteroid that eradicated the dinosaurs has been dated to be 3.47 billion years old and thus is evidence of the earliest known asteroid impact on Earth.

(A) has been dated to be 3.47 billion years old and thus is
(B) has been dated at 3.47 billion years old and thus
(C) have been dated to be 3.47 billion years old and thus are
(D) have been dated as being 3.47 billion years old and thus
(E) have been dated at 3.47 billion years old and thus are


Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Idioms

• “dated at” is a correct, idiomatic construction.

A: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun “samples” with the singular verbs “has been dated” and “is”. Further, Option A incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “dated to be” rather than the idiomatic construction “dated at”; please remember, “dated at” is a correct, idiomatic construction.

B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun “samples” with the singular verb “has been dated”. Further, Option B fails to form a complete sentence, as there is no active verb to act upon the subject “samples” in the latter part of the sentence – “thus evidence of the earliest known asteroid impact on Earth”.

C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “dated to be” rather than the idiomatic construction “dated at”; please remember, “dated at” is a correct, idiomatic construction.

D: This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “dated as being” rather than the idiomatic construction “dated at”; please remember, “dated at” is a correct, idiomatic construction. Further, Option D fails to form a complete sentence, as there is no active verb to act upon the subject “samples” in the latter part of the sentence – “thus evidence of the earliest known asteroid impact on Earth”.

E: Correct. This answer choice correctly refers to the plural noun “samples” with the plural verbs “have been” and “are”. Further, Option E acts upon the independent noun “samples” with the active verb “are” to form a complete thought, leading to a complete sentence. Additionally, Option E correctly uses the idiomatic construction “dated at”.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

ExpertsGlobal5
My ear wanted to change "have been" to "were" for simplicity's sake...
Would "were" be the same as "have been" e.g., --> "were dated at 3.47 billion years old and thus are"
Thank you!
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@gmatninga

- is this question fair because it only actually tests an idiom issue once you know that

'rock samples' = plural?
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Rock samples( Main subject ) taken from the remains of an asteroid ( verb-ed modifier modifying rock samples ) about twice the size of the 6-mile-wide asteroid (Prepositional Phrase modifying asteroid ) that eradicated the dinosaurs ( DC modifying asteroid) has been dated ( Verb for rock samples ) to be 3.47 billion years old and thus is ( verb for rock samples ) evidence of the earliest known asteroid impact on Earth.

(A) has been dated to be 3.47 billion years old and thus is ( Subject-verb disagreement )
(B) has been dated at 3.47 billion years old ( SV disagreement ) and thus ( Wrong parallel, no verb )
(C) have been dated to be 3.47 billion years old and thus are ( dated to be: might be an idiomatic issue )
(D) have been dated as being 3.47 billion years old and thus ( Subject-Verb disagreement , no verb )
(E) have been dated at 3.47 billion years old and thus are ( Correct )
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EducationAisle
Hi! estimated to be and dated at are both separate and correct idioms.
EducationAisle mikemcgarry GMATNinja is estimated at also correct idiom?

How can dated at be followed by a phrase
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Elite097
is estimated at also correct idiom?
In general no, unless the sentence wants to convey a location at which the estimate was made.

Incidentally, it is interesting to look at options A and D of this official sentence, wherein the only difference is estimated at vs estimated to be.

Having said that, chances are almost nil that test-takers will be treated to such options going forward, wherein the only difference between two options is idiomatic usage.

Quote:
How can dated at be followed by a phrase
I don't understand your question; since dated at ends with a preposition at, it will almost always be followed by a noun-phrase (because it is extremely common for prepositions to be followed by noun-phrases).
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