Last visit was: 19 Nov 2025, 08:17 It is currently 19 Nov 2025, 08:17
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
   1   2   3   4 
605-655 Level|   Modifiers|   Parallelism|   Pronouns|   Subject Verb Agreement|                           
User avatar
ExpertsGlobal5
User avatar
Experts' Global Representative
Joined: 10 Jul 2017
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,195
Own Kudos:
4,765
Given Kudos: 43
Location: India
GMAT Date: 11-01-2019
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,195
Kudos: 4,765
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 07 Jan 2022, 06:55
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
akash2305
Option D is now changed to
D. an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks

and all the answers has option D as
D. an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, and it marks

In the OG the SC04344 the option is the 1st one, I just want to understand why is D wrong as, which is correctly modifying the event that marked.

Thanks in advance!
Show more

Hello akash2305,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe we can resolve your doubt.

Option D is incorrect because "which marks" does NOT actually refer to "event"; it refers to the noun just before the comma, "extinctions"; please remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
User avatar
arjunb9
User avatar
Joined: 09 Jan 2019
Last visit: 17 Aug 2025
Posts: 11
Own Kudos:
7
Given Kudos: 6
Location: India
GMAT 1: 650 Q47 V33
GPA: 3.26
WE:Engineering (Manufacturing)
GMAT 1: 650 Q47 V33
Posts: 11
Kudos: 7
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 07 Jan 2022, 07:44
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Original Question :
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

(A) which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks

(B) which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking

(C) and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark

(D) an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks

(E) an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark

I as confused bt. D & E.
Replies mention in the thread state that option D has , "and it marks" whereas original question has "which marks" .
Kindly clarify .
User avatar
GMATNinja
User avatar
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 7,443
Own Kudos:
69,784
Given Kudos: 2,060
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Products:
GMAT Club Tests Forum Quiz
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Posts: 7,443
Kudos: 69,784
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 10 Jan 2022, 10:56
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
arjunb9
Original Question :
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

(A) which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks

(B) which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking

(C) and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark

(D) an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks

(E) an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark

I as confused bt. D & E.
Replies mention in the thread state that option D has , "and it marks" whereas original question has "which marks" .
Kindly clarify .
Show more
There's more than one version of this question floating around -- we discuss both versions of (D) here. Let us know if that doesn't answer your questions!
User avatar
Sa800
User avatar
Joined: 11 Aug 2021
Last visit: 03 Nov 2025
Posts: 63
Own Kudos:
21
Given Kudos: 87
Posts: 63
Kudos: 21
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 29 Mar 2022, 20:01
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hey GMAT ninja, for choice (c) cant the word (causing) be parallel to the word (slammed)...? they are both verbs i think ... right?

GMATNinja
This one isn't too awful, compared to some of the QOTDs we'll inflict on you later this week. For the most part, this is a nice story about straightforward uses of "that" and "which" modifiers, with some meaning stuff thrown in.

The uses of "that" and "which" can get nastier, though. Check out last Monday's YouTube webinar for more on the various uses of "that" on the GMAT... and we'll feature the other examples from the webinar as QOTDs later this week.

Quote:
A. which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks
"Which" can only modify "North America" here, and that makes no sense at all: "North America, which... marks the end of the geologic era"?! The placement of the "-ing" modifier doesn't seem great, either. Eliminate (A).

Quote:
B. which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking
Again, the modifier beginning with "which" is modifying "North America" again, and that makes no sense: "North America, which caused the plant and animal extinctions..." Eliminate (B).

Quote:
C. and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark
I'm OK with the use of "that" here, but the parallelism doesn't work. The parallelism marker "and" is followed by "causing plant and animal extinctions", and I can't find anything in the sentence that could possibly be parallel to "causing." (C) is gone.

Quote:
D. an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, and it marks
The last part of the underlined portion makes me hesitate: "it" could refer to "event", I guess. So "...an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, and the event marks the end of the geologic era..." That's not awful, but I really don't understand why we're starting a whole new clause there, with "event" as the subject. It makes a whole lot more sense when the end of the sentence says "... marks the end of the geologic era..." function as a modifier for "extinctions" -- and that's exactly what (E) does.

Since "it" is the subject of the second clause, you could also argue that it refers back to the subject of the first clause: "an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest." But that wouldn't really make much sense, either: the asteroid marks the end of the geologic era? Hm, not so sure about that one. But either way: even if you're OK with the pronoun, (E) does a much better job of conveying the meaning of the sentence.

Incidentally, there's another version of this answer choice in the verbal guide (any edition): "an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks..." Clearly, that's wrong for a different reason: "extinctions... marks" is a clear subject-verb error.

Either way, (D) is gone.

Quote:
E. an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark
(E) has two "thats", and they're both perfectly fine. The event caused the plant and animal extinctions, and the extinctions mark the end of the geologic era. Nice and clear. (E) wins.
Show more
User avatar
AjiteshArun
User avatar
Major Poster
Joined: 15 Jul 2015
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,949
Own Kudos:
5,080
 [2]
Given Kudos: 732
Location: India
GMAT Focus 1: 715 Q83 V90 DI83
GMAT 1: 780 Q50 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V169
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT Focus 1: 715 Q83 V90 DI83
GMAT 1: 780 Q50 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V169
Posts: 5,949
Kudos: 5,080
 [2]
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 29 Mar 2022, 20:54
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
sa800
Hey GMAT ninja, for choice (c) cant the word (causing) be parallel to the word (slammed)...? they are both verbs i think ... right?
Show more
Hi sa800,

Slammed is a verb in this sentence, but causing isn't. In fact, these (-ing) structures are never "complete" verbs on their own.

1. An asteroid causing plant and animal extinctions. ← This is not a complete sentence (there's no verb for the subject).

2. An asteroid is causing plant and animal extinctions. ← An -ing can combine with a helping verb (in this case, is) to form a "complete" verb. We'll need to take a call on whether the present continuous tense is appropriate, but this sentence does have a subject-verb pair.
User avatar
Bniwedita
User avatar
Joined: 13 Sep 2021
Last visit: 25 Apr 2023
Posts: 37
Own Kudos:
14
Given Kudos: 536
Location: India
Schools: IIML IPMX'25 (A)
GPA: 3.2
Products:
My Reviews
Schools: IIML IPMX'25 (A)
Posts: 37
Kudos: 14
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 29 Jul 2022, 00:57
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi,

I think the question has been edited later because I could not see the current D option in anyone's explanation.
Can anyone please explain why D (the current one) is not right?

Thanks,
Niwedita B
User avatar
EducationAisle
User avatar
Joined: 27 Mar 2010
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 3,891
Own Kudos:
3,579
 [1]
Given Kudos: 159
Location: India
Schools: ISB
GPA: 3.31
Expert
Expert reply
Schools: ISB
Posts: 3,891
Kudos: 3,579
 [1]
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 29 Jul 2022, 03:29
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Bniwedita
Hi,

I think the question has been edited later because I could not see the current D option in anyone's explanation.
Can anyone please explain why D (the current one) is not right?
Show more
which is option D is intended to modify "extinctions"; so at the very least, we would expect the verb to be "mark" (and not "marks").
User avatar
PV7
User avatar
Joined: 25 Jul 2022
Last visit: 11 Apr 2023
Posts: 66
Own Kudos:
36
Given Kudos: 6
Location: India
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Strategy
Schools: HBS '25 INSEAD Jan'23 intake HEC Sept'22 Intake Judge '24 Said '24
GPA: 4
WE:Other (Energy)
Products:
My Reviews
Schools: HBS '25 INSEAD Jan'23 intake HEC Sept'22 Intake Judge '24 Said '24
Posts: 66
Kudos: 36
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 13 Aug 2022, 03:25
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
elevinty
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

(A) which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks

(B) which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking

(C) and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark

(D) an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks

(E) an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark


Show SpoilerMy Question
Here is my question: In options E and D, how is the appositive grammatically right, shouldn't the appositive set next to the noun that it's modifying, in this case what is (an event) actually modifying because if it's modifying north america, then it wouldnt be right
need help plz


Show SpoilerArticle
Attachment:
SC SC4344 Verbal Review.jpg
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/26/science/asteroid-s-shallow-angle-may-have-sent-inferno-over-northern-kill-zone.html

SCIENTISTS have reconstructed an almost blow-by-blow account of the catastrophe that overtook the Earth 65 million years ago at the end of the age of dinosaurs.

They believe a marauding asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into Earth at a shallow angle, blasting an inferno of white-hot debris for thousands of miles across the young continent of North America and turning its mountains and valleys into killing fields.

The incinerated plants and animals were the first victims in a wave of global extinction that eventually erased hundreds of thousands of species from the face of Earth, marking the end the Cretaceous Period.
Show more
Many replies here discuss about "it " in option D. But I don't see any it there. Below is the option D (don't know if the question is edited and if yes, isn't it the best option compared to E?)
(D) an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks
avatar
TheUltimateWinner
avatar
Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
Posts: 2,489
Kudos: 2,387
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 21 Oct 2022, 15:26
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
GMATNinja
This one isn't too awful, compared to some of the QOTDs we'll inflict on you later this week. For the most part, this is a nice story about straightforward uses of "that" and "which" modifiers, with some meaning stuff thrown in.

The uses of "that" and "which" can get nastier, though. Check out last Monday's YouTube webinar for more on the various uses of "that" on the GMAT... and we'll feature the other examples from the webinar as QOTDs later this week.

Quote:
A. which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks
"Which" can only modify "North America" here, and that makes no sense at all: "North America, which... marks the end of the geologic era"?! The placement of the "-ing" modifier doesn't seem great, either. Eliminate (A).

Quote:
B. which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking
Again, the modifier beginning with "which" is modifying "North America" again, and that makes no sense: "North America, which caused the plant and animal extinctions..." Eliminate (B).

Quote:
C. and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark
I'm OK with the use of "that" here, but the parallelism doesn't work. The parallelism marker "and" is followed by "causing plant and animal extinctions", and I can't find anything in the sentence that could possibly be parallel to "causing." (C) is gone.

Quote:
D. an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, and it marks
The last part of the underlined portion makes me hesitate: "it" could refer to "event", I guess. So "...an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, and the event marks the end of the geologic era..." That's not awful, but I really don't understand why we're starting a whole new clause there, with "event" as the subject. It makes a whole lot more sense when the end of the sentence says "... marks the end of the geologic era..." function as a modifier for "extinctions" -- and that's exactly what (E) does.

Since "it" is the subject of the second clause, you could also argue that it refers back to the subject of the first clause: "an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest." But that wouldn't really make much sense, either: the asteroid marks the end of the geologic era? Hm, not so sure about that one. But either way: even if you're OK with the pronoun, (E) does a much better job of conveying the meaning of the sentence.

Incidentally, there's another version of this answer choice in the verbal guide (any edition): "an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks..." Clearly, that's wrong for a different reason: "extinctions... marks" is a clear subject-verb error.

Either way, (D) is gone.

Quote:
E. an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark
(E) has two "thats", and they're both perfectly fine. The event caused the plant and animal extinctions, and the extinctions mark the end of the geologic era. Nice and clear. (E) wins.
Show more
GMATNinja
Hello,
Can you have a look to highlighted part, please?

Is it just "extinctions... marks or the combination of ''the plant and animal extinctions' marks......''?
Thanks
User avatar
PriyamRathor
User avatar
Joined: 17 Aug 2021
Last visit: 24 May 2024
Posts: 152
Own Kudos:
119
Given Kudos: 167
Location: India
WE:Corporate Finance (Accounting)
Posts: 152
Kudos: 119
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 04 Jan 2023, 10:07
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Quote:
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

(A) which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks

(B) which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking

(C) and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark

(D) an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks

(E) an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark
Show more

Hello Experts,
KarishmaB EducationAisle AjiteshArun ,

Is Plant and animal extinctions plural or singular ? ( if Plant and Animal extinctions is plural then we can reject CHOICE D because of SV disagreement errror)
which refers to Plant and Animal extinctions, hence which marks is incorrect. It should be which mark

Also, do we say extinction or extinctions ?

Need your views :please:
Regards
User avatar
egmat
User avatar
e-GMAT Representative
Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,108
Own Kudos:
32,886
 [1]
Given Kudos: 700
GMAT Date: 08-19-2020
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,108
Kudos: 32,886
 [1]
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 04 Jan 2023, 13:02
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
PriyamRathor

Hello Experts,
KarishmaB EducationAisle AjiteshArun ,

Is Plant and animal extinctions plural or singular ? ( if Plant and Animal extinctions is plural then we can reject CHOICE D because of SV disagreement errror)
which refers to Plant and Animal extinctions, hence which marks is incorrect. It should be which mark

Also, do we say extinction or extinctions ?

Need your views :please:
Regards
Show more



Hello PriyamRathor,

I will be glad to help you with this one. :)

The word "extinctions" is plural, while the word "extinction" is singular. Yes, Choice D is indeed incorrect because of the SV number agreement error. Choice E correctly uses the plural verb "mark" for "that" that stands for the plural noun "extinctions".

Both words are used according to the suitable context of the sentence.


Hope this helps. :)
Thanks.
Shraddha
User avatar
KarishmaB
User avatar
Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 16,267
Own Kudos:
76,994
 [1]
Given Kudos: 482
Location: Pune, India
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 16,267
Kudos: 76,994
 [1]
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 04 Jan 2023, 21:12
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
PriyamRathor
Quote:
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

(A) which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks

(B) which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking

(C) and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark

(D) an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks

(E) an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark

Hello Experts,
KarishmaB EducationAisle AjiteshArun ,

Is Plant and animal extinctions plural or singular ? ( if Plant and Animal extinctions is plural then we can reject CHOICE D because of SV disagreement errror)
which refers to Plant and Animal extinctions, hence which marks is incorrect. It should be which mark

Also, do we say extinction or extinctions ?

Need your views :please:
Regards
Show more

'extinctions' is plural. When we talk about extinction of multiple species, we use plural extinctions - nothing wrong here.
In option (D), 'which' refers to plural subject 'extinctions' but the verb 'marks' is singular so there is SV agreement error.
avatar
TheUltimateWinner
avatar
Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
Posts: 2,489
Kudos: 2,387
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 28 Sep 2023, 13:00
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Quote:
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

(A) which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks
(B) which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking
(C) and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark
(D) an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks
(E) an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark
Show more
Hello Experts,
As the verb 'caused' has been used as past form , shouldn't the tense of the verb 'mark' be in past form?
avatar
TheUltimateWinner
avatar
Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
Posts: 2,489
Kudos: 2,387
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 28 Sep 2023, 13:12
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
GMATNinja
Quote:
GMATNinja - i find the use of the present tense 'mark' to be a bit bizarre; in my opinion it would make mone sense to say 'marked' instead, as the events we're talking about are clearly in the past. Does that make sense? Tks! :)
Good question! If we have more than one action in a sentence, it's possible that those actions could have different tenses - it all depends on logic and context. Here, have an example:

    "Tim, who once loved thrash metal but now prefers polka with just a hint of clarinet, has always had eclectic taste."

In this example, Tim "loved" one kind of music in the past, but "prefers" a different kind in the present. That's totally fine.

In the OA, it's true that the asteroid slammed into earth in the past, but the extinctions still "mark" the end of that geological era today. Put another way, if we'd used the past tense, "marked" it would suggest that those extinctions no longer mark the end of the era in question, and the timeline of events had been reevaluated. There's no reason to believe this is the case. Perhaps more importantly, the other answer choices don't give us the option of "marked," so there's no reason to use this as a decision point.

For more on verb tenses on the GMAT in general, check out this video.

I hope that helps!
Show more
GMATNinja
Thanks for the explanation.
GMAC did not pressurize us to make any decision on the basis of 'mark' and 'marked' as we are not bound to know everything that's going on (mark end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period) in this planet to make the choice correct in SC, right?
Am I missing anything?
avatar
TheUltimateWinner
avatar
Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
Posts: 2,489
Kudos: 2,387
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 28 Sep 2023, 13:38
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Quote:
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

(A) which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks
(B) which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking
(C) and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark
(D) an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks
(E) an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark
Show more
One more query:
What if the choice E is like below?
** an event that caused the plant and the animal extinction that mark
Would the creative choice be correct?

note: 'the' has been added ahead of 'animal extinction' and 's' has been removed from 'extinctions'
User avatar
KarishmaB
User avatar
Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 16,267
Own Kudos:
76,994
 [2]
Given Kudos: 482
Location: Pune, India
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 16,267
Kudos: 76,994
 [2]
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroi 29 Sep 2023, 01:53
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
TheUltimateWinner
Quote:
Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

(A) which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks
(B) which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking
(C) and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark
(D) an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks
(E) an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark
Hello Experts,
As the verb 'caused' has been used as past form , shouldn't the tense of the verb 'mark' be in past form?
Show more

The tenses used by different verbs in the sentence depend on the time of the action they are conveying. They can all be different.
Here, 'caused' shows an event that happened in the past and 'mark' shows an event that is based in the present.

Understand the meaning of the sentence: The history of the Earth is divided into geological eras. They are based on certain features such as which plants and animals lived at that time (we have fossil record of which animals lived at what time).
As per some scientists, an asteroid crashed into Earth (so apparently we don't have conclusive proof of this else all scientists would have agreed) and caused many plant and animal extinctions. These extinctions mark the end of the Cretaceous era. We define the time up to these extinctions (starting from some point before ) as the Cretaceous period today. So these extinctions today mark the end of the Cretaceous period in our history books.

So an asteroid slammed (in the past) into NA, an event that caused (in the past) extinctions that mark (in the present - in the way we define our eras today) the end of the C era.

Hence the need to read books and articles from various different topics!
   1   2   3   4 
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7443 posts
GMATNinjaTwo
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
231 posts
miag
189 posts