Research on the reintroduction of large carnivores such as bears and w

Question

Research on the reintroduction of large carnivores such as bears and wolves has implications both for the modern-day debate over the appropriateness of reintroduction programs and for the historical debate over what happened 10,000 to 50,000 years ago when one particular predator,  human beings, expanded their territory and encountering  large numbers of native prey.

(A) Human beings, expanded their territory and encountering

(B) human beings, expanded their territory to have encountered

(C) the human being, expanded its territory and encountered

(D) the human being, had expanded its territory to encounter

(E) the human being, had expanded their territory and encountered

MahmoudFawzy · Accepted Answer

I prefer C.
There is no need to use the past perfect as there is no ambiguity or confusion about which verb happened first.
Also, why should we assume that the reason for territory expansion is to encounter more native preys?

Although expansion led to more preys, we can't say that the reason for expansion is to get more preys.
For example: human expansion led to transmission of diseases. BUT we can't say that the reason for human expansion is to transmit diseases.

hemantbafna · Answer

A,B can be eliminated because human beings usuage is incorrect, as we are referring to specific species.
C is gone because reference to past tense is not there.
Left witb D& E.
E-and encountered is saying, they had done this and that.
D is the best option that remains without the flaws mentioned above.

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cchen679 · Answer

Why is "had" needed and why is it "expanded to" and not "expanded and encountered"?

tittoo · Answer

Experts please provide thorough explanation

VeritasPrepHailey   GMATNinja

St123Kt · Answer

I prefer C. I don't see the point of using had expanded. Also to encounter... means its intention is to encounter....illogical.

From NY Times:
The research, which was published in the Feb. 9 issue of the journal Science, has implications both for the modern-day debate over reintroduction programs and for a historical debate over what happened 10,000 to 50,000 years ago, when one particular predator, humans, expanded its territory and encountered large numbers of naïve prey. Some experts think that a ''blitzkrieg'' of killing by advancing humans contributed to the extinctions of many large animals in that era.

Supreet20 · Answer

daagh  please help on this one.

neha2017 · Answer

Definitely prefer C here. Why should we assume that the human expanded its territory “to encounter “ .. its is no where mentioned in the original sentence. Choosing D will be tweaking the original intended meaning of the sentence . Its illogical as well . Why will human expand its territory with an intention to encounter prey ? Also use of ‘ Had’ doesn’t make any sense to me here

MBAB123 · Answer

I don't think there is a meaning issue between C and D. It makes sense for a predator to expand its territory so it can encounter/face more prey (More food for it). In fact, in a weird way it gives more clarity to the reading. Still stuck between C and D though and any expert help would be appreciated!

ayushgmatclub1 · Answer

I also feel C is the correct option because the clause is starting with WHEN. Therefore, we are now describing the WHEN part and it should be described with the simple past rather than past perfect. If we use past perfect it would imply that at the time when the WHEN clause happened, the human being had already expanded its territory.

SriTamDas · Answer

It's better to ignore such questions and to move on. 
Because the source is missing and because NY Times article itself uses "expanded and encountered".

Copying word by word from  https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/20/science/moose-must-relearn-lessons-in-survival.html

Moreover, "had expanded to encounter" suggests as if human beings intended to encounter prey. The context doesn't make much sense. 
It's wrong.

SatvikVedala · Answer

Point 1) The subject of the underlined part is Predator which is singular. Therefore options A, B & E are eliminated
Point 2) Between C & D, I prefer  D  because the species, human being expanded it's territory in search of regional prey

Research on the reintroduction of large carnivores such as bears and w

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Research on the reintroduction of large carnivores such as bears and w

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