Fossils of the arm of a sloth found in Puerto Rico in 1991,

Question

Fossils of the arm of a  sloth found in Puerto Rico in 1991, and dated at 34 million years old, made it the earliest known mammal of  the Greater Antilles islands.

A. sloth found in Puerto Rico in 1991, and dated at 34 million years old, made it the earliest known mammal of 

B. sloth, that they found in Puerto Rico in 1991, has been dated at 34 million years old, thus making it the earliest mammal known on 

C. sloth that was found in Puerto Rico in 1991, was dated at 34 million years old, making this the earliest known mammal of 

D. sloth, found in Puerto Rico in 1991, have been dated at 34 million years old, making the sloth the earliest known mammal on 

E. sloth which, found in Puerto Rico in 1991, was dated at 34 million years old, made the sloth the earliest known mammal of

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the oa is D. what do you think?

u2lover · Answer

I think D is correct... it uses present perfect correctly... first the fossils were found, then dated as X years old...

easy to fall in the trap and think that "sloth" is singular and "has" is SVA error and rule out D... however, "have" refers to fossils :!:

buzzgaurav · Answer

Should be D.
Correct SVA and also removes ambiguity if any resulting from use of "it" in the last clause.

 Fossils of the arm  of a sloth, found in Puerto Rico in 1991,  have been  dated at 34 million years old, making  the sloth  the earliest known mammal on the Greater Antilles islands.

jaynayak · Answer

Will go with D.

Maintains the S-V agreement. 
Fossils is plural, hence "have" is correct. And no ambiguous pronouns too.

buzzgaurav · Answer

B has a problem with SVA. The subject here is plural " Fossils " and not singular " Sloth ". Hence " have been " is correct and not " has been ".

 Fossils  of the .........,  found in Puerto Rico in 1991 ,  have been  dated at 34

Eren · Answer

Why past perfect? I have seen both simple past and present perfect used for dating, how do you know which one to use?

sumitsarkar82 · Answer

Past perfect - ???

have been is present perfect.... had been is past perfect... Although the answer is D... B/C/E has SVA problem while A shows that finding fossils and dating as two separate events.... Rather One led to the other.... So AND is NOT required

Eren · Answer

Ups, I was reading a grammar review of past perfect at that time. Must have confused it with the question. :lol:

u2lover · Answer

sorry present perfect... it's a typo... of course "have/has been" is present perfect

u2lover · Answer

on top of this... fossils seem to find themselves in B... we need passive voice to show that fossils were found by somebody.

aryanb · Answer

B, C and E contain SVA errors.
A has a ambiguous pronoun "it". Though logically there is no other noun that could be its referrent, its too far from the sloth to clearly indicate the right referrent, the sloth.

Hence D.

GMATT73 · Answer

Additionally, "on the islands" is preferred over "of the islands." 

Ex: Residents of Hawaii often make off island trips to the mainland.

Ex2: The mystic Silver Sword, a plant that can be found on the island of Maui, gets its name from the colour and shape of its leaves. The plant grows for 30-50 years, blossoms once, then dies.

Yurik79 · Answer

u2lover,buzzgaurav thank a lot now I see why B is wrong :wink:

Fossils of the arm of a sloth found in Puerto Rico in 1991,

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