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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 23 Sep 2018, 08:31
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.

A. huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been
B. huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appear to be from
C. it appears that paleontologists have found huge fossil bones that are from
D. paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from what appears to be
E. paleontologists have found huge fossil bones, which are from what appear to be

It is understandable to feel that choice E has a fundamental subject-verb error that 'appear' should be rather 'appears' as the noun for the verb is the dinosaur, a word many assume that is singular. short. However, hold please, hold; The trap here is that dinosaur is plural in the context and refers not to a single dinosaur but to the entire species of the second most huge animals that seem to have lived at that time. It must be clear to us that neither was there just a single animal of that kind nor were the fossils were discovered from the bones of a single organism in the entire desert pan of The Egyptian Desert. No one would formulate a theory from a single specimen nor would science would take it numbly per se.


Therefore 'appear' is the logical verb in the given context in E
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 26 Nov 2018, 11:18
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.

A. huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been
B. huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appear to be from
C. it appears that paleontologists have found huge fossil bones that are from
D. paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from what appears to be
E. paleontologists have found huge fossil bones, which are from what appear to be
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what is the problem with "it" in choice C?
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 26 Nov 2018, 16:26
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faltan
abrakadabra21
While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.

A. huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been
B. huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appear to be from
C. it appears that paleontologists have found huge fossil bones that are from
D. paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from what appears to be
E. paleontologists have found huge fossil bones, which are from what appear to be

what is the problem with "it" in choice C?
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faltan , hi.
The introductory phrase "While digging in the Egyptian desert" modifies the subject that follows the phrase.

"It" was not digging in the desert.

Just as an introductory participial phrase (verbING phrase) must modify the subject that follows the phrase,
so, too, must an introductory phrase that is constructed with a preposition and a participle. (while + digging)

In this post, HERE, I discuss five types of introductory phrases that modify the subject that follows them.
The modifier in this question is part of that group.

Hope that helps.
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 27 Sep 2020, 02:18
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Dear Mike,

I'm having a hard time trying to understand a particular structure in one GMATPrep SC question. The question is the following:

While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.

A) huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been
B) huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appear to be from
C) it appears that paleontologists have found huge fossil bones that are from
D) paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from what appears to be (correct)
E) paleontologists have found huge fossil bones, which are from what appear to be

My doubt is related to the structure "from what appears to be the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived". How can I classify this structure using the magoosh terminology? What is the subject of the verb appears? Can you explain the role of the word "what" in this structure?

Many Thanks
Dear Hugoba,
I'm happy to respond. :-) I'm sorry that there was a little delay: during the holidays, I didn't visit GC much.

What you ask is an excellent question. The word "what" in this context is a relative pronoun. Other relative pronouns are: who, whom, that, which, whoever, whatever. This is very important: a relative pronoun introduces a subordinate clause and, unlike a subordinate conjunction, plays a role as a noun in the clause. The relative pronoun may be the subject of the clause:
This is the man who wrote that interesting article.
I would like to thank whoever pruned the trees out front.
The relative pronoun may be the direct object of the verb of clause:
The man whom the police detained refuses to cooperate.
The novel The Great Gatsby, which I read for the first time this past year, was made into a famous movie in 2013.

Here's the OA of that GMAT Prep sentence
While digging in the Egyptian desert, paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from what appears to be the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.
In the main clause of this sentence:
"paleontologists" is the main subject
"have found" is the main verb

The subordinate clause, a noun-clause or substantive clause, opens with the relative pronoun "what," which acts as the subject of the clause, the subject of the verb "appears." This entire substantive clause is the object of the preposition "from."

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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Hi mikemcgarry daagh AndrewN

I agree to your explanation, when we cosnider the dinasour to be 1 single dinasour. But i considered it the whole specie(2nd largest specie) and hence required pluar verb which is in E. Kindly let me know why it should not be cosidered as the whole species but considered as 1 single dinasour?
Moreover, generally when we talk of fossiles, we talk in terms of species only.
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 27 Sep 2020, 12:19
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Quote:
While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.

A) huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been
B) huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appear to be from
C) it appears that paleontologists have found huge fossil bones that are from
D) paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from what appears to be
E) paleontologists have found huge fossil bones, which are from what appear to be

Hi mikemcgarry daagh AndrewN

I agree to your explanation, when we cosnider the dinasour to be 1 single dinasour. But i considered it the whole specie(2nd largest specie) and hence required pluar verb which is in E. Kindly let me know why it should not be cosidered as the whole species but considered as 1 single dinasour?
Moreover, generally when we talk of fossiles, we talk in terms of species only.
Show more
The answer, shanks2020, lies in the inverted sentence structure at the tail-end of the sentence, particularly the singular the second most massive dinosaur. The comparison is of one type of dinosaur to another type (i.e. the most massive), irrespective of the individuals within that type. This is no different from saying, The tyrannosaurus rex was (not were) a fast-moving predator. It is understood that the sentence is talking about all T. rexes (or shall I say reges?), rather than a single specimen. If you straighten out choices (D) and (E), you get the following. I will underline the part in each sentence that concerns subject-verb agreement.

(D.2) What appears to be the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived [left] huge fossil bones that paleontologists have found while digging in the Egyptian desert.

(E.2) What appear to be the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived [left] huge fossil bones that paleontologists have found while digging in the Egyptian desert.

The problem with (E) should now be clear. The preposition from in both original answer choices serves as a cue that a subject, a noun of some sort, is about to follow. That subject, the dinosaur at its base, takes a singular verb agreement.

I hope that helps. If you have further questions, just let me know. Thank you for calling my attention to the question.

- Andrew
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 27 Sep 2020, 22:38
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Quote:
While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.

A) huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been
B) huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appear to be from
C) it appears that paleontologists have found huge fossil bones that are from
D) paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from what appears to be
E) paleontologists have found huge fossil bones, which are from what appear to be

Hi mikemcgarry daagh AndrewN

I agree to your explanation, when we cosnider the dinasour to be 1 single dinasour. But i considered it the whole specie(2nd largest specie) and hence required pluar verb which is in E. Kindly let me know why it should not be cosidered as the whole species but considered as 1 single dinasour?
Moreover, generally when we talk of fossiles, we talk in terms of species only.
The answer, shanks2020, lies in the inverted sentence structure at the tail-end of the sentence, particularly the singular the second most massive dinosaur. The comparison is of one type of dinosaur to another type (i.e. the most massive), irrespective of the individuals within that type. This is no different from saying, The tyrannosaurus rex was (not were) a fast-moving predator. It is understood that the sentence is talking about all T. rexes (or shall I say reges?), rather than a single specimen. If you straighten out choices (D) and (E), you get the following. I will underline the part in each sentence that concerns subject-verb agreement.

(D.2) What appears to be the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived [left] huge fossil bones that paleontologists have found while digging in the Egyptian desert.

(E.2) What appear to be the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived [left] huge fossil bones that paleontologists have found while digging in the Egyptian desert.

The problem with (E) should now be clear. The preposition from in both original answer choices serves as a cue that a subject, a noun of some sort, is about to follow. That subject, the dinosaur at its base, takes a singular verb agreement.

I hope that helps. If you have further questions, just let me know. Thank you for calling my attention to the question.

- Andrew
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Hi AndrewN

Thanks for the reply. My query was typically on the consideraton of a specie as plural when we consider them as a whole.
So should it be taken as a observation? That when we talk of a whole class(specie) here we would use singular verb?
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 28 Sep 2020, 15:11
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shanks2020

Hi AndrewN

Thanks for the reply. My query was typically on the consideraton of a specie as plural when we consider them as a whole.
So should it be taken as a observation? That when we talk of a whole class(specie) here we would use singular verb?
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You always want to look for contextual clues to guide you in your decision-making. Examine both the underlined and non-underlined portions to see if anything stands out, and if the answer choices present a split on the issue, as was the case here, you will position yourself to answer the question correctly.

- Andrew
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 04 Oct 2020, 21:49
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.


A. huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appears to have been

B. huge fossil bones have been found by paleontologists, which appear to be from

C. it appears that paleontologists have found huge fossil bones that are from

D. paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from what appears to be

E. paleontologists have found huge fossil bones, which are from what appear to be
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This question is based on Modifiers.

The sentence begins with the modifier “While digging in the Egyptian desert”. This modifier cannot describe “huge bones”, which is the noun placed immediately after the comma in Options A and B, making the noun the subject of the modifier. Since there is an error of dangling modifier in both these options, Options A and B can be ruled out.

Option C is not much better. The pronoun ‘it’ cannot be an appropriate subject for the modifier either. So, Option C can also be eliminated.

Options D and E contain the noun ‘paleontologists’, which has been placed after the modifier. This noun can be an appropriate subject for the modifier. Option E, however is wordy. So, it can be eliminated.

In Option D, the relative pronoun ‘what’ stands in for the phrase ‘something that’. So, the sentence would read - paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from something that appears to be the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived. Subject-verb agreement is thus maintained as the verb 'appears' can agree with the relative pronoun 'what'. Therefore, D is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun Updated on: 03 Feb 2022, 10:26
Originally posted by jabhatta2 on 03 Feb 2022, 08:06.
Last edited by jabhatta2 on 03 Feb 2022, 10:26, edited 12 times in total.
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Hi AndrewN - - my question is out of curiousity, specifically of the structure in the pink (After the preposition FROM) - in option D

Quote:
(Option D) While digging in the Egyptian desert, paleontologists have found huge fossil bones FROM what appears to be the second most massive dinosaur
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Is the S-V (in the pink specifically) inverted ?

I have a created a simpler analogy to see if what comes after the preposition {From} may be an inverted structure.

Quote:
Scientists have found bones FROM what is the ocean
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun Updated on: 03 Feb 2022, 10:28
Originally posted by jabhatta2 on 03 Feb 2022, 09:20.
Last edited by jabhatta2 on 03 Feb 2022, 10:28, edited 30 times in total.
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^^^ AndrewN

In my analogy in the pink -- I dont think the noun phrase (in pink) is inverted because i cant flip it around

Quote:
Original - Scientists have found bones FROM what IS the ocean
flipped - Scientists have found bones FROM what the ocean IS - this flipping doesnt make sense to me personally or do you think its okay ?
Show more

Normally if the S-V is inverted - you should be able to flip the struture per my understanding. In this case, flipping the structure (within the pink) -- is not working for me at-least


If the pink is not an inverted structure, then is "what" perhaps the subject ? I didnt think so either if i replace "What" with the target noun, the the sentence becomes
Quote:

Original - Scientists have found bones FROM what is the ocean
Subject - Scientists have found bones FROM the ocean is the ocean
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Your thoughts on this structure (in the pink) would be much appreciated.
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 03 Feb 2022, 13:25
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jabhatta2
Hi AndrewN - - my question is out of curiousity, specifically of the structure in the pink (After the preposition FROM) - in option D

Quote:
(Option D) While digging in the Egyptian desert, paleontologists have found huge fossil bones FROM what appears to be the second most massive dinosaur

Is the S-V (in the pink specifically) inverted ?

I have a created a simpler analogy to see if what comes after the preposition {From} may be an inverted structure.

Quote:
Scientists have found bones FROM what is the ocean
Show more
jabhatta2
^^^ AndrewN

In my analogy in the pink -- I dont think the noun phrase (in pink) is inverted because i cant flip it around

Quote:
Original - Scientists have found bones FROM what IS the ocean
flipped - Scientists have found bones FROM what the ocean IS - this flipping doesnt make sense to me personally or do you think its okay ?

Normally if the S-V is inverted - you should be able to flip the struture per my understanding. In this case, flipping the structure (within the pink) -- is not working for me at-least


If the pink is not an inverted structure, then is "what" perhaps the subject ? I didnt think so either if i replace "What" with the target noun, the the sentence becomes
Quote:

Original - Scientists have found bones FROM what is the ocean
Subject - Scientists have found bones FROM the ocean is the ocean

Your thoughts on this structure (in the pink) would be much appreciated.
Show more
Hello, jabhatta2. I am going to stick to the original sentence, since it is the one we are really discussing. You may have noticed my earlier post in which I referred to an inverted sentence structure, when I was making a point about subject-verb agreement. Such a structure does often occur in the presence of a prepositional phrase:

On the table sit the books.—i.e. The books sit on the table.

In this particular sentence, no such inversion occurs within the prepositional phrase, the part you are asking about specifically. Rather, the entire what clause at the end acts as the object of the preposition (from), and what is a stand-in for the proper subject, one that precedes the verb (appears). The shell of the main clause is as follows:

Paleontologists have found bones from [a dinosaur].

Subject | verb | direct object | preposition | indirect object

So, again, no inversion occurs within the overarching frame of the sentence. I would recommend reading this article from MasterClass on noun clauses for further reference. However, keep in mind that this is a quite narrow topic for GMAT™ purposes. There are much bigger fish to fry, as the saying goes.

Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 04 Feb 2022, 08:35
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Hi AjiteshArun - from the list of subordinate conjunctions / relative pronouns here

i dont see "what" mentioned as a relative pronoun (in option D, 'what' is supposedly a relative pronoun)

Hmm i think these are 'what clauses' and can have different structures. The rules governing this are pretty complicated i think. Do you think the GMAT expects us to know this ? i doubt it..

So why is this then tested on a GMAT prep question?

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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 04 Feb 2022, 19:55
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jabhatta2
The rules governing this are pretty complicated i think. Do you think the GMAT expects us to know this ? i doubt it..

So why is this then tested on a GMAT prep question?
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If it is tested on a GMATPREP question, then ... perhaps the GMAT expects us to know the rules?
Or perhaps the GMAT expects us to reason our way to the answer by using other rules and preferences that we do know?
(The second possibility is the more likely one.)

Posted from my mobile device
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 04 Feb 2022, 20:59
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^^^MartyTargetTestPrep


Let’s, say that the 2nd largest dinosaur is in the picture
The person in the painting is the paleontologist

Thus, the paleontologist found large fossils FROM the 2nd largest dinosaur

Its as if the paleontologist is finding these large fossils FROM the exoskeleton of the 2nd largest dinosaur.

Isn’t that an interpretation of D, given the prepositional phrase could be modifying the main verb of the clause.

Thus i got rid of D because option D, opened up for this interpretation.

Hence, I preferred E because the prepositoinal phrase "what appears to be ..." refers to be fossils only
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 04 Feb 2022, 23:08
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jabhatta2
^^^MartyTargetTestPrep


Let’s, say that the 2nd largest dinosaur is in the picture
The person in the painting is the paleontologist

Thus, the paleontologist found large fossils FROM the 2nd largest dinosaur

Its as if the paleontologist is finding these large fossils FROM the exoskeleton of the 2nd largest dinosaur.

Isn’t that an interpretation of D, given the prepositional phrase could be modifying the main verb of the clause.

Thus i got rid of D because option D, opened up for this interpretation.

Hence, I preferred E because the prepositoinal phrase "what appears to be ..." refers to be fossils only
Show more
Hi jabhatta2.

When a sentence can be interpreted in two ways, and one of them is logical, while the other one is illogical, we can assume that the logical meaning is the correct meaning. After all, it does not make sense to assume that the writer meant to convey an illogical meaning when the sentence does convey a meaning that makes complete sense.

With that idea in mind, let's consider choice (D).

D. paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from what appears to be (the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.)

We can interpret the above clause as conveying that paleontologists have found bones and that the bones are from what appears to be the second most massive dinosaur.

That meaning makes complete sense.

Is that clause perfectly written? Maybe; maybe not. Maybe there's a better way than using "from" there, but "from" works OK, with result that the clause conveys a meaning that makes sense.

So, while we could also interpret that clause in the way you have suggested, it doesn't make sense to do so, because that interpretation does not make sense, and there is one that does.

Now let's consider choice (E).

E. paleontologists have found huge fossil bones, which are from what appear to be (the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.)

This version has a fatal error. As discussed in posts above, the plural "appear" does not agree with the singular "dinosaur." So, there's no way we can choose choice (E).

So, we can safely choose (D).
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 03 Jun 2022, 13:59
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I need help understanding why the author chose to use the present participle tense with "have found" in Option D. Why couldn't it just have been "found"?

paleontologists found huge fossil bones from what appears to be
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 25 Jun 2023, 17:07
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Balbimoore
I need help understanding why the author chose to use the present participle tense with "have found" in Option D. Why couldn't it just have been "found"?

paleontologists found huge fossil bones from what appears to be
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Dear Balbimoore

Present participle tense is used to show an action that has been done recently but the consequence is still there.
Example: I have done verbal practice from gmatclub.

In this sentence, paleontologists have found huge fossil bones, which is the still considered as the bone of second most massive dinosaur that ever lived. It is supposed that paleontologists have already found some biggest fossil bones to be considered as the bone of the biggest dino. Now this huge fossil belongs to the second most biggest dino.

Hope it helps.
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While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun 25 Jun 2023, 21:42
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Balbimoore
I need help understanding why the author chose to use the present participle tense with "have found" in Option D. Why couldn't it just have been "found"?

paleontologists found huge fossil bones from what appears to be
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The author has used the present perfect tense in paleontologists have found huge fossil bones. The reason could be that the finding is recent, or it could be that he hasn't indicated when the bones were found. The simple past tense is usually accompanied by indicators of when the action happened.

Note, the answer would remain the same even if the author has chosen simple past instead of present perfect. The other choices have serious errors.
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