While digging in the Egyptian desert, huge fossil bones have been foun

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that paleontologists were digging in the Egyptian desert, and while doing so they found huge fossil bones from what appears to be the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Meaning + Modifiers

• In a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction.
• "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.

A: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "paleontologists" with the singular verb "appears". Further, Option A incorrectly uses the phrase "While digging in the Egyptian desert" to modify the noun phrase "huge fossil bones", illogically implying that the fossil bones were digging in the Egyptian desert; the intended meaning is that the paleontologists were digging in the Egyptian desert; remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Moreover, the sentence formed by Option A incorrectly modifies "paleontologists" with "which appears to have been the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived"; this modification and the construction of this phrase illogically imply that the paleontologists appear to have been the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived; the intended meaning is that the huge fossil bones appear to have been from the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived; remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma. Additionally, Option A uses the passive voice construction "huge fossil bones have been found", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the phrase "While digging in the Egyptian desert" to modify the noun phrase "huge fossil bones", illogically implying that the fossil bones were digging in the Egyptian desert; the intended meaning is that the paleontologists were digging in the Egyptian desert; remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, the sentence formed by Option B incorrectly modifies "paleontologists" with "which appear to be from the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived", illogically implying that the paleontologists appear to have been from the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived; the intended meaning is that the huge fossil bones appear to have been from the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived; remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma. Additionally, Option B uses the passive voice construction "huge fossil bones have been found", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

C: THis answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the clause "it appears that paleontologists have found huge fossil bones that are from"; the placement of "appears" within this clause incorrectly implies that the paleontologists appear to have found huge fossil bones that are definitely from the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived; the intended meaning is that the paleontologists have definitely found huge fossil bones that appear to be from the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived. Further, Option C uses the passive voice construction "it appears that", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

D: This answer choice correctly uses the singular verb "appears" to refer to the singular pronoun "what". Further, Option D correctly uses the phrase "While digging in the Egyptian desert" to modify "paleontologists", conveying the intended meaning - that the paleontologists were digging in the Egyptian desert. Moreover, the sentence formed by Option D modifies the "huge fossil bones" with "from what appears to be the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived", avoiding the "comma + which" error seen in Options A and B and conveying the intended meaning - that paleontologists have definitely found huge fossil bones that appear to be from the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived. Additionally, Option D is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

E: This answer choice incorrectly uses the plural verb "appear" to refer to the singular pronoun "what". Further, Option E uses the needlessly wordy phrase "which are from what appear to be", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Phrase Comma Subject" and "Subject Comma Phrase" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Which, Who, Whose, and Where" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

A,B and C can be eliminated for improper modifiers. Between D and E, will go with D because dinosaur is singular. However, D also seems to convey the meaning that the bones were found from the dinosaur. Expert opinion would shed some light.

Kudos Please... If my post helped.

bxn D n E :

D : paleontologists have found bones...........from X

E : paleontologists have found bones......... which are from X

guess we don't need the extra WHICH in E, as the intent is clear even without which and unambiguously refers back to FOSSIL BONES.

2nd split :

D : P have found bones................from what ?...............from the massive dinosaur ( singular ) : thus the verb should match in no ie APPEARS ( singular )

P have found bones ...... From ..................(what APPEARS to be )....................the massive Dinosaur

appears n dinosaur MATCH

thus D wins wrt sv agreement

my understanding.

Between D and E, one major issue is 'appears' vs 'appear'

the bones are from what appear to be the largest ...

Appear needs to be singular here since appear is for the largest dinosaur....

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

Hi sir,
What part of the structure is each word after "appears to be ".???
Amardeep

Dear Amardeep,
I'm happy to respond.

Here's the section after "appears to be":
...the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.

The centerpiece of this is the noun "dinosaur." This noun is being modified by two different modifiers:
1) the phrase "second most massive." The words "second" and "most" are adverbs that modify the adjective "massive."
2) the noun-modifying clause "that ever lived." This is a relative clause. The relative pronoun "that" introduces the clause and is the subject of the clause. The verb "lived" is the verb of the clause, and the word "ever" is an adverb modifying that verb.

What this means is the following. Apparently there is some dinosaur of which scientist are aware which is known to be the biggest dinosaur of all-time. We don't know anything at all about this "biggest of all time" dinosaur. This particular sentence is about another dinosaur that is #2 on the all-time list, not the biggest ever, but the second biggest. In other words, the "second most massive" dinosaur of all time.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

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

Sorry to bother. Could you please help out? I need to understand a concept
Here

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

Are we using singular appears because it refers to singular the second most massive dinosaur?

or

what appears to be is idiomatically always singular because appears refers to what, which is unknown and always takes singular form?

Thanks in advance

Best
RzS

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

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.

The quick options that we have to choose whether the subject followed by Egyptian Desert is huge fossil or paleontologists. Options A and B are in a Passive voice which must be treated as a red flag as GMAT sentences will be parallel in voices ( Mostly Active). Options A and B can be eliminated for the usage of the restrictive clause "which" modifies the noun paleontologists.

Option C is eliminated due to the ambiguity in meaning, as it infers paleontologists found huge fossils from second most dinosaur lived with certainty.

Between option D and Option E. Option E uses an awkward construction "which are from" that is not necessary

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

Why do we need 'appears' here? Appears is singular while the word huge fossil bones is plural. Don't we need the word 'appear' here?

Hi pra1785

Please note that "appears" here refers to "the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.".

Here is a great explanation given. Kindly check and let us know in case of any concern.

how is what referring to the dinosaur i think what is referring to bones? please help.

@dpkj

So, in D, to choose between bones and dinosaur, let us replace the word 'what' with both the contenders and see which makes sense.



1. Paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from bones appears to be the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.

This choice says that bones from bones appears to be the dinosaur. Also, there is an S-V error.

2. Paleontologists have found huge fossil bones from dinosaur appears to be the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived.

This version says that bones from dinosaur appears to be the second most massive dinosaur.

Bones from bones is meaningless. Bones from dinosaur gives some sense.

NOTES for the incorrect explanation about what if the subject of "appear(s)"
Not because of "dinosaur". "What" NEVER stand for another noun but something that is not specifically named in the sentence =? Verb after "what" need a singular form