What Appears and Appear

[tim]

I certainly wouldn't use "appears was", but you should notice that that construction also creates a parallelism problem in C.

[abhinavsingh.iitr]

Hi Ron,

In the question , " from what appears " is in the correct option. My question is very fundamental. " what " is object of preposition " from ". Then how can it be the subject of the verb " appears " at the same time. Please explain.

[abhinavsingh.iitr]

Hi Ron,

In the question , " from what appears " is in the correct option. My question is very fundamental. " what " is object of preposition " from ". Then how can it be the subject of the verb " appears " at the same time. Please explain.

Ron,

Please reply.

[RonPurewal]

you should just know that "what VERBs..." plays the role of a noun. it can be inserted in most places where a noun can be used.

e.g.,
A storm is approaching the Atlantic coast.
What appears to be a hurricane is approaching the Atlantic coast.

Jonny donated several thousand dollars to a fake charity.
Jonny donated several thousand dollars to what appeared to be a genuine charity, but was in fact a criminal enterprise.

[abhinavsingh.iitr]

Thank you Ron. It helped to get over the confusion.

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.

[aflaamM589]

.

[tim]

Couldn't have said it more concisely myself.

[NicoleT643]

Hi Ron, the usage "it appears", can it be a modifier that is inserted in the the sentence? For example:

this picture shows a bacterium that(,) scientists say(,) lives in hydrothermal vents under the ocean. 

AB are wrong with other reasons, however the usage of it appears can it be the same usage as the sentence above? thank you

[RonPurewal]

yes, exactly.

[souvik1225]

If we put the correct answer choice (D) in the sentence, it creates this sentence.

Researchers in Germany have unearthed 400,000-year-old wooden spears from what it appears to be an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence that human ancestors who systematically hunted big game much earlier than believed.

If we are to use "stunning" as an adjective so that the entire clause after the comma becomes an appositive modifier, don't we need an indefinite article to start that clause? Otherwise, it looks like an ING clause that ends up meaning that researchers (the subject of the preceding clause) has stunned evidence that XXX.

I know I am not supposed to edit GMAT officially correct answers, but I thought that the sentence should have been

Researchers in Germany have unearthed 400,000-year-old wooden spears from what it appears to be an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, a stunning evidence that human ancestors who systematically hunted big game much earlier than believed.

[RonPurewal]

Researchers in Germany have unearthed 400,000-year-old wooden spears from what it appears to be an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence that human ancestors who systematically hunted big game much earlier than believed.

^^ that red "it" isn't there. check that answer choice again. (with that word in it, the sentence is nonsense.)

[RonPurewal]

Otherwise, it looks like an ING clause that ends up meaning that researchers (the subject of the preceding clause) has stunned evidence that XXX.

^^ ...ok, but that interpretation is clearly nonsense, so, ignore it.

[RonPurewal]

I know I am not supposed to edit GMAT officially correct answers, but I thought that the sentence should have been

Researchers in Germany have unearthed 400,000-year-old wooden spears from what it appears to be an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, a stunning evidence that human ancestors who systematically hunted big game much earlier than believed.

...no. you don't have "an evidence"... you just have evidence.

for nouns that aren't countable, you don't use "a"/"an".
• Tim is bald, but his brother still has hair. (if you wrote "has a hair", that would mean tim's brother has exactly 1 hair left on his head.)
• To eat this food, I need silverware. (clearly you can't say "a silverware")
• I bought leather with which to sew handbags. (...not "a leather")
etc.