SC 1 from 800Score

[crimsontides007]

Birds' feathers appear to have evolved from dinosaur scales well over 100 million years ago, Chinese scientists have shown, based on a fossil bird found in the Yixian mountains of northern China.

A) Chinese scientists have shown, based on a fossil bird found in the Yixian mountains of northern China.

B) Chinese scientists have shown a fossil bird found in the Yixian mountains of northern China.

C) Chinese scientists showed, based on a fossil bird found in the Yixian mountains of northern China.

D) when the Chinese scientists found a fossil bird in the Yixian mountains of northern China.

E) which the Chinese scientists say can be proven from a fossil bird which they found in the Yixian mountains of northern China.


OA given is A.

[sanyalpritish]

SC //ism is the answer only A and C are possible answers, why A is because 1st half of the SC has HAVE the 2nd half will also will hve it,

[mikrodj]

I think A is a comma slice sentence. You have two independent clauses. You really need that here to give the correct meaning.

I think all the options are wrong. Wait for an instructor's opinion

[umaa.spk]

Birds' feathers appear to have evolved from dinosaur scales well over 100 million years ago, Chinese scientists have shown, based on a fossil bird found in the Yixian mountains of northern China.

A) Chinese scientists have shown, based on a fossil bird found in the Yixian mountains of northern China.

B) Chinese scientists have shown a fossil bird found in the Yixian mountains of northern China.

C) Chinese scientists showed, based on a fossil bird found in the Yixian mountains of northern China.

D) when the Chinese scientists found a fossil bird in the Yixian mountains of northern China.

E) which the Chinese scientists say can be proven from a fossil bird which they found in the Yixian mountains of northern China.


OA given is A.

I'm not sure guys. I don't think the correct answer is A.

scientists have shown, based on looks quite redundant. I shortlisted B and D and chose B because it gives a better meaning than D.

Instructors, please help us find out the correct answer.

[RonPurewal]

yeah, i don't like any of the answer choices here.

the problem with (a) isn't a comma splice; in fact, (a) doesn't contain a comma splice. (a comma splice is a construction in which you have two complete sentences separated only by a comma.)

choice (a) contains an interjection as a modifier. i'm not sure whether this sort of construction has a grammatical name, but it's somewhat common, especially when you're citing the source of some quote, statement, or idea. also, you can put this sort of interjection just about anywhere in a sentence (except, of course, in places that would split up constructions in weird ways - such as in the middle of an infinitive).
here are some more examples of that sort of thing:
the new tax, experts have said, will actually decrease government revenue by killing high earners' motivation to work.
the new tax will actually decrease government revenue, experts have said, by killing high earners' motivation to work.
etc.

the problem with choice (a) is in its misuse of "based on...". this is a past participle, and so it's not used correctly unless it modifies a NOUN that can be said to be "based on" some other noun.
for instance:
the adventure book, based on the ancient epic of Gilgamesh, has revived some teenagers' interest in that classic work.
this is a correct sentence, because "based on the ancient epic" properly modifies "the adventure book".
the common SPOKEN-language usage of "based on" is WRONG.
for instance:
i guessed that you were going to be late, based on the traffic. --> WRONG (there is no NOUN that is "based on the traffic").
choice (a) should actually be incorrect because it commits this error; i think that the 800score people just don't know any better.

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choice (b), on the other hand, DOES exhibit a comma splice.