The doer of "suggest"

[slr257]

Hi, I got this question, but failed to pick up the right answer. Could anyone please help？The question is the following:

Australian embryologists have found evidence that suggests that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal, and its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel.
A. that suggests that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal, and its trunk originally evolved
B. that has suggested the elephant descended from an aquatic animal, its trunk originally evolving
C. suggesting that the elephant had descended from an aquatic animal with its trunk originally evolving
D. to suggest that the elephant has descended from an aquatic animal and its trunk originally evolved
E. to suggest that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal and that its trunk originally evolved

The answer is E. The reason I didn't pick up it is that I think the doer of "suggest" should be the embryologists and the clause should have a "should". If E is correct, then the doer must be evidence. Then the sentence sounds like: I have evidence to suggest.... HOWEVER, the doer of "suggest" is "evidence", but not "I". This really sounds odd. Please help!! Thanks a lot!

[tim]

As per the forum rules, we need a verifiable source for the problem. If the question is not one of ours or one that is copyright-free, we will have to delete the question..

You seem to be well aware that the "doer" of "suggest" is "evidence", so i'm not sure what your question is..

[slr257]

The saurce is GMAT Prep. Here is another post in your website: sc-is-descended-or-has-descended-t7211.html

My question is that if the doer is evidence, then the sentence sounds like: sb. found some evidence to suggest sth. HOWEVER, the doer is "evidence". As far as I know, in this kind of infinitive usage, usually the doer is "sb." - sb. found sth. to do sth. Thanks for you reply.

[tim]

no, it's evidence. if it doesn't seem right, you just need to make sure you learn that point. sometimes the GMAT does stuff you might not agree with, but you have to learn to play their game.. :)

[slr257]

Thanks! Is it possible that the doer is the scientist, but the clause following suggest doesn't need "should"?? In a sentence, which is sb. suggest that ....., is "should" always needed in the clause after ""that"?

[tim]

no, you don't always need a "should" in every possible sentence of this type. but the subject is definitely "evidence"; please accept that and stop trying to change something that the GMAT thinks is true. questioning the GMAT is not going to do you much good if you have to play the game by their rules.. :)

[slr257]

What I meant is in the following sentence, do we need should?

I suggest that we go to pizza hut for lunch.

The subject is sb, which is I, not sth., as evidence in the sentence we discussed.

[RonPurewal]

What I meant is in the following sentence, do we need should?

I suggest that we go to pizza hut for lunch.

The subject is sb, which is I, not sth., as evidence in the sentence we discussed.

if someone or something directly suggests some idea, you should not use "should" in the same sentence, as redundancy would result.

so, in the following sentences --
i suggested that we go to pizza hut
the manager suggested that we arrive earlier tomorrow
the evidence suggests that x is actually y

the only real exception that comes to mind -- i.e., the only case i can conjure in which "suggest" and "should" can legitimately appear together -- would be a case of indirect suggestion of some course of action. e.g.
the increasingly tight fit of your clothes suggests that you should go on a diet.
you can't take "should" out of this sentence; if you did, the resulting sentence would imply that the fit of your clothes could talk to you.

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finally, this thread is now locked. please do not start new threads for problems that already exist on the forum!
if you have any further questions about this problem, please post them on the existing thread that you linked above. thanks.