Sixty-Five Million Years Ago, According to Some Scientists, An Asteroid Bigger than Mount Everest Slammed into North America, Which, Causing Plant and Animal Extinctions, Marks the End of the Geologic Era known as the Cretaceous Period.

Question: Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

(A) which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks
(B) which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking
(C) and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark
(D) an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks
(E) an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark

“Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.”- is a GMAT sentence correction question. This particular GMAT sentence correction topic has been taken from the book ‘The Official Guide of GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition, 2009’. This question checks Meaning, Tenses, Construction, and Modifiers. GMAT Sentence Correction questions comprise 11-16 questions to be completed within 65 minutes. Each Sentence Correction question contains a sentence with an underlined portion that includes 0-2 errors.

Answer: E
Explanation: The following concepts are tested here:

1. Meaning
2. Modifiers
3. Tenses
4. Grammatical construction

Option A: Incorrect

This option is incorrect because it wrongly refers to “North America” with “which….marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period". It incorrectly implies that North America marks the end of the Cretaceous Period, which is illogical and does not make any sense. Also, this option places the core meaning of the sentence between two commas. So, Option A is incorrect.

Option B: Incorrect

This option is incorrect because it wrongly refers to "North America" with "which caused the...the Cretaceous Period". This statement illogically implies that North America caused the plant and animal extinctions that marked the end of the Cretaceous Period. Also, it uses the present participle “marking” to describe a piece of information that has permanent nature. So, Option B is incorrect.

Option C: Incorrect

This option is incorrect because it changes the meaning of the sentence by using the phrase “and causing plant and animal extinctions". This phrase wrongly implies that the asteroid slammed into North America and as a separate action it has caused plant and animal extinctions, which is not true. Also, it uses simple present continuous tense “causing” to refer to something that has concluded in the past. So, Option C is incorrect.

Option D: Incorrect

This option is incorrect because it twists the meaning of the sentence by using the phrase “and it marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period". This phrase incorrectly implies that the asteroid marks the end of the Cretaceous Period. So, Option D is incorrect.

Option E: Correct

This option is correct because it uses the correct phrase “an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark". It conveys the intended meaning. It clearly refers to the action of the asteroid slamming into North America, which is correct. Also, it uses the simple present tense “mark” to refer to something that is permanent in nature. So, Option E is correct.

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