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Difficulty: EasyVerb Tense and Consistency

During the late nineteenth century, paleontologists discovered numerous fossilized dinosaur bones in the American West. These scientists carefully excavated the sites, documented their findings, and are analyzing the specimens in laboratories to reconstruct the prehistoric creatures.

Which choice best maintains a consistent and logical verb tense in the underlined portion of the passage?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. analyzedAnswer
  3. C
    analyzes
  4. D
    analyzing

Answer

The correct option is the past-tense verb 'analyzed'.
The past-tense verb 'analyzed' is correct because it maintains consistency with the other verbs in the series ('excavated' and 'documented') and aligns with the historical time frame established at the beginning of the passage.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the timeframe established by the context clues in the passage.
The phrase 'During the late nineteenth century' indicates that all actions in the passage occurred in the past.
This establishes that the verbs describing these actions must be in the past tense to remain consistent.
2
Examine the grammatical structure of the sentence containing the underlined verb.
The sentence presents a list of three actions performed by the scientists: they 'excavated,' 'documented,' and were doing a third action.
Verbs in a parallel list must share the same tense and grammatical form.
3
Select the verb form that matches the established past tense and plural subject.
The simple past tense verb 'analyzed' completes the series of past actions logically and maintains parallel structure.
This maintains chronological consistency and correct sentence structure.

Key Concept

Verb Tense Consistency in a Parallel List
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Topics

Verb Tense and Consistency

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