Beneath the soil of the Malheur National Forest

[frank]

This is from GMATPREP

Beneath the soil of the Malheur National Forest in eastern Oregon, a fungus has for centuries been slowly weaving its way through the roots of trees, to become the largest living single organism known to humans.

(A) has for centuries been slowly weaving its way through the roots of trees, to become
(B) has slowly woven its way through the roots of trees for centuries, and so becoming
(C) that has been slowly weaving its way through the roots of trees for centuries has become
(D) that has for centuries slowly woven its way through the roots of trees and has become
(E) that, having slowly woven its way through the roots of trees for centuries, to become

Can someone please explain to me why A is not correct? Does it have to do with "to become"? The OA is C. Thanks.

[Guest]

A - has two problems, first, placement of for centuries is incorrect; it seems fungus possesses "for century". Second, to become is incorrectly modifying weaving - Fungus is not weaving to become the largest .... As a result of weaving they have become largest....

Pathik

[Chetan]

This is so tricky ! I tried to eliminate a few answers, but not very confident about my thought process.

This is from GMATPREP

Beneath the soil of the Malheur National Forest in eastern Oregon, a fungus has for centuries been slowly weaving its way through the roots of trees, to become the largest living single organism known to humans.

(A) has for centuries been slowly weaving its way through the roots of trees, to become
>> the tense is incosistent present perfect progressive tense (has been weaving) ; to become (present tense ?)
(B) has slowly woven its way through the roots of trees for centuries, and so becoming
>> "woven" (past tense) nothing in the original sentence indicates that the tree has stopped weaving its way.
(C) that has been slowly weaving its way through the roots of trees for centuries has become
>> keeps the tense consistent (present prefect progressive tense.) fungus has been slowly weaving and has become.

(D) that has for centuries slowly woven its way through the roots of trees and has become
>> Same issue as B. woven (past tense)
(E) that, having slowly woven its way through the roots of trees for centuries, to become
>> " a fungus that is sandwitched between the modifiers. Unnecessary and awkward.

Can someone please explain to me why A is not correct? Does it have to do with "to become"? The OA is C. Thanks.

[Guest]

This is so tricky ! I tried to eliminate a few answers, but not very confident about my thought process.

This is from GMATPREP


(A) has for centuries been slowly weaving its way through the roots of trees, to become
>> the tense is incosistent present perfect progressive tense (has been weaving) ; to become (present tense ?)
(

I think "to become" infinitive is tense independent, though I agree it has other problems

[StaceyKoprince]

I apologize that we missed your question when it was originally posted.

Yes, the problem with A is that "to become." First, we generally don't use infinitives after commas, so you can remember that for future. Second, with this usage, the meaning would be "in order to become" - she studied hard to become the best student in her class. She did something on purpose in order to become something else.

The fungus has not been weaving its way through the roots on purpose in order to become the largest organism known to humans. :)

[morningdew123]

Beneath the soil of the Malheur National Forest in eastern Oregon, a fungus has for centuries been slowly weaving its way through the roots of trees, to become the largest living single organism known to humans.


(A) has for centuries been slowly weaving its way through the roots of trees, to become -
i) "has...been" should be together;
ii)"to become" implies that fungus intends to become "the largest living single organism known to humans."

(B) has slowly woven its way through the roots of trees for centuries, and so becoming-
i) can present "becoming" continuous be used here?

(D) that has for centuries slowly woven its way through the roots of trees and has become -
i) a fungus "that has for centuries slowly woven its way through the roots of trees and has "- Is the sentence not incomplete?

(E) that, having slowly woven its way through the roots of trees for centuries, to become -
ii)"to become" implies that fungus intends to become "the largest living single organism known to humans."
ii) Is "having slowly woven" incorrect. If so, why?

Kindly explain the ones in bold... I have mentioned the complete analysis to avoid repetition of concepts that are already understood...

[RonPurewal]

Beneath the soil of the Malheur National Forest in eastern Oregon, a fungus has for centuries been slowly weaving its way through the roots of trees, to become the largest living single organism known to humans.

(A) has for centuries been slowly weaving its way through the roots of trees, to become -
i) "has...been" should be together;
ii)"to become" implies that fungus intends to become "the largest living single organism known to humans."

i don't think that the splitting of has and been is problematic; it's routine to insert adjectives between a helping verb and the main verb in this way.
e.g. that house has always been there

the real problem, as written in that post and as acknowledged by stacey, is that the following infinitive indicates an intention, as though the fungus is actually trying to become the largest organism.

(B) has slowly woven its way through the roots of trees for centuries, and so becoming-
i) can present "becoming" continuous be used here?

"and (so)" is an indicator of a parallel construction. if this parallel indicator is followed by becoming, then there should be some other -ing construction in the first half of the parallelism.
there isn't one.

(D) that has for centuries slowly woven its way through the roots of trees and has become -
i) a fungus "that has for centuries slowly woven its way through the roots of trees and has "- Is the sentence not incomplete?

correct -- this "sentence" is basically fungus, followed by a giant modifier.

(E) that, having slowly woven its way through the roots of trees for centuries, to become -
ii)"to become" implies that fungus intends to become "the largest living single organism known to humans."
ii) Is "having slowly woven" incorrect. If so, why?

the main problem here is that this one is also not a sentence -- in exactly the same way as choice (d).
this one is also just fungus, followed by a giant modifier.

as i stated above, the insertion of adverbs between a helping verb and a main verb is sometimes accepted.
i don't think you'll ever be tested on this sort of thing -- it falls under the category of "style"/"awkwardness", not grammar -- so it isn't really worth worrying about.
in fact, this sort of thing may be introduced as a distraction from issues that are more important (such as the fact that this choice doesn't even form a complete sentence).