Question 180·Hard·Form, Structure, and Sense
Increasingly detailed climate models indicate that the Sahara’s "green period" was not a single, uninterrupted episode but rather a succession of humid pulses, a view ______ by recently analyzed sediment cores from Lake Yoa in northern Chad.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For this type of Standard English conventions question, first identify the role of the blank (main verb of the sentence or part of a modifying phrase). If it’s inside a phrase like "noun ___ by…", try mentally adding "that is" or "that was" before the blank to see what verb form fits. Then test each choice in that expanded structure, quickly eliminating options that don’t form a grammatical phrase, especially watching for passive voice patterns ("is/was" + past participle + "by").
Hints
Locate the noun the blank refers to
Focus on the phrase starting with "a view" and ending with "Lake Yoa in northern Chad." What is the blank telling us about that "view"?
Mentally add missing words
Try inserting the words "that is" right before the blank: "a view that is ______ by recently analyzed sediment cores." What kind of verb form normally appears between "is" and "by"?
Check each option in that structure
Place each answer choice into "that is ______ by" and see which one sounds grammatically correct and matches how English passive sentences are formed.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what the blank is describing
Look at the part of the sentence around the blank: "a view ______ by recently analyzed sediment cores from Lake Yoa in northern Chad."
The word in the blank is directly after the noun "view" and before the preposition "by." So the blank is part of a phrase that describes what is true about that view—specifically, how it relates to the sediment cores.
Recognize the underlying structure
You can mentally expand this phrase:
- "a view ______ by recently analyzed sediment cores"
into:
- "a view that is ______ by recently analyzed sediment cores."
This shows that the verb form in the blank must work after "is" and before "by" in a passive structure: "is ___ by." That structure usually takes a past participle (like "is explained by," "is shown by," "is supported by").
Eliminate verb forms that don’t fit the passive pattern
Check each option by inserting "is" before it:
- is supporting by → ungrammatical; after "is" and before "by" we don’t use the -ing form here.
- is supports by → wrong form; we can’t use the simple present here.
- is has supported by → clearly wrong; two verbs in a row don’t fit.
Only a past participle can logically and grammatically appear in "is ___ by" and create a passive meaning: the view is being backed up by the cores, not doing the action itself.
Select the correct past participle
Among the choices, "supported" is the past participle that fits this pattern: the full idea is "a view (that is) supported by recently analyzed sediment cores from Lake Yoa in northern Chad."
So the correct answer is B) supported.