Some scientists suggest the moon had been formed out of part of the Earth, which was dislodged perhaps by a meteor.

A) the moon had been formed out of part of the Earth, which was dislodged perhaps
B) that the moon was formed from part of the Earth that had perhaps been dislodged
C) that part of the Earth formed the moon, which was dislodged perhaps
D) the moon was formed out of part of the Earth, having perhaps been dislodged
E) that the moon had been formed from part of the Earth, which perhaps had been dislodged

According to the explanation, the correct answer is B. How can this be true if that (and which) refer to the noun immediately preceding it? Does "B" say that the Earth had been dislodged?

Thanks for all your help

The orginial sentence has the following problems -

1) relative pronoun 'which'points to the Earth rather it should point to the part of the earth that formed the moon.
2) "Some scientists suggest the moon had been formed out of part of the Earth" is the combination of two independent clauses "Some scientists suggest" and "the moon had been formed out of part of the Earth". In all it is a Run-on sentence so it needs a conjunction such as 'that'.

So from (2) A & D are out

(C) 'which' modifies 'moon' though it should modify part of the earth
(E) both the clauses are in past perfect. Unable to indentify which event followed the other.

While (B) corrects the above problems -

1) Correct Verb tense - First the part of the earth had been dislodged and then the moon was formed.
2) 'that' points correctly to the 'part of the earth'

Hope it answers your question.

Guest79

Yes, "which" points directly to the preceding noun. "That" can refer only to a preceding noun but can also refer to a phrase or clause. "That" has a lot more flexibility. For instance, look earlier in this same sentence to "Some scientists suggest that..." The word right before "that" is a verb.

So just remember that "that" can be a noun modifier but doesn't have to be, while "which" has to be.