Grammar Explaination Please?

<p>This is an Error ID question</p>

<p>Perhaps as a consequence of warfare that erupted when natural resources became scarce, many of Easter Island's large stone statues, called Moai, (have been toppled) by the islanders themselves.</p>

<p>I believe the correct replacement is "were toppled". However, what is grammatically incorrect about using "have been toppled"?</p>

<p>Logically (and in turn grammatically), both the simple past and the present perfect tenses work.</p>

<p>hmm that is very strange then</p>

<p>Apparently, “have been toppled” is incorrect. This is from an actual PSAT test too…</p>

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<p>Good thing it wasn’t on my test. :)</p>

<p>I’m not sure what to say here. There is no reason that a past action can’t cause an action that is conveyed in the present perfect tense, as in:</p>

<p>Because the house was poorly constructed, it has been decaying.</p>

<p>Okay thanks for the help.</p>

<p>I put No Error for this one and it was the only one I missed in the Writing section so it brought my score down by like 4 points.</p>