Sentence Correction

A recent poll indicates that many people in the United States hold a combination of conservative and liberal political views; i.e., they denounce big government, saying government is doing too much and has become too powerful, while at the same time supporting many specific government programs for health care, education, and the environment.

(A) they denounce big government, saying government is doing too much and has become too powerful, while at the same time supporting

(B) they denounce big government--they say that government is doing too much and has become too powerful--but supporting at the same time

(C) they denounce big government, they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful, while they support at the same time

(D) while they denounce big government, saying that government is doing too much and has become too powerful, at the same time supporting

(E) while they are denouncing big government--they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful-- supporting at the same time

abhasjha wrote:A recent poll indicates that many people in the United States hold a combination of conservative and liberal political views; i.e., they denounce big government, saying government is doing too much and has become too powerful, while at the same time supporting many specific government programs for health care, education, and the environment.

(A) they denounce big government, saying government is doing too much and has become too powerful, while at the same time supporting

(B) they denounce big government--they say that government is doing too much and has become too powerful--but supporting at the same time

(C) they denounce big government, they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful, while they support at the same time

(D) while they denounce big government, saying that government is doing too much and has become too powerful, at the same time supporting

(E) while they are denouncing big government--they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful-- supporting at the same time

Note the following:
When a portion of the sentence is surrounded by DASHES, the dashes serve to indicate a PARENTHETICAL thought.
If we remove the dashed portion, the rest of the sentence must be able to stand on its own.

B: they denounce...but supporting
A conjunction such as but must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
Here, denounce and supporting are not parallel.
Eliminate B.

C: they denounce big government, they say that government is doing too much
A comma cannot serve to connect two independent clauses, each with its own subject and verb (they denounce, they say).
Eliminate C.

D: while they denounce...saying...supporting
E: while they are denouncing...supporting
A semi-colon must serve to connect two complete sentences.
Here, the while-clauses serve as MODIFIERS.
A modifier cannot stand on its own as an independent sentence.
Eliminate D and E.

The correct answer is A.