Sentence Correction

The only way for growers to salvage frozen citrus is to process them quickly into juice concentrate before they rot when warmer weather returns.

(A) to process them quickly into juice concentrate before they rot when warmer weather returns

(B) if they are quickly processed into juice concentrate before warmer weather returns to rot them

(C) for them to be processed quickly into juice concentrate before the fruit rots when warmer weather returns

(D) if the fruit is quickly processed into juice concentrate before they rot when warmer weather returns

(E) to have it quickly processed into juice concentrate before warmer weather returns and rots the fruit


Keep getting this one wrong:( Need detailed explanations..

E.

the trick is to find the pronoun agreement to "citrus". Because citrus is singular, any plural reference is wrong: so eliminate A (process them), B (if they are), C (for them to be), and D (before they rot). Clearly any of these "they/them" cannot refer to the farmers because it's not the farmers that's going to be processed into juice or going to rot.

That only leaves E, which is a little awkward but grammatically correct.

as per OG

Parallelism requires that the same word forms
perform the same functions in the sentence. Here,
the linking verb is requires two infi nitives: to
salvage ... to process (or to have ... processed). A
pronoun must match the noun it refers to. Citrus
is singular and requires the singular pronoun it,
not the plural pronouns them and they.


Can someone explain how to identify linking verb in a sentence

E is correct...!

I just want to identify what is the difference between A and E

I know A is wrong, but from logic part, I do not know
A: before they rot when warmer weather returns

E: before warmer weather returns and rots the fruit
what is the difference between these two parts in A and E?

thanks

The original sentence is wrong because the subject is singular : frozen citrus , so "them" and "they" cannot refer frozen citrus

B - apart from pronoun reference error, the usage of "if" is incorrect. There is no condition here.

C - same pronoun reference error.

D - usage of "if", similar to B

E - perfect, usage of singular pronoun "it".
"to have it quickly processes" is perfect.

Apart from Grammatical error like pronoun and "if", lets see the meaning error.

A - "before they rot when..." - the fruit cannot rot by them self. This problem is corrected in E - "before warmer weather returns and rots the fruit".

C - "For them to be processes" - its illogical, It seems like the fruit can get processed by its own

B and D - here there is no condition given, so the usage of "If" is wrong

crack30 wrote:I just want to identify what is the difference between A and E

I know A is wrong, but from logic part, I do not know
A: before they rot when warmer weather returns

E: before warmer weather returns and rots the fruit
what is the difference between these two parts in A and E?

thanks

@crack30, Lets take the full underlined part.

Frozen citrus is any type of juicy tree ,which is singular, thus makes E a winner.

A) to process them quickly into juice concentrate before they rot when warmer weather returns
E) to have it quickly processed into juice concentrate before warmer weather returns and rots the fruit

yes, thanks everyone.
In fact I want to ask why we do not consider the difference between A: before they rot when warmer weather returns and E: before warmer weather returns and rots the fruit

I know many grammar errors in A. but let's firstly ignore grammar errors and focus on judging from meaning.

So, need more help