Sentence Correction

In a blow to those who still harbored the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick for enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person will be privy to any comments that a recipient had added as the message is forwarded to others or sent back and forth.

(A) who still harbored the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick for enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person will be privy to any comments that a recipient had added

(B) who had still been harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick for enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person was privy to any comments that a recipient might have added

(C) who still were harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person is privy to any comments that a recipient would add

(D) still harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick that enables an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person will be privy to any comments that a recipient might add

(E) still harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges had been private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick that will enable an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person was privy to any comments that a recipient might add

my doubt: i really had a hard time with this labyrinthine maze. honestly i am not able to eliminate anything outright wrong in this question .for instance to me all the following looks oki:

In a blow to those who still harbored
In a blow to those still harboring

Also what is wrong in the following construction in C: "so that this person is privy to any comments that a recipient would add"

reply from Rich regarding the same question that i posted .

https://www.beatthegmat.com/gprep-sc-13-t277503.html

1) Pronouns - The opening of the sentence states that "In a blow to THOSE...."; here, the word "those" is a pronoun. In the answers, we see that some have an extra pronoun and some don't. Since we already have a pronoun, we do NOT need another pronoun immediately next to it. That extra pronoun is redundant (and unnecessary). Eliminate A, B and C.

2) Verbs - Between D and E, we have the verbs "enables" (present tense) and "will enable" (future tense). Since the watchdog group "recently uncovered the trick", we're dealing with something that's happening in the immediate present. The verb "enables" is required here. Eliminate E.

Final Answer: D

aditya8062 wrote:In a blow to those who still harbored the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick for enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person will be privy to any comments that a recipient had added as the message is forwarded to others or sent back and forth.

(A) who still harbored the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick for enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person will be privy to any comments that a recipient had added

(B) who had still been harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick for enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person was privy to any comments that a recipient might have added

(C) who still were harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person is privy to any comments that a recipient would add

(D) still harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick that enables an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person will be privy to any comments that a recipient might add

(E) still harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges had been private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick that will enable an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person was privy to any comments that a recipient might add

A: who still HARBORED the illusion that E-mail exchanges ARE private
B: who HAD STILL BEEN HARBORING the illusion that E-mail exchanges ARE private
C: who still WERE HARBORING the illusion that E-mail exchanges ARE private
A, B and C imply that people harbored/had still been harboring/were harboring -- IN THE PAST-- an illusion about a state-of-being in the PRESENT (that email exchanges ARE private).
Not the intended sequence.
Eliminate A, B and C.

E: WAS PRIVY to any comments that a recipient MIGHT ADD
E implies that an interloper was privy -- IN THE PAST -- to any comments that a recipient might add (IN THE FUTURE).
Not the intended sequence.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is D.