Sentence Correction

The fifties, for all their advertised conformity, now appear to have been a time of considerable achievemnet in the arts.
A.
B. despite all their advertised conformity, now appears to be
C. for all their advertised conformity, now appear that they were
D. despite all their advertised conformity, now appears as
E. with all their advertised conformity, now appears

Consider ‘fifties’ as plural noun even though it might refer to a ‘specific decade’, which is singular.

[spoiler](A)[/spoiler]

sq720 wrote:The fifties, for all their advertised conformity, now appear to have been a time of considerable achievemnet in the arts.
A.
B. despite all their advertised conformity, now appears to be
C. for all their advertised conformity, now appear that they were
D. despite all their advertised conformity, now appears as
E. with all their advertised conformity, now appears

IMO B. I feel "despite" should be used here because it introduces a postive outcome in face of negative quality, which is appropriate in this context.

IMO A

for the same reason stated by AJ

I think B first uses plural their and then the singular appears..which i find awkard.

What is the OA

Fifties might seem to indicate it is plural, but note that it is "The Fifties" meaning it is singular and hence should take the plural form appears.
And also "despite" explains the contrast in the outcome better, as stated by Vemuri.
Only B and D qualify (i.e as Vs to be).
I feel, since this is with reference to something in the past and is a reflection of an occurrence in the past, the word as brings out the meaning more clearer rather than to be.
Hence my choice would be D

IMO D
FOR the same reason as above.
Please post the OA

If " The fifties" is singular.. then use of "their " is incorrect..

So i will go with A..

Source and OA please?


Looks A to me.

Others either has a subject-verb agreement error or a pronoun agreement error.

I'll go with C

All the options use their so I think that we must assume that fifties is plural and therefore the correct form of the verb is appear ...
This eliminates B,D and E

Now between A and C, I think present perfect in A is wrong here so I pick C

can experts please comment on this qtn...

its confusing

fifties is singular so the verb is APPEARS.
delete A , C
delete B - appears to be.
D and E left.
Their refers to someone else not FIFTIES.
despite -- it appears as . hence D