Sentence Correction

The term "Immaculate Conception", a doctrine that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with ordinary procreative means.

(A) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with
(B) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, did not refer to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to be occurring by
(C) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referring not to the conception of Jesus, that in Christianity occurred miraculously with his mother Mary being a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred in
(D) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, refers not to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred by
(E) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referred not to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously when his mother Mary was a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred by


I got it wrong even in the first 2-3 split

I choose A,B over C,Dand E,

My reasoning :- I preferred "proclaimed" as verb rather then participle , thinking that sub of "proclaimed" is clear "the Roman Catholic Church"

once if it ignored this split then its clear cut D by correct idiom

vipulgoyal wrote:The term "Immaculate Conception", a doctrine that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with ordinary procreative means.

(A) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with
(B) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, did not refer to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to be occurring by
(C) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referring not to the conception of Jesus, that in Christianity occurred miraculously with his mother Mary being a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred in
(D) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, refers not to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred by
(E) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referred not to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously when his mother Mary was a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred by

In A and C, the term "Immaculate Conception" (subject) lacks a verb.
Eliminate A and C.

In B, this conception is believed to be occurring implies that this conception is OCCURRING right now.
Not the intended meaning.
Eliminate B.

E: not to the conception of Jesus...AND to the conception of Mary
Here, and does not express the intended contrast.
Eliminate E.
Correct: not to the conception of Jesus BUT to the conception of Mary.

I got it wrong even in the first 2-3 split

I choose A,B over C,Dand E,

My reasoning :- I preferred "proclaimed" as verb rather then participle , thinking that sub of "proclaimed" is clear "the Roman Catholic Church"

A and B: a doctrine that the Roman Catholic Church proclaimed
Here, proclaimed serves as a VERB, with the Roman Catholic Church functioning as its subject.
What ACTION did the Church perform?
It PROCLAIMED a doctrine.

C, D and E: a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854
Here, the intent is for proclaimed to serve as an ADJECTIVE describing a doctrine.
What KIND of doctrine?
A doctrine FORMALLY PROCLAIMED IN 1854.

I am highly skeptical of the construction in C, D and E.
Generally, a VERBed modifier should be AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE to the noun it modifies.
Here, there is considerable distance -- six words -- between proclaimed and its intended referent (doctrine).
As a result, a reader might construe that proclaimed is serving to modify the Roman Catholic Church (the nearest preceding noun).
To my knowledge, no official SC has ever placed a VERBed modifier so far from its intended referent.

vipulgoyal wrote: My reasoning :- I preferred "proclaimed" as verb rather then participle , thinking that sub of "proclaimed" is clear "the Roman Catholic Church"

Hi Vipul, every valid sentence must have a main verb (the verb of an Independent clause). In A, the verb proclaimed appears as a part of the dependent clause that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854.

So, basically there is no main verb at all in option A. Hence, option A is not really a sentence at all; it's a sentence fragment.

As for option D, as Mitch rightly pointed out, the Past participle proclaimed is next to Roman Catholic Church, making the sentence slightly ambiguous. However, D is the best among the given options.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses a simple framework to differentiate between Verbs and Past Participles. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id, I can mail the corresponding section.

I think, I have to pass this SC.. appreciate..help experts