This is a bit awkward, but unfortunately it's the best you've got.

You have a section here: products that .... sold. You need to use the plural for the verb here, so you need "were" (since we are talking about a plural noun - products). This eliminates B and C.

Then you look at the rest of your answer choices. D and E are incorrect because you don't need "the products" or "they" respectively in your sentence. This happens because you already have "that" as a subject for this sentence, so repeating a subject is pointless.

To test that, just eliminate that phrase between commas (due to a decline... ). Choice D would sound something like products that the products were never sold, while choice E would be products that they were never.

This is why choice A is the only one that stands. It is, however, a less than frequent wording: any normal person would say "that... were never sold".

Hi Figs,
A friendly request:

For future questions u may post, please use the U button on top to underline part of sentence that either needs correction or not.

Regards,
CR

imo:A


We need a continuation for "creating products that," ....

also,

a plural verb "were" is needed

thx

figs wrote:During the first nine months of 1979, textbook publishers incurred substantial costs for creating products that, due to a decline in public funding for instructional material. never were sold.

A. funding for instructional material, never were
B. funding for instructional material, never was
C. funding, the instructional material was never
D. funding for instructional material, the products were never
E. funding, they were never

OA:A

A is the best answer coz.
subject is products , so we need were sold.
Now, E is redundant
D is awkward. we don't need products twice.
hence A.