Heartless human beings are like wild animals, which will rip its own kin at the slightest of need and that too without a sign of remorse.
A. Heartless human beings are like wild animals, which will rip its own kin at the slightest of need
B. Heartless human beings were like wild animals, which have ripped their own kin at the slightest of need
C. Human beings are like heartless wild animals, which rip their own kin in the slightest of need
D. Human beings are like heartless wild animals, which rip at its own kin in the slightest of need
E. Heartless human beings are like wild animals, which rip their own kin in the slightest of need.
Here is the official explanation for this question:
Understand the Meaning of the Original Sentence
The sentence presents a similarity (use of word like) between heartless human beings and wild animals. Heartless human beings are like wild animals. These wild animals rip their own kin when the need arises and they do not even feel any sign of remorse.
Find the Errors in the Original Sentence
1.
Heartless human beings are like wild animals,
2.
which will rip its own kin at the slightest of need and that too without a sign of remorse.
The sentence structure of the sentence is as shown above. The two SV pairs agree in number and logically make sense. The simple present tense "are" is appropriate as this sentence states a fact that is true in the present context. However, use of future tense "will rip" appears incorrect. This is a general fact about the wild animals and hence should be stated in simple present tense. Furthermore, "its" pronoun refers to wild animals but it does not agree in number. It should be "their".
Review Answer choices to do POE
Choice B - use of past tense "were" implies that heartless humans beings are no longer like wild animals. This distorts the intended meaning. Furthermore, "have ripped" is incorrect since it now no longer communicates a general fact about wild animals. It states as if the action of "have ripped" is a one-time action that has been completed.
Choice C - This choice changes the intended meaning of the sentence. It now implies that "human beings" in general are like "heartless wild animals". Note that the original sentence implied that "heartless human beings" are like "wild animals". Thus, by changing the placement of the modifier "heartless", the meaning of the sentence has changed. Note that this sentence is otherwise grammatically sound.
Choice D - This choice changes the intended meaning of the sentence as choice C does. It also has pronoun error as choice A does. Also, the expression "rip at its own kin" distorts the meaning of the expression "rip its own kin".
Choice E - Correct Choice.
TAKE AWAYS
1. Understand the intended meaning of the sentence and then select the choice that correctly communicates that meaning. Understand the role of each modifier in the sentence and note for any changes in the placement of these modifiers.
2. Use appropriate verb tense to communicate the intended logical meaning. This implies that you should understand two things
a. The function of each verb tense - grammatical knowledge
b. The intent of the sentence - What does the sentence want to communicate? - meaning
