IMO E

Its between D and E. I think D is wrong because the first modifying phrase is only modifying young female ballet dancers.


(A) Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits caused by the desire to be as thin as possible.
caused is wrong

(B) Good eating habits sometimes fail to be maintained by young female ballet dancers and gymnasts caused by desiring to be as thin as possible.
Awkward structure

(C) Because they desire to be as thin as possible, good eating habits are sometimes not maintained by young female ballet dancers and gymnasts.
wrong modifier

(D) Because they desire to be as thin as possible, young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits.
Correct

(E) Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits because they desire to be as thin as possible

IMO D

I think the answer should be D as the pronoun they correctly refers to the young female ballet dancers.

answer is b/w D and E.

In E too, "they" can only refer to gymnasts, right?

IMO E.

D is a close choice but I prefer E for reasons explained above.

viju9162 wrote:answer is b/w D and E.

In E too, "they" can only refer to gymnasts, right?

very good observation...they is ambiguous therefore OA is D!