It was at the American School for the Deaf that

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It was at the American School for the Deaf that influences from both French Sign Language and various "home sign" systems would interact, intermingle, and what would become American Sign Language was born.

A. what would become American Sign Language was born
B. give birth to what became American Sign language
C. what would become American Sign Language was given birth
D. and American Sign Language, or what would eventually become it, was born
E. American Sign Language was birthed

I was totally confused by the meaning of the sentence .. is this correct a sentence . how can we understand the timeline for these kinds of complex sentences?

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by fabiocafarelli » Thu Mar 03, 2016 4:40 am
1. Imagine that this sentence is in the present tense: It IS at the American School ... that influences ... WILL interact, intermingle ... and so on. The sentence is looking at a future event from the perspective of the PRESENT. Thus, Present + Future.

2. The sentence that you have submitted begins in the past tense: It WAS at the American School. And the sentence is contemplating something that was going to happen later on at the American School. It is looking at a future event from the perspective of the PAST. In other words, it is thinking about THE FUTURE IN THE PAST. Since WOULD is the past form of WILL, the sentence must talk about this potential event by using WOULD before a bare infinitive. Thus, WOULD INTERACT, and so on.

3. WOULD applies to all the verbs in the sequence, and these must be parallel. Therefore, B is the correct answer. It WAS at the American School ... that influences ... WOULD INTERACT, INTERMINGLE, AND GIVE BIRTH. These three actions, from the perspective of the past, are potential actions, and their result in the past was what became (in other words, THE THING THAT BECAME) American Sign Language.

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