champmag wrote:Ozone, a special form of oxygen that screens out harmful ultraviolet rays, reaches high concentrations twelve miles above Earth, where it has long appeared that it was immune from human influence; we have now realized, though, that emissions of industrial chlorofluorocarbons deplete the ozone layer.
(A) has long appeared that it was immune from
(B) has long appeared to have been immune from
(C) has long appeared as being immune to
(D) had long appeared immune to
(E) had long appeared that it was immune to
In A, B and C,
has appeared does not convey the proper sequence of events. Here is the breakdown:
1) The present perfect
have realized indicates that sometime in the past we started to realize that emissions deplete the ozone layer.
2) Once we started to
realize (in the past) that emissions deplete the ozone layer, the ozone no longer
appeared immune.
3) To convey an action completed in the past, we use the past perfect: the ozone
had appeared immune, but then it no longer appeared immune.
4) Thus, the following is correct:
The ozone had long appeared immune; we have now realized, though, that emissions deplete the ozone layer.
Eliminate A, B and C.
In E, the repetition of the pronoun
it creates confusion:
it had long appeared that it was immune. The function of the first
it is not immediately clear. E is also needlessly wordy. Eliminate E.
The correct answer is
D.
The idiom issue also should be noted:
Immune from means
exempt from (as in
immune from prosecution).
Immune to means
not affected by (as in
immune to her beauty).
The correct idiom for the SC above is
immune to.
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