Sentence Correction

Reporting that one of its many problems had been the recent extended sales slump in women's apparel, the seven-store retailer said it would start a three-month liquidation sale in all of its stores.

(A) its many problems had been the recent
(B) its many problems has been the recently
(C) its many problems is the recently
(D) their many problems is the recent
(E) their many problems had been the recent


This is from OG verbal review, Ill post OA later

I would choose B

I think you need to use the present perfect because the situation is ongoing, since they have not yet implemented the solution that would rectify that problem.

imo a

In the cited example, the verb "said" in the non-underlined section of the sentence is a past tense verb. In order to indicate that the sales slump occurred prior to this past announcement, the past perfect tense is necessary.

OA???

OA is : A

Actually reason i posted this question was, I could not understand the usage of Supposed Can anyone clarify for me this issue?

mmon wrote:imo a

In the cited example, the verb "said" in the non-underlined section of the sentence is a past tense verb. In order to indicate that the sales slump occurred prior to this past announcement, the past perfect tense is necessary.

That makes sense. Thanks a lot.

I also go with A because I think "recently" does not correbtly modify the part "extended sales slump"