Sentence Correction

At a time when Queen Anne was so ill that she had to be hoisted up between floors of her palace, the Whigs had seized upon their best gambit in the war between the parties and, hovering nervously, Defoe was between upholding the ministry's commitment to the Protestant succession and his own sense of how vital such a commitment must be.

Ans Choices:
(A) their best gambit in the war between the parties and, hovering nervously, Defoe was between
(B) its best gambit in the war between the parties, and nervously, Defoe hovered either
(C) their best gambit in the war between the parties and Defoe, nervously, hovered between
(D) its best gambit in the war between the parties and Defoe hovered nervously on
(E) their best gambit in the war between the parties, and Defoe hovered nervously between

[spoiler]OA: E. Why E is better than C.[/spoiler]

Ans Choices:

(C) their best gambit in the war between the parties and Defoe, nervously, hovered between
(E) their best gambit in the war between the parties, and Defoe hovered nervously between

OA: E. Why E is better than C.

Hi Rahul,

Option C distorts the meaning of the sentence. It implies that the war was between the parties and Defoe.
Whereas Option E has the correct intended meaning that the war was between the different parties only.

Hope this helps

Regards,
Snigdha

Underneath is how I tackle the question:
Firstly the 3-2 rule should be applied. I realize that 'the Whigs' is not a collective noun and that word should be plural noun,not singular one. Therefore, I eliminate B and D.
Secondly, I read all 3 answers carefully to comprehence the meaning of the sentence.
(A) 'hovering nervously' is put alone without any verb. Answer is to be eliminated
(C) Grammar is correct and it talks about 'war between the parties and Defoe', I questioned myself, does it means 'the parties'is against Defoe ? Absolutely not!
(E) Grammar is correct and the sentence's meaning is understandable.
So (E) is the correct answer.

How do you think ?

Thanks guys. Clear now. Good example of a sentence to drive home the fact that meaning holds the key in SC.

There is nothing underlined here...or only i am seeing that no sentence is underlined?

I dont understand why "Whigs" is not a collective noun here

Harsha,

Apologies for not underlining in the question. Have edited the question now.