Sentence Correction

Researchers are studying plastics that dissolve at different rates, and they are finding that the so-called "quick disintegration" plastics are taking more time to deteriorate than they originally seemed.

they originally seemed
they seemed originally
it seemed that they would originally
it originally seemed
it originally seemed they would

Could you please let me know what is wrong with A ... please explain your answer

agautam wrote:Researchers are studying plastics that dissolve at different rates, and they are finding that the so-called "quick disintegration" plastics are taking more time to deteriorate than they originally seemed.

they originally seemed
they seemed originally
it seemed that they would originally
it originally seemed
it originally seemed they would

Could you please let me know what is wrong with A ... please explain your answer

Pronoun they is referring to Researchers, so similarly second "they" is referring to researchers. We must use "it" to refer the plastics.

@tommy wallach ,i feel that even E is wrong for the same reason that u have cited for option A ."would" is a helping verb and it will go with the word "take" .but unfortunately this word "take" is not there in the sentence .all we have is is "are taking " .i have read in one link of Ron that only the helping verb "do", "done" and "did" enjoys the impunity for they can stand for any tense verb .this impunity is not enjoyed by "would"

million thanks tommy !
so what i do understand by ur post is that the helping verb such as "would" and "could" falls into the same category as the helping verb "did" ;"does" ; "do" .now what i do mean by this same category is that all these helping verb can be used to stand for an action verb and that they can be parallel to any tense of that action verb
let me give examples
i will pick this one from ur manhattan book :I have never seen an aardvark, but last year my father did. ---now as per Ron this is a perfect sentece despite the fact that the word "did" goes with "see" and not with the tense "seen" .and as u can read there is no word "see" in the sentence .so this was the impuity i was talking of the helping verb such as "did" ,"do" and "does"
on the other hand plz note this following sentence :
In an effort to reduce their inventories, Italian vintners have cut prices;their wines have been priced to sell, and they are ---now this is a wrong sentence because the helping verb "are" goes with "selling" and as u can read there is no word "selling" in the sentence .so helping verb "are" does not enjoy that impuinity .
now my question to u: plz confirm whether the helping verb "would" and "could" falls into that impunity catagory or in other words they can stand for any tense of an action verb ?
highly thankful to u for ur prompt reply
regards
aditya

Tommy Wallach wrote:Hey Aditya,

Not "could", and I can't speak for any situation with "would" other than this sentence. But yes, the example sentence I gave, and the correct answer here, are good to go.

-t

Hi tommy.
Thanks for this detailed explanations but I have doubt in the use of the word -they-.
1.
Why the word in E is allowed while it in A, as you said, seems a bit ambiguous possibly referring "researchers".

2.
Furthermore, I really doubt about if a pronoun -"they", in this case- can refer two different meanings -"researchers" and "plastics" in this case- in a one sentence. I learned this command of pronoun usage is not allowed. Please confirm.

Thank you!

very hard.
when the second part of comparison consists of two clauses, the question is very hard