i would opt for B.

"who" and "has" seem to be redundant in option C.

What it the OA?

ssgmatter wrote:In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninterrupted expansion with the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century, the number of United States citizens declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, at 1.34 million.
a) declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, at
b) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20%, to
c) who declared themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, to
d) who declared themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20%, at
e) to declare themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20%, at

Why C is wrong/right here? I want the reason to understand option C

Please explain

ssgmatter wrote:In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninterrupted expansion with the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century, the number of United States citizens declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, at 1.34 million.
a) declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, at
b) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20%, to
c) who declared themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, to
d) who declared themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20%, at
e) to declare themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20%, at

Why C is wrong/right here? I want the reason to understand option C

Please explain

Some thoughts:
1. For conciseness, we can avoid "x that declared", and can take "X declaring", since both of them mean the same thing.
=> So, C and D are out.
2. In 1997 indicates a past time, so we should use past simple.
=> This rules out A and C.
3. We know "something jumped from X to Y" is the correct idiom.
=> This rules out A, D, and E.

Only remaining option is B, which is the best answer.

In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninterrupted expansion with the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century, the number of United States citizens declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, at 1.34 million.
a) declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, at
b) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20%, to
c) who declared themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, to
d) who declared themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20%, at
e) to declare themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20%, at

'ello lads!
can't believe you are stumped by such an easy question! Let uncle Sanjay help you...
FIRST....the verb should be in the past simple because of 'in 1997'. 'Has' is the present perfect (an unspecified time in the past) and thus 'c' and 'a' are easy eliminations.
'Almost' in 'd' and 'e' is incorrectly placed and thus, d'd and 'e' are also eliminations.
With regard to 'who', always remember that the full adjectival clause (people who chose to participate were...) is not preferable to the reduced adjetival clause (people liking the play were...)

Need any more gyan? Just ask
Sanjay

sanjaysmart22 wrote:In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninterrupted expansion with the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century, the number of United States citizens declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, at 1.34 million.
a) declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, at
b) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20%, to
c) who declared themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, to
d) who declared themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20%, at
e) to declare themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20%, at

'ello lads!
can't believe you are stumped by such an easy question! Let uncle Sanjay help you...
FIRST....the verb should be in the past simple because of 'in 1997'. 'Has' is the present perfect (an unspecified time in the past) and thus 'c' and 'a' are easy eliminations.
'Almost' in 'd' and 'e' is incorrectly placed and thus, d'd and 'e' are also eliminations.
With regard to 'who', always remember that the full adjectival clause (people who chose to participate were...) is not preferable to the reduced adjetival clause (people liking the play were...)

Need any more gyan? Just ask
Sanjay

Sanjay Bhai,

Can you please elaborate more on this tenses to be used here...

@Phil Bhai

Issue 1: Verb tense shift.

Explanation : Present perfect is used when a "event started in the past and continues to be true in the present".

But here, the sequence of action happened just only in 1997 and its "past tense". No Continuation in to the present say 2010. So avoid Present perfect.

"has jumped" signals present perfect tense.

B corrects it promptly by "jumped'( Simple Past)

Issue 2 : Usage of Wrong prepositions

at Vs to !!