Thanks for the responses. I appreciate them.

liferocks wrote:I have a question here for the usage of the verb in the option E

will be is future and could be is conditional.... can someone please explain why the sentence has mixed these two verb form.

This query is not yet answered.

Hey, liferocks and loveusonu:

Good question on the multiple verbs. I see it this way - the "or" separates the two options:

The sweeteners will be safe

or

The sweeteners could be made safe

So, in the scientists minds, if the sweeteners aren't safe in the future, at the very least the option will be there to make them safe, whether the manufacturers decide to incur that expense or not.

The division isn't between "will or could be safe", which wouldn't really be a valid comparison, but instead it's between "will be safe" and "could be made safe", which are two distinct ideas.

I hope that helps...

Original Sentence

Most scientists surveyed view artificial sweeteners as unsafe at present but they will be or could, be made adequately safe in the future.

Most scientists view X but they will be or could, be made adequately safe in the future.

The underlined section has "but" - coordinating conjunction. I think phrase after "but" should be a independent clause grammatically and this clause logically make sense.

A - Grammatically correct but logically wrong.
Here "they" refers to "Scientist" and "scientist" can't be made safer
B & C - Grammatically incorrect
but followed by 'that'- it makes phrase after 'but' as an 'that' clause and it is not independent clause

D & E:
Scientists view X but believe Y ---
Here both verbs (view and believe) have same subject Scientists

Peter drinks coffee and plays soccer. --This is valid structure
Jim hates soccer but likes to watch soccer on TV Please confirm whether this is valid strucutre.

If yes, I will go with E.

Brian@VeritasPrep wrote:Hey, liferocks and loveusonu:

Good question on the multiple verbs. I see it this way - the "or" separates the two options:

The sweeteners will be safe

or

The sweeteners could be made safe

So, in the scientists minds, if the sweeteners aren't safe in the future, at the very least the option will be there to make them safe, whether the manufacturers decide to incur that expense or not.

The division isn't between "will or could be safe", which wouldn't really be a valid comparison, but instead it's between "will be safe" and "could be made safe", which are two distinct ideas.

I hope that helps...

Thanks Brian,It really helped. Being a non-native English speaker, I have never heard of such construction and GMAt loves playing with us

Bouncing you with another question: Scientist can convey the same thing in say "will be or can be""Would be or could be"

Are both the uses correct?