Sentence Correction

Although various eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
American poets had professed an interest in
Native American poetry and had pretended to imitate
Native American forms in their own works, until almost
1900. scholars and critics did not begin seriously to
study traditional Native American poetry in native
languages.

(A) until almost 1900, scholars and critics did not
begin seriously to study

(B) until almost 1900 scholars and critics had not
begun seriously studying

(C) not until almost 1900 were scholars and critics
to begin seriously to study

(D) it was not almost until 1900 when scholars and
critics began to seriously study

(E) it was not until almost 1900 that scholars and
critics seriously began studying


I went with B. but OA is E..... can somebody please help me understand this.?

Hi Saurabh,

I chose E for the following reason.

Note that, although at the start of the sentence. This indicates that, the clause following this subordinate clause must be a main clause.

The choices A, B and C, begins with until, making the sentence structure Awkward.

Choice D (including A, B and C) commits one more fundamental mistake. In the main clause, seriously (adverb) is after the verb it's modifying (began).

Only E avoids both these flaws and hence the correct ans.

one small humble request, please put spoiler on the OA and your opinion. Other forum members can attempt the question without any bias then.


Deutsch750!

Saurabh Ji,
Two polite requests :
1. Please format the question before you post.
2. Please use the search feature before you post, a lot of these questions have been answered by experts before.