The scientist suggested that early man and chimpanzees

vipulgoyal wrote:The scientist suggested that early man and chimpanzees mated during prehistoric times, as Romeo and Juliet courting each other in a biological rain dance.

A as Romeo and Juliet courting each other in a biological rain dance.

B as Romeo and Juliet had courted each other in a biological rain dance

C as Romeo and Juliet courted each other in a biological rain dance

D like Romeo and Juliet courted each other in a biological rain dance

E like Romeo and Juliet courting each other in a biological rain dance

OA E

Hello vipulgoyal,

Seems like a biological anomaly than a grammatical disagreement !

Now, we must compare earlier man-chimpanzee mating to later Romeo-Juliet courting, so later Romeo-Juliet courting cannot be in the simple past tense to coincide with man-chimpanzee mating. Hence, we must either use a different tense or avoid a working verb altogether in the underlined portion. Since, we must avoid a simple past tense in the underlined portion and there is no later time available in the given options we must avoid a verb altogether in the underlined portion. Like as a preposition must be followed by a noun phrase and not by a clause. Only option E provides a logical comparison using like followed by a noun phrase. "As" as a conjunction must be followed by a clause , hence, option A is incorrect.