Sentence Correction

To Henry David Thoreau, harmony with nature was his ideal a century
and a half before it became popular to be an environmentalist, and he
retained his fascination with and respect for nature as essential elements of his
lifestyle until his death.

A: ...
B: For Henry David Thoreau, a century and a half before it became popular to
be an environmentalist, harmony with nature was his ideal

C: Henry David Thoreau idealized harmony with nature a century and a half
before to be an environmentalist became popular

D: A century and a half before it became popular to be an environmentalist,
Henry David Thoreau idealized harmony with nature

E: A century and a half before it became popular being an environmentalist,
harmony with nature was ideal to Henry David Thoreau

gmatdriller wrote:To Henry David Thoreau, harmony with nature was his ideal a century
and a half before it became popular to be an environmentalist, and he
retained his fascination with and respect for nature as essential elements of his
lifestyle until his death.

A: ...
B: For Henry David Thoreau, a century and a half before it became popular to
be an environmentalist, harmony with nature was his ideal

C: Henry David Thoreau idealized harmony with nature a century and a half
before to be an environmentalist became popular

D: A century and a half before it became popular to be an environmentalist,
Henry David Thoreau idealized harmony with nature

E: A century and a half before it became popular being an environmentalist,
harmony with nature was ideal to Henry David Thoreau

D?

IMO D

There are following issues here: parallelism, logic of the sentence and idioms

1) parallelism
The word "and" connects two sentences, which must be parallel.
A: "To Henry David Thoreau..., and he" is not parallel
B: "For Henry David Thoreau..., and he" is not parallel
E: "... to Henry David Thoreau, and he" is not parallel
We should eliminate answer choices A, B & E

2) logic of the sentence
There is wrong order of words in answer C.

3) idiom
correct idioms are
"ideal for sb/sth"
"ideal to do sth"
For example:
"open fields are ideal for children"
"It is not ideal to have a foreign army here"
Source: www.nytimes.com

I choose answer D

Read "Top 10 Tips for the Sentence Correction Section" by Chris Black
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/09/ ... on-section

If you don't agree with my reasoning, please post here. Thanks!

Hope it helps!
Best,
Maciek

I think D, gut feeling...

I don't think D can be correct because of the modifier issue. I hope that C is correct here.

OA D.
Let us know

Must be a Grockit question.

Here's the OG question that inspired this question:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/josephine-ba ... 33389.html

The consensus (choice D) is correct for the various reasons given.
Glad there was no ambiguity over the credited response.