Sentence Correction

A majority of the international journalists surveyed view nuclear power stations as unsafe at present but that they will, or could, be made sufficiently safe in the future.

(A) that they will, or could,
(B) that they would, or could,
(C) they will be or could
(D) think that they will be or could
(E) think the power stations would or could

OA is D regardless of that "they" in it, which in my opinion could refer to either power stations or journalists (little possibility but there is one). E leaves no place for confusion like that. However, it is considered wrong. Why ?!

replayyyy wrote: OA is D regardless of that "they" in it, which in my opinion could refer to either power stations or journalists (little possibility but there is one). E leaves no place for confusion like that. However, it is considered wrong. Why ?!

I understand THEY is not ambiguous (bit vague though). This is an issue of Logical Interpretation and Parallelism.

When you say "would or could" this does not make sense. As these two words WOULD and COULD are meant for hypothetical supposition.

Logically there is no difference between "I would go" and "I could go". Both means there is a possibility of me going but not definite. So there is no point in the corresponding usage.

Where as in D one part is DEFINITE (will be) and other part is a POSSIBILITY (could be), this clearly makes sense.

Also "would be or could be" is parallel. BE is required in both of the part of OR.

shovan85 wrote:

replayyyy wrote: OA is D regardless of that "they" in it, which in my opinion could refer to either power stations or journalists (little possibility but there is one). E leaves no place for confusion like that. However, it is considered wrong. Why ?!

I understand THEY is not ambiguous (bit vague though). This is an issue of Logical Interpretation and Parallelism.

When you say "would or could" this does not make sense. As these two words WOULD and COULD are meant for hypothetical supposition.

Logically there is no difference between "I would go" and "I could go". Both means there is a possibility of me going but not definite. So there is no point in the corresponding usage.

Where as in D one part is DEFINITE (will be) and other part is a POSSIBILITY (could be), this clearly makes sense.

Also "would be or could be" is parallel. BE is required in both of the part of OR.

stated this way ... yes, D is preferable. Thanx for the explanation

replayyyy wrote: stated this way ... yes, D is preferable. Thanx for the explanation

D is Correct. I am not supporting OA as its bit confusing, but I am sure E is definitely wrong (mostly because of parallelism).