Sentence Correction

Hello all,

I saw some other posts on this question, but the responses weren't specific regarding the underlying grammar on each answer choice. Can someone please take a crack at breaking this problem down, answer choice by answer choice. I got lost in the verb tense shuffle. How do we know whether to choose "perceive" or "perceived" in this problem. Also, could selection (B) be grammatically correct if the answer wasn't followed by "as." I appreciate all the help.

Thanks!

The Audubon Society and other conservation groups, concerned over what they have perceived to be the serious threatening of the environment as posed by the policies of the government, are preparing for a major political effort.

(A) have perceived to be the serious threatening of the environment as
(B) perceived as the serious threat to the environment as
(C) perceive being the serious threat to the environment
(D) are perceiving as the serious threatening of the environment
(E) perceive as the serious threat to the environment

"perceived as / perceive as" is correct idiom - So "A" and "C" are out (using "perceived to be"/ "perceive being" )

"The Audubon Society and other conservation groups, concerned..." - the phrase starting with "concerned over what they..." is a Past Participle Phrase modifying "The Audubon Society and other conservation groups". So forget about it for now.
The main sentence becomes - "The Audubon Society and other conservation groups are preparing for a major political effort.", which is in present tense.
Therefore we need present tense at verb perceive
B - has "perceived" and apart from that "perceive/d as" is a single idiom and the 2nd "as" at the end of the choice - B: underlined part is wrong. - B out.

D - wrong because "serious threatening" should be "serious threat" - Out

E - Stays

Thanks

tonebeeze wrote:Hello all,

I saw some other posts on this question, but the responses weren't specific regarding the underlying grammar on each answer choice. Can someone please take a crack at breaking this problem down, answer choice by answer choice. I got lost in the verb tense shuffle. How do we know whether to choose "perceive" or "perceived" in this problem. Also, could selection (B) be grammatically correct if the answer wasn't followed by "as." I appreciate all the help.

Thanks!

The Audubon Society and other conservation groups, concerned over what they have perceived to be the serious threatening of the environment as posed by the policies of the government, are preparing for a major political effort.

(A) have perceived to be the serious threatening of the environment as
(B) perceived as the serious threat to the environment as
(C) perceive being the serious threat to the environment
(D) are perceiving as the serious threatening of the environment
(E) perceive as the serious threat to the environment

experts, please explain y B is incorrect!!!

kapur.arnav wrote:

tonebeeze wrote:Hello all,

I saw some other posts on this question, but the responses weren't specific regarding the underlying grammar on each answer choice. Can someone please take a crack at breaking this problem down, answer choice by answer choice. I got lost in the verb tense shuffle. How do we know whether to choose "perceive" or "perceived" in this problem. Also, could selection (B) be grammatically correct if the answer wasn't followed by "as." I appreciate all the help.

Thanks!

The Audubon Society and other conservation groups, concerned over what they have perceived to be the serious threatening of the environment as posed by the policies of the government, are preparing for a major political effort.

(A) have perceived to be the serious threatening of the environment as
(B) perceived as the serious threat to the environment as
(C) perceive being the serious threat to the environment
(D) are perceiving as the serious threatening of the environment
(E) perceive as the serious threat to the environment

experts, please explain y B is incorrect!!!

Probably I didn't make it clear last time, and awaiting expert's opinions, however, here is what makes it definitely wrong :

perceived as the serious threat to the environment as

- Idiom error ( perceived as X )

Apart from that as I mentioned, tense should be : present (so, perceive as - not - perceived as).

tonebeeze wrote:
The Audubon Society and other conservation groups, concerned over what they have perceived to be the serious threatening of the environment as posed by the policies of the government, are preparing for a major political effort.

(A) have perceived to be the serious threatening of the environment as
(B) perceived as the serious threat to the environment as
(C) perceive being the serious threat to the environment
(D) are perceiving as the serious threatening of the environment
(E) perceive as the serious threat to the environment

Quickest approach:

The correct idiom is threat to. Eliminate A and D.

The correct idiom is perceive as. Eliminate C.

In B, the past tense perceived changes the intended meaning of the sentence: it suggests that the Audubon Society no longer perceives the policies as a threat. The intended meaning of the sentence is that the Audubon society is concerned -- right now, in the present -- because it perceives (also in the present) the polices as a threat. Eliminate B.

The correct answer is E.

When you're trying to determine the correct tense for a verb in the answer choices, look at the tenses of the non-underlined verbs in the sentence. All the verbs in the sentence should be in the same tense unless a change in tense is necessary. The non-underlined verb are preparing is in the present tense; there is no reason for the verb perceived to be in the past tense. Hence we can eliminate B.

Another error in B: the word as in the modifier as posed is unnecessary. It is sufficient to say the serious threat...posed by the policies.