OG: Scientists say that, by bathing the skin cells in extracts of immune cells,

[AbeNeedsAnswers]

Scientists say that, by bathing the skin cells in extracts of immune cells, that human skin cells in a test tube are made to behave as if they were immune system cells.

A. that human skin cells in a test tube are made to behave as if they were
B. that human skin cells were to behave in a test tube as if they were
C. human skin cells in a test tube were made to behave as if
D. they have made human skin cells in a test tube that were behaving as
E. they have made human skin cells in a test tube behave as if they were

E

[apolloeagle]

Answer is E

The subject of the sentence is "scientists", hence the second half of the sentence should be referencing the scientists' actions rather than the human skin cells.
D is wrong because "were behaving as" is in the incorrect verb tense. Therefore, the answer is E.

[k_rohit]

This question test our ability of grammatical construction. "by bathing the skin cells in extracts of immune cells" is a prepositional phrase (PP), so usage of that in underlined sentence is redundant. Similarly the main subject of clause should be Scientists / They.


Option-A & B - as explained above
Option-C : distort the meaning and passive form is unrequired
Option-D : Meaning error, 'as' is used for comparison, but not to indicate role/function, so it should be followed by clause
Option-E : Correct choice as the subject is they (scientist) and 'as' is used for comparison/reasoning.

[MaykSha]

in option E of the question, isn't pronoun "they" lead to logical predication error by acting as a potential antecedent to "scientists" and "human skin cells"? For different antecedents, different meanings are achieved, thus I think this option may be faulty.

Please help to clarify.