With government funding for the arts dwindling

[simplyjat]

With government funding for the arts dwindling, even major orchestras would feel the pressure of trying to meet their payroll and travel costs over the past several years.

a) would feel
b) will feel
c) have felt
d) feel
e) are feeling

OA C

[HarvardDreamin]

With government funding for the arts dwindling, even major orchestras would feel the pressure of trying to meet their payroll and travel costs over the past several years.

a) would feel
b) will feel
c) have felt
d) feel
e) are feeling

OA C

Answer should be C. first reaction drove me to a/b however the statement describes the "past several years" which is in the past hence the most appropriate answer is C

[Stuart@KaplanGMAT]

With government funding for the arts dwindling, even major orchestras would feel the pressure of trying to meet their payroll and travel costs over the past several years.

a) would feel
b) will feel
c) have felt
d) feel
e) are feeling

OA C

Answer should be C. first reaction drove me to a/b however the statement describes the "past several years" which is in the past hence the most appropriate answer is C

Great catch! It's important not to neglect the part of the sentence AFTER the underlined part. Here, the phrase you quoted clearly indicates that the past continuous is appropriate.

Note that even if you weren't sure about simple past vs past continuous, only one answer choice is in the past at all, making your decision simple.