The industrial pollutants known as PCB’s were first

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The industrial pollutants known as PCB's were first manufactured in 1929 and were used as coolants for electrical equipment in Europe and North America until the 1970s, when studies showed that the compounds had entered the food chain and were harmful to some animals.

(A) that the compounds had entered the food chain and were harmful to some animals
(B) the compounds to have entered the food chain and be harmful to some animals
(C) the entry of the compounds into the food chain as harmful to some animals
(D) the entry of the compounds into the food chain and its harmfulness to animals
(E) the compounds entering into the food chain and harming some animals

OA A

Hi Mitch !

Can you please help me in understanding difference of tenses/meaning in A vs B. I will have some follow-up questions,but I would first like to have your take on this problem.

Regards
SR

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by MartyMurray » Tue Jan 31, 2017 8:14 am
solitaryreaper wrote:The industrial pollutants known as PCB's were first manufactured in 1929 and were used as coolants for electrical equipment in Europe and North America until the 1970s, when studies showed that the compounds had entered the food chain and were harmful to some animals.

(A) that the compounds had entered the food chain and were harmful to some animals
(B) the compounds to have entered the food chain and be harmful to some animals

Can you please help me in understanding difference of tenses/meaning in A vs B. I will have some follow-up questions,but I would first like to have your take on this problem.

Regards
SR
In A, "that the compounds ..." is a noun clause. That clause serves as the object of "showed".

The studies showed what? They showed that the compounds had entered the fool chain and were harmful.

In B, the object of showed is "the compounds".

When a noun is the object of "showed", either the meaning to be conveyed is either that the noun itself is being showed or you have to have the completed idiom, "showed ... to be".

So "Jim showed me the compounds," is fine.

Also, "... showed ... the compounds ... to be harmful ..." is fine.

However, "showed the compounds to have entered" is neither idiomatically correct nor logical.
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