Some parents have a very difficult time coming to grips with

Read this one from OG:

Quasars are so distant that their light has taken billions of years to reach the Earth; consequently, we see them as they were during the formation of the universe.
(A) we see them as they were during
(B) we see them as they had been during
(C) we see them as if during
(D) they appear to us as they did in
(E) they appear to us as though in

OE:
A, the best choice, correctly employs the simple past verb tense to describe a past condition. Choice B inappropriately switches to the past perfect (had been); the past perfect properly describes action that is completed prior to some other event described with the simple past tense. Choice C presents a dangling adverbial modifier, as if during ..., that illogically modifies we see. D ambiguously suggests that the quasars appeared to us in the formation of the universe_ that is, as though we were present to view them then. In E, as though in distorts the meaning to suggest that we see the quasars in a hypothetical situation_ that is, that they may not have been involved in the formation of the universe.

Hope this is useful.