The Department of Agriculture slowly succeeded in convincing

When DOA was attempting to convince the farmers, the farmers were still using the conventional approach of farming. This conventional approach had started in the past and continued till the DOA succeeded in convincing the farmers, so the continuous forms must be used. But I think it should be "had been" instead of "has been".

When DOA was attempting to convince the farmers, the farmers were still using the conventional approach of farming. This conventional approach had started in the past and continued till the DOA succeeded in convincing the farmers, so the continuous forms must be used. But I think it should be "had been" instead of "has been".

The what is the issue with this one
The Department of Agriculture slowly succeeded in convincing farmers to try approaches other than the single-crop farming that they had used for many years.


succeeded = Past tense
had used = Past Perfect

Plz correct me if I am wrong !!!!!

The Department of Agriculture slowly succeeded in convincing farmers to try approaches other than the single-crop farming that they had used for many years.

convincing farmers to try approaches other than the single-crop farming that they had used wrong usage of wrong usage of had
convincing farmers to try approaches other than the single-crop farming that they used wrong usage of simple past as the activity is still running in the present
their attempt to convince farmers to try approaches other than the single-crop farming that they had used wrong usage of had
their attempt to convince farmers to try approaches other than the single-crop farming that they usedwrong usage of simple past as the activity is still running in the present
convincing farmers to try approaches other than the single-crop farming that has been in use for many years Correct

I would go with E since A and B are using they which is ambiguous and C and D are nowhere in consideration. But, I would like to raise some concerns here.
1. The question stem does not has the error part underlined.
2. If we try to determine what the underlined part could be, from options A,B,C and D, then E has the error of repeating some part of the non underlined part.

Well, in my opinion, the answer A has a problem with pronoun.

“They” in the last part of the sentence has an ambiguity that could potentially refer to “the government” or “the farmers”, hence lacking clarity compared to the answer E

Posted from my mobile device

they can only refer to plural antecedents and hence, cannot refer to the government/department.

I had eliminated all options that use ‘they’ as What ‘they’ is referring to remains ambiguous.. Is it the wrong approach?

Posted from my mobile device

Hi Vivek, pronoun ambiguity should generally never be the first reason to eliminate any option.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Past pronoun ambiguity, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

All the options except E , have the wrong tense .

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