Bunuel wrote:
A report by the American Medical Association indicates that a surge in the number of malpractice suits began about ten years ago and efforts to contain it since then had been only partially successful.
(A) efforts to contain it since then had been only partially successful
(B) efforts since then to contain it were only successful in part
(C) that efforts since then to contain it have been only partially successful
(D) that efforts to contain it since then only have been partially successful
(E) that efforts to contain it since then were only successful in part
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:
The main clause in the second part of the sentence (which is in the underlined part) is ‘A report by the American Medical Association indicates ...’ which is in the present tense. The use of the past perfect tense (‘had been only partially successful’) in one of the subordinate clauses is therefore wrong. (Remember that the present tense and the past perfect tense cannot coexist in a single sentence.)
So, the given sentence has a ‘tense’ error. From a quick glance at the answer choices, you can see that they contain the phrases ‘had been’, ‘were’, ‘have been’ and ‘were’ in the answer choices, confirming the presence of such an error in the sentence.
Since the efforts had started ten years ago and are still continuing, the sentence should use the present perfect tense, and not the past tense. So, (B) and (E) can also be eliminated.
The author's intention is to say that the success (of the efforts) has been only partial. So, the correct phrase to be used is ‘only partially successful’. (D) removes the word ‘only’ to an earlier place, and is less elegant than (C). So, (C) is the better version, and is the answer.
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