Although the researchers agreed unanimously on their

Question

Although the researchers agreed unanimously on their expectations for the outcome of the experiment,  their surprise was evident when  the actual data started coming in.

* their surprise was evident when
 * they were evidently surprised when
 * their surprise was in evidence when
 * they were evidently surprised as
 * they were surprised as

The explaination states "E" is not correct because:
# The word as suggests a process rather than a specific point in time and is not correct in this sentence

I think that  started coming in  also suggests a process.

It is illogical to argue that the researchers were suddenly surprised as if by a loud noise, in fact you can picture them their in the lab

1st researcher:"Hey, look at that  "
2nd researcher:"More of the same  "
3rd researcher:"I am surprised!"

Also the word "evidently" makes the surprise ambiguous, as if maybe the researchers knew they were wrong, but failed to express their opinion earlier because of a fascist head researcher.

There I think E is the best answer.

seekmba · Answer

I went for E too..

What is the OA?

ykaiim · Answer

I think I marked B, which is correct.

seekmba · Answer

Do you mind explaining why other options are incorrect? Thanks.

ansumangenius · Answer

I believe Option B is correct :- first it is direct and when is the more appropriate preposition..

TallJTinChina · Answer

from what I remember the answer key said B was idiomatic, "surprised when"

A - is passive voice instead of active voice
C - "in evidence" is wordy/akward
D - "as" is not idiomatic

Basically you need active voice and surprised..when

ykaiim · Answer

Although the researchers agreed unanimously on their expectations for the outcome of the experiment,  their surprise was evident when  the actual data started coming in.

* their surprise was evident when
 * they were evidently surprised when
 * their surprise was in evidence when
 * they were evidently surprised as
 * they were surprised as

We have a contrast here, so I prefer parallelity in subjects -
Although the researchers....., they
This rules out A and C, because THEIR is a possesive pronoun. As a thumb rule:
A possessive pronoun can have either a possessive or a non-possessive noun as its antecedent, which is not the case here.

I ruled out E because it omits the adverb   evidently  , which one should not do unless one has a strong reason. Moreover,   as   is incorrect here. We dont have any comparison of clauses here. If you noticed, we have   surprised  , which indicates some post experiment action i.e., implying something related to time. So, both D and E are out.

I googled on   surprise as  , but found that correct one will be   surprise at/when

Plug-in B in the original senetence:
Although the researchers agreed unanimously on their expectations for the outcome of the experiment,  they were evidently surprised when  the actual data started coming in. 
  when the data started coming in   indicates there has to be some time moment]

Although the researchers agreed unanimously on their expectations for the outcome of the experiment,  they were evidently surprised as  the actual data started coming in.

Although the researchers agreed unanimously on their

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