BillyZ wrote:
During her presidency of the short-lived Woman’s State Temperance Society (1852-1853), Elizabeth Cady Stanton, as she was a staunch advocate of liberalized divorce laws, scandalized many of her most ardent supporters in her suggestion that drunkenness should be made sufficient cause for divorce.
(A) as she was a staunch advocate of liberalized divorce laws, scandalized many of her most ardent supporters in her suggestion that drunkenness should be
(B) as she was a staunch advocate for liberalized divorce laws, scandalized many of her most ardent supporters by her suggestion of drunkenness being
(C) in being a staunch advocate for liberalized divorce laws, had scandalized many of her most ardent supporters with the suggestion of drunkenness being
(D) a staunch advocate of liberalized divorce laws, scandalized many of her most ardent supporters by suggesting that drunkenness be
(E) a staunch advocate of liberalized divorce laws, she scandalized many of her most ardent supporters in suggesting that drunkenness should be
The question is an interesting mixture of modifier usage and the subjunctive mood.
The first point of elimination is the use of the modifier immediately after “Elizabeth Cady Stanton”. The first part of the underlined portion modifies or describes Stanton. By using the conjunction ‘as’ at the beginning of the modifier, the meaning is changed. Her being a staunch advocate of liberalized divorce laws was not the reason for her scandalizing many of her most ardent supporters, but the use of the conjunction ‘as’ makes it sound as if it were the reason. So, Options A and B can be eliminated.
Option C is not vastly different. The use of the prepositional phrase “in being a staunch advocate for liberalized divorce laws” also conveys the same meaning as in Options A and B.
The choice comes down to D and E.
Option E has two errors. One is the unnecessary pronoun ‘she’. The subject of the verb ‘scandalized’ is “Elizabeth Cady Stanton”, so there is no need for another subject.
The other error is not so much an error as it is a redundancy. In subjunctive usage, the helping verb ‘should’ does not have to be mentioned. It is understood.
The use of the present subjunctive:
After verbs such as ‘mandate’, recommend’, ‘decide’, ‘determine’, ‘suggest’ etc, there is a specific construction that is used.
The construction is as follows:
Verb + clause beginning with the relative pronoun ‘that’
There is also a specific construction for the clause:
Verb + that + noun + verb in the base form (play, sing, eat etc.)
The doctor
suggested that the
patient walk for an hour everyday.
I’m giving below another example:
E.g.: The manager
recommended that the
employee take leave as he was ill.
In such constructions, there is no need for a helping verb in the clause beginning with the relative pronoun. So, verbs such as ‘must’ and ‘should’ are redundant.
Therefore, D is the most appropriate option in this question.
Jayanthi Kumar.
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