Hey
freemanfanmaoHappy to help.
Q: Would E) also be correct if it had said "but so do"?
Answer: No, it wouldn't. Here's why.
From 1965 on, the region’s standard of living has soared, but also unemployment and prices.
Meaning analysis:
1. The sentence seeks to tell us that three things have soared
since 1965 (from 1965 on) - standard of living, unemployment, and prices. This means we need to use the
present perfect tense for each of the verbs that convey these increases.
2. There's a contrasting relationship between the improvement in standard of living and the increase in unemployment and prices. The first is cancelled out by the second. This means we need to use a contrast connector such as 'but' and not 'and'.
If we put 1 and 2 together, we get:
From 1965 on, the region’s standard of living has soared,
but so
have unemployment and prices.
a. 'but' introduces the contrast
b. 'have' is the
plural present perfect auxiliary or helping verb. The standard of living
has soared since 1965. Unemployment and prices
have also
soared since 1965.
c. Because the first clause contains 'has' by virtue of the singular subject 'standard of living', we need to change the number of the verb to plural 'have' in the second clause by virtue of the plural subjects 'unemployment and prices'.
No, we cannot use 'do'. "Do" is in the simple present tense. This would make the second clause a universal truth. In other words, the second clause would become "Unemployment and prices soar". This makes no sense in the context of the sentence, since the sentence seeks to convey a few developments since 1965.
I hope this helps improve your understanding.
Happy Learning!
Abhishek