Iguanas have been an important food source in Latin America since prehistoric times, and it is still prized as a game animal by the campesinos, who typically cook the meat in a heavily spiced stew.

(A) it is still prized as a game animal
(B) it is still prized as game animals
(C) they are still prized as game animals
(D) they are still prized as being a game animal
(E) being still prized as a game animal

Iguanas have been an important food source in Latin America since prehistoric times, and it is still prized as a game animal by the campesinos, who typically cook the meat in a heavily spiced stew.

(A) it is still prized as a game animal
(B) it is still prized as game animals
(C) they are still prized as game animals
(D) they are still prized as being a game animal
(E) being still prized as a game animal



I had a doubt regarding "they"......can they be used to refer to animals.

There is the singular-plural mismatch in E. But apart from that, "being..." is actually a modifier/adjective phrase modifying Iguanas. The "and" before "being" requires at least a verb (and optionally also a noun/pronoun).

For example:
He played well, and, captaining the team, (he) led his team to victory.

Modifiers typically provide "extra" information. So whenever you encounter a modifier, you should try to remove it from the sentence and see whether the remaining sentence contains the essential elements (noun or pronoun, verb, optional object).
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Iguanas have been an important food source in Latin America since prehistoric times, and it is still prized as a game animal by the campesinos, who typically cook the meat in a heavily spiced stew.

Issue: Pronoun Reference | Meaning

Analysis:
1. This sentence connects two clauses using "and" and the main subject of the sentence is "Iguanas" which is plural
2. Core of the sentence: "Iguanas have been .... food source, and they are... prized as game animal..."
3. The original sentence has pronoun reference error as it used singular "it" to refer to "Iguanas"


I have highlighted the issues below:

(A) it is still prized as a game animal

(B) it is still prized as game animals

(C) they are still prized as game animals

(D) they are still prized as being a game animal
- "prized as being" leads to meaning issue and changes it from what original sentence intends to say

(E) being still prized as a game animal
- Since "and" here is used to connect two clause, they should be independent. This options is missing a subject.

Answer: (C)

By removing the fluff, we can see that Iguanas is plural and the original sentence uses 'it' and 'animal' in singular. For this reason eliminate A,B,D and E

Iguanas have been an important food source in Latin America since prehistoric times, and it is still prized as a game animal by the campesinos, who typically cook the meat in a heavily spiced stew.

The only answer left is C
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Hey hero_with_1000_faces ,

"It" can refer to all living things except humans.

Does that make sense?
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Using "being" is not always incorrect or considered incorrect in Sentence Correction questions.

At the same time, "being" is often used in incorrect answers in Sentence Correction questions because "being" can be inserted into a sentence in an illogical way without that sentence's sounding particularly incorrect.

So, to determine whether the use of "being" in (D) makes sense, we have to analyze the sentence created via the use of (D) to determine whether that sentence makes sense.

Here's the version created via the use of (D).

Iguanas have been an important food source in Latin America since prehistoric times, and they are still prized as being a game animal by the campesinos, who typically cook the meat in a heavily spiced stew.

Because of the presence of "being," what this sentences conveys does not makes sense.

The point to be made is that iguanas are prized as game animals.

What this sentence says is that they are prized as "being game animals."

The problem with using "being" is basically that "being" is in this case an unnecessary verb, and so adding it not only makes the sentence unnecessarily wordy but also results in the sentence's conveying a meaning that does not make sense.

We already have "are prized" as the main verb of this clause. So: "iguanas are prized as X."

Adding "being" may seem innocuous, because "being" is just a form of the basic verb "to be," but having that extra verb there does not make sense.

With "being," we have: iguanas are prized as being X.

The only reason this sentence may not sound entirely incorrect is that "are prized" is not a commonly used expression.

Let's drop "being" into another sentence, one in which the presence of "being" causes the same issues, but more obviously:

I like my house because it is being energy efficient.

Once again, "being" is an extra verb.

What the speaker really means is:

I like my house because it is energy efficient.

When "being" is included, the sentence almost seems to convey that the house itself is actively choosing to be energy efficient.

Q: "What is your house doing today?"

A: "My house is being energy efficient."

So, we have two reasons why the use of "being" may not make sense.

1. It adds an unnecessary or redundant verb, with the result that a sentence becomes wordy and conveys an illogical meaning.

2. A sentence that includes "being" may convey that something is actively choosing to be something when, in fact, that thing merely is something.
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Option (D) does not really say anything, because "prized as" needs a noun object, such as "game animals." So, "prized as being X" is meaningless.

At the same time, part of what you are saying is about right. In this case, it could be argued that "being game animals" could be interpreted as conveying that iguanas are actively choosing to be game animals.
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