In the Champagne region of France, wine growers still harvest grapes as they have done for centuries, by carefully handpicking their crop and storing their precious fruit in specially aged casks.

Concepts tested:-
1) S-V agreement
2) Pronoun
3) Tense

1) wine growers- Subject in plural form. Hence the corresponding verb form must be used. Wine growers----> Harvest
2) Pronoun "they" must refer to corresponding antecedent in plural form. They---->Wine growers
3) Harvesting of grapes started in past and continues till the time of speaking.(Refer the keywords "for centuries" & "Still" ). Hence present perfect must be used. "They have done"

Therefore the original sentence needs zero corrections.

Ans. (A)
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KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

A.

If you can’t spot an error in the original, scan the choices and look for reasons to cross some out. Then guess from the rest. (B) uses the singular “wine grower,”but you need the plural to go with “their crop” and “their fruit”in the non-underlined part of the sentence. (C) and (D) make the sentence switch from active (“harvest”) to passive (“as was done, as has been done”) for no good reason.Avoid the passive if possible. In(E), ”did” implies that the wine growers have stopped harvesting. Growers still harvest, so you need “have done” in (A) to indicate continuing action.
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Option A : Correct.

Option B : This phrase talks about one person (singular) while rest of the sentence talks about an entire community. Hence, incorrect.

Option C : 'wine growers still harvest' suggests of an action which is still going on since some time in the past, while, 'was done' refers to an action already finished. This makes the option less feasible as a correct answer.

Option D : 'wine growers still harvest' suggests of an action which is still going on since some time in the past, while, 'has been done' also refers to an action just finished. But the catch here is that the active voice from 'wine growers still harvest' changes to passive voice,'has been done'. This again undermines the clarity of the sentence.

Option E : 'wine growers still harvest' suggests of an action which is still going on since some time in the past, while, 'did' refers to an action which is finished. So, wrong formation.

hi Bunuel GMATNinjaTwo hazelnut

Is it okay to reject options (C) and (D) just because they are in passive voice?
The general consensus is that its more of a style choice. Therefore, is there any other way to eliminate these choices?

In the Champagne region of France, wine growers still harvest grapes as they have done for centuries, by carefully handpicking their crop and storing their precious fruit in specially aged casks.


(A) wine growers still harvest grapes as they have done

(B) the wine grower still harvests grapes as he has

(C) wine growers still harvest grapes as was done

(D) wine growers still harvest grapes as has been done

(E) wine growers still harvest grapes as they did

The algorithm to solve this simple question is:

1. The practice of handpicking and careful storage are still in vogue. Hence remove all past tense sentences. C and E are gone.

2. Remove B for referring to a single grower; it is about all growers, see the plural pronoun ’their ‘in the non-underlined part.

3. Between A and D, A is the correct choice because of active style.

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