In the early fourteenth century, almost 200 years before

Question

In the early fourteenth century, almost 200 years before Columbus reached the West Indies, and 250 years before the Reformation,  Europe had been Catholic and the Church continued to influence virtually every phase of human life .

A. Europe had been Catholic and the Church continued to influence virtually every phase of human life

B. the Catholic Church continued to influence every phase of human life

C. the Europe that had been Catholic was still influenced in virtually every phase of human life by the Church

D. Europe was Catholic and the Church influenced virtually every phase of human life

E. every phase of human life bore traces of the European influence of the Catholic Church

321kumarsushant · Answer

A. Europe had been Catholic and the Church continued to influence virtually every phase of human life - No need of Past perfect.

B. the Catholic Church continued to influence every phase of human life - Europe missing

C. the Europe that had been Catholic was still influenced in virtually every phase of human life by the Church - Had been not required.

D. Europe was Catholic and the Church influenced virtually every phase of human life - past tense, ok & concise.

E. every phase of human life bore traces of the European influence of the Catholic Church - illogical

My choice is D

aviram · Answer

Answer choice D. Clear and doesn't omit any information. Answer choice A wrongly used the past perfect continuous tense.

khepu14 · Answer

there are 2 past events in this sentence . One is "Columbus reached west indies" and another "Europe had been catholic". Hence past perfect continuous tense is used correctly. Answer is "A". Please give the correct answer.

sabineodf · Answer

In the early fourteenth century, almost 200 years before Columbus reached the West Indies, and 250 years before the Reformation, Europe had been Catholic and the Church continued to influence virtually every phase of human life.

A. Europe had been Catholic and the Church continued to influence virtually every phase of human life
 I eliminated this option by overlooking what was in between the commas and seeing if the sentence was good, "had been" becomes wordy and redundant. The use of the word "continued" disagrees with me, since there was no previous discussion of the Church's influence.

B. the Catholic Church continued to influence every phase of human life
 Excludes Europe and changes the meaning of the sentence

C. the Europe that had been Catholic was still influenced in virtually every phase of human life by the Church
 Clearly incorrect

D. Europe was Catholic and the Church influenced virtually every phase of human life
 This is my choice, omits "continued", which to me makes sense as there was no discussion of what the church did before this time

E. every phase of human life bore traces of the European influence of the Catholic Church
 Clearly incorrect

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation

D. The verbs are the problem in the original underlined portion. The context supplied by the rest of the sentence suggests that the verbs should be simple past tense, both of them indicating what was true in the fourteenth century. As it stands, the underlined portion is internally contradictory. It states that Europe had been Catholic, implying that the region is no longer Catholic, but also states that Catholic influence continued. Choice D corrects this grammatical/logical problem while retaining the original intended meaning. Choices B and E are grammatically correct but omit information contained in the original sentence.

In the early fourteenth century, almost 200 years before

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In the early fourteenth century, almost 200 years before

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