Skyline393 wrote:
At last month's meeting Mr. Iqbal, the chair of a business association for immigrants, described the most significant problems he had experienced in adapting to his new country's business regulations and outlined several actions that he had taken to deal with those problems.
A - had experienced in adapting to his new country's business regulations and outlined several actions that he had taken to deal
B - experienced, adapted to the business regulations of his new country, and outlined several actions that had been taken in his dealing
C - had experienced in adapting to the business regulations of his new country and in outlining several actions that he had taken in dealing
D - experienced while adapting to his new country's business regulations and outlining several actions taken in his dealing
E - experienced in adapting to his new country's business regulations and outlined several actions with which he had taken in dealing
OEThe intended purpose of the sentence is to describe two things that Mr. Iqbal did at the meeting: First, he described some problems that he had faced in adapting to a new business climate, and, second, he outlined the actions he had taken in order to handle those problems. To make sense, the sentence must place these two things in parallel. The sentence should also specify that Mr. Iqbal himself took the actions described, rather than that they simply were taken (by some unknown actor).
(A) CORRECT. This sentence properly places Mr. Iqbal's two actions ("described" and "outlined") in parallel. The past perfect verbs "had experienced" and "had taken" are appropriately used for two actions that had been completed by, but still had a tangible effect on, the situation described in the sentence. The phrase "in adapting" is properly used to describe problems that Mr. Iqbal had experienced in the process of adapting to the regulations, and the phrase "to deal" is properly used to describe the goal or intent of Mr. Iqbal's subsequent actions.
(B) This sentence places "adapted" in parallel with "described" and "outlined." Not only does this construction illogically suggest that Mr. Iqbal adapted to his new country's business regulations during the meeting itself, but it also removes the modifier from the verb "experienced," resulting in a sentence that no longer provides a context for the problems that Mr. Iqbal experienced. In addition, the passive form "had been taken," while not grammatically incorrect, fails to convey that Mr. Iqbal himself took the actions described.
(C) This sentence places "in outlining" in parallel with "in adapting" -- illogically suggesting that Mr. Iqbal experienced significant problems not just in adapting to the new regulations, but also in talking about his resultant actions.
(D) This sentence places "outlining" in parallel with "adapting." As a result, the second item reads: "Mr. Iqbal described the most significant problems he experienced while outlining several actions…" This meaning is illogical. Mr. Iqbal outlined certain actions he had taken; he did not discuss problems he encountered while in the act of outlining his actions. Moreover, the past participle "taken," while not grammatically incorrect, fails to convey that Mr. Iqbal himself took the actions described.
(E) "With which" is unidiomatic: people take actions (they don't "take with" actions); the correct idiom is actions (that) he had taken.