Horace Mann's leadership methods and his areas of reform - the separat

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

B

To make things simpler, ignore the phrase between the dashes. So, to abbreviate: "Mann"s methods and his areas of reform was as radical. . . " When two nouns are combined with the word "and", they become plural, so the verb should be plural. That eliminates (A) and (C).

(B)'s verbs make sense. "Were" is plural and past-tense, reflecting the reference to "his own time". "They are" is correct as well - "they" refers to the methods and areas of reform, while "are" is present tense, as it refers to "our" time.

(D) is incorrect: the past perfect tense ("had been") is only correct when there are two separate events in the past. There is only one reference to the past ("his own time") in the sentence. (E) is incorrect, since "have been" is present perfect, while "his own time" should be in the past. Choice (B) is correct.