smashingpumpkins
Psychologists now contend that the way adults think and feel
are determined as much by their peers in early childhood than by their parents.
(A) are determined as much by their peers in early childhood than by their
(B) are determined as much by peers in early childhood as do their
(C) is determined as much by their early childhood peers as by their
(D) have been determined by childhood peers as much as their
(E) was determined as much by one’s peers in childhood as by one’s
I'll toss in my 2¢ here.
As has been pointed out above, the subject "
way" is singular, so the verb must be singular. Choices
(A) &
(B) &
(D) have plural verbs, so they are incorrect.
There are two major problems with
(E)(1) the sentence is in the present --- the topic is about
"the way adults think and feel", which is a present and ongoing phenomenon. More to the point, the sentence explicitly uses the word "
now" --- the use of the past tense verb "
was" is incongruous with this.
(2) We are talking about "
adults", a plural antecedent. The proper pronouns are "
they" and "
their". Choice
(E) uses the pronoun "
one's". Insofar as it behaves as a pronoun, "
one" has to be singular. It is most often used as an indefinite singular, but certainly cannot follow a plural antecedent.
This leaves
(C) as the only possible answer.
Mike