Used until the end of the Second World War,
the German army employed the U-boat to attack both military or civilian watercraft.
A. the German army employed the U-boat to attack both military or
B. the U-boat was employed by the German army to attack both military and
C. the U-boat employed the German army to attack both military or
D. the German army had employed the U-Boat to attack both military and the
E. the U-boat has been employed by the German army to attack both military and also
OFFICIAL SOLUTION:
The original sentence uses the introductory adjective modifier “used until the end of the Second World War”; The U-boat, the subject of the modifier, should immediately follow the modifying phrase. Additionally, the expression “both military or civilian” is unidiomatic; the correct idiom is “both military and civilian.”
(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.
(B) CORRECT. The noun “U-boat” properly functions as the subject of the modifying phrase. Additionally, the idiomatic “both military and civilian” is properly used at the end of the sentence.
(C) This choice changes the intended meaning of the original sentence to one that is nonsensical. The U-boat, a boat, cannot “employ the German army” to do anything. Furthermore, the “both military or civilian” construction is unidiomatic.
(D) This choice incorrectly uses “the German army” as the subject of the introductory phrase. Additionally, this choice creates a verb tense error by unnecessarily switching to the past perfect “had employed” and a parallelism error by using the “both military and the civilian” construction.
(E) This choice uses the present perfect tense “has been employed,” incorrectly indicating that U-boats are still used by the German army. Furthermore, the “both military and also civilian” is unidiomatic.
_________________