vivektripathi wrote:
The artist Renoir’s last word was “flowers,” spoken as they arranged a bouquet of roses
just picked from his garden in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.
A. as they arranged a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden
B. as a bouquet of roses had been just picked from his garden and was being
arranged
C. as a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden was being arranged
D. during the arrangement of a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden
E. while they arranged a bouquet of roses that had just been picked from his garden
You can't rely on shortcuts (like, "being is usually wrong"); but there are very quick ways to eliminate the wrong answers here!
A. as they arranged a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden
"They" has no referent (i.e., no word to which "they" refers appears in the sentence).B. as a bouquet of roses had been just picked from his garden and was being
arranged
Indeed, the past perfect ("had been" -- the past perfect of the verb 'be') should be used ONLY to indicate the deep past, that is, the history, relative to a specified point in time already in the past.
Thus, you would NOT need the past perfect in a sentence like this:
Ex. I drank coffee before I ate breakfast. (This all one time frame.)
But you WOULD need the past perfect in this sentence:
Ex. I had drunk so much coffee that by 4 a.m. I was still wide awake.
In this sentence the picking and arranging happen in the same time frame, so the tense should be the same if both verbs are used.C. as a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden was being arranged
TIP: "BEING" IS CORRECT WHEN DESCRIBING A PROCESS. SO IF YOU CAN INSERT "IN THE PROCESS OF" BEFORE THE "BEING" AND WIND UP WITH A SENSIBLE SENTENCE, THE "BEING" IS CORRECT!
Ex.
Correct: The skyscraper (in the process of) being built downtown is ugly.
Incorrect: Sue, being a student at NTU, is a hard worker. (She is not in the process of being a student; she is just a student.)
D. during the arrangement of a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden
TIP: ALWAYS READ PAST THE UNDERLINED PORTION! Doing so will save you more time than you would think. At least 30% of the SC questions contain an important tip in the portion of the sentence following the underlined portion. It will only take you a maximum of 10 sec to read, and on 3 out of 10 problems, doing so will save you an extra minute or two.
Notice that right after the underlined portion is a prepositional phrase ("in a vase"). "In a vase" modified (i.e. describes) "arranged", not "garden", so the last word in the answer you chose should be "arranged".E. while they arranged a bouquet of roses that had just been picked from his garden
Same problems as A and D.More on 'being' and modifiers in SC Lesson 4 at gmaxonline!
Best,
Sarai