Like most of my strategies for RC, I approach this SC question with "what is the intended meaning of the statement?" Clearly, the author is trying to explain what some theory says about something related to the universe. If you take a "meaning" approach, you need to make some assumptions, in this case about the subject at hand: properties of the universe.

A) began properly modifies "the universe" and "AND has been" properly modifies "the universe", if we understand the intended meaning, we know that the author wants to tell us that the universe is, in fact, STILL expanding. Thus, "the universe" is properly modified.

B) An initial assesment cannot rule out that "had begun" correctly modifies "the universe", but as we read further we notice that "AND had been expanding" inproperly modifies the universe such that the meaning now is "whatever happened THEN is not happening NOW". As we are using a "meanings" strategy, and we know that what this option implies is NOT the intended meaning of the sentence, we know that this option is wrong.

C) "beginning of" modifies "the universe" in such a way that it focuses the sentence around the universe's specific point of inception. Have this in mind as you read the rest of the sentence. "that has expanded" wrongly omits AND, thus "that has expanded" modifies "an explosive instant" and NOT "the universe", and clearly this goes against the intended meaning of the sentence. Also, "that has expanded" uses past tense in the wrong way anyway, given the intent of the sentence. All in all, C) specifically focuses on the inception of the universe and explains an explosion that is related to the inception, this is not the intended meaning of the author.

D) The usage of "to have been" makes it seem as if the beginning of the universe actually was an explosive instant.. This is not the intended meaning of the author. The universe began in an explosive instant but the beginning in itself was NOT an explosive instant. Also, the option once again omits "AND", thus "is expanding" modifies instant and not universe.. This is wrong according to the intended meaning of the author.

E) "to have begun" is not the correct way to modify "the universe", since universe is singular and not plural. If we're going to use such an expression, we use "HAD begun". So this answer choice is faulty from a gramatical point of view and not necessarily a "meanings" POV.

The widely accepted big-bang theory holds that the universe began in an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since.
A. that the universe began in an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago and has been expanding
B. that the universe had begun in an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago and had been expanding
C. that the beginning of the universe was an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago that has expanded
D. the beginning of the universe to have been an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago that is expanding
E. the universe to have begun in an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago and has been expanding

Intended meaning:
Big bang started some time in distance past and universe expansion is still continue...
A. correctly demonstrates the meaning.
B.had been expanding...means expansion is over...Incorrect.
C.has expanded...means expansion is over...Incorrect.
D.illogically suggests that beginning is expanding, not the universe....Incorrect.
E.have begun and has been expanding are not parallel....Incorrect.
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Hi JarvisR,

Thanks for posting your doubt.

Yes, a relative pronoun modifier can very well modify a noun in a prepositional phrase, and this construction is way too common in official sentences.

Well, in choice D, "that" may refer to "an explosive instant" as well. But both the modifications lead to illogical meaning.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
SJ
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Answer: A
A. that the universe began in an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago and has been expanding
Uses correct tenses "began" and "has been expanding"
B. that the universe had begun in an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago and had been expanding
had begun is ok but had been expanding is wrong, you cannot use past tense to something that is still happening
C. that the beginning of the universe was an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago that has expanded
i think this one is pretty easy to eliminate
D. the beginning of the universe to have been an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago that is expanding
easy to eliminate
E. the universe to have begun in an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago and has been expanding
easy to eliminate

Also, should the right wording be --> The widely accepted big-bang theory holds THAT the universe began in an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago and THAT IT has been expanding ?
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The Universe is still expanding = YES

So the correct tense form will be "is/has" +"Expanding"

B,C, are out. Both uses wrong tense. had been expanding & has expanded

A,D,E remaining.

D is out because it says "explosive instant that is expanding"....wrong the universe is expanding. "That " is incorrectly modifying "explosive instant" rather than "universe". D also has passive voice. Not preferred when you can use a concise active voice.

E is out because of passive voice. Past participle "to have begun" can be avoided .
Option A remains which is perfect and error free
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Hi dear,

*and has been expanding ever since* is not an independent clause since it does not include any independent subject.

What happened here is actually parallelism:A conjugated verb can be paralleled(begun) with another verb (has been expanding)without referring to its referent(As you said,""it" in order to refer to the universe") again

It is logical to say first the universe begun(in the past) and it has been expanding ever since then

Thanks
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Sentence Correction-Collection of Ron Purewal's "elliptical construction/analogies" for SC Challenges

The widely accepted big-bang theory holds that the universe began in an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since.

theory.......holds
universe........began and has been expanding

'that' is used as a connector here.
The subject universe has two verbs and are in different tenses but are correct as they logically convey the sequence of the events.

Universe began and since then it has been expanding. This means that the event is not over as the universe is still expanding and will continue to do so.

No error.
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Someone please explain usage of that in this sentence