Those who have climbed the Brecon Beacons have typically seen countles

Ans:A
(A) seen countless stars in the clear Welsh sky, with different colors that mark-correct
(B) see countless stars in the clear Welsh sky, whose different colors mark--wrong verb
(C) been seeing countless stars in the clear Welsh sky, whose different colors are markers of-been seeing wrong
(D) been able to see countless stars in the clear Welsh sky, with different colors marking-wordy
(E) seen countless stars in the clear Welsh sky, marking by different colors-climbers do not mark

Experts' Global Official Explanation:

Meaning + Parallelism + Verb Forms + Modifiers

Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that those who have climbed the Brecon Beacons have typically seen stars with different colors that mark the stars’ age and type.

• “who/whose/whom/which/where”, when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.
• The introduction of present participle (verb+ing- “marking” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.
• The present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.
• The present perfect continuous tense (marked by “has/have been”) is used to refer to actions that started in the past and continue into the present.
• Statements of universal fact are best conveyed through the simple present tense.

A. Correct. This answer choice correctly uses “with different colors that mark…” to modify “stars in the clear Welsh Sky”, conveying the intended meaning of this sentence- that those who have climbed the Brecon Beacons have typically seen stars with different colors that mark the respective stars’ age and type. Further, Option A correctly uses the simple present tense verb “mark” to refer to a statement of universal fact.

B. Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses “whose different colors mark…” to modify “sky”, incorrectly implying that the different colors of the sky mark the age and type of the stars; the intended meaning is that the countless stars in the Welsh sky have different colors that mark the age and type of the respective stars; please remember, “who/whose/whom/which/where”, when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.

C. This answer choice incorrectly uses “whose different colors are markers of…” to modify “sky”, incorrectly implying that the different colors of the sky mark the age and type of the stars; the intended meaning is that the countless stars in the Welsh sky have different colors that mark the age and type of the respective stars; please remember, “who/whose/whom/which/where”, when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the present perfect continuous tense verb “have…been seeing” to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present, and the present perfect continuous tense (marked by “has/have been”) is only used to refer to actions that started in the past and continue into the present.

D. Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses the present participle (“verb+ing”) “marking” to refer to a statement of universal fact; remember, statements of universal fact are best conveyed through the simple present tense. Further, Option D incorrectly uses the present perfect continuous tense (rather than present perfect tense) verb “have…been able to see” to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present, and the present perfect continuous tense (marked by has/have been) is only used to refer to actions that started in the past and continue into the present.

E. This answer choice incorrectly uses the present participle (“verb+ing” - “marking” in this sentence) to refer to a statement of universal fact; remember, statements of universal fact are best conveyed through the simple present tense. Further, Option E alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “marking by different colors…”; the use of the “comma + present participle (“verb+ing” - “marking” in this case)” construction incorrectly implies that the action of marking the age and type of the star is a result of those who climb the Brecon Beacons seeing countless stars; the intended meaning is that those who have climbed the Brecon Beacons have typically seen stars with different colors that mark the stars’ age and type; please remember, the introduction of present participle (“verb+ing” - “marking” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

A is the best answer choice.

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