Bunuel wrote:
Until recently, parents whose teenaged child had signed a purchase contract without their written agreement were not liable for the child's debt.
A. without their written agreement were not
B. that they do not agree in writing have not been
C. and they had not agreed in writing had not been
D. without them agreeing in writing had not been
E. without their written agreement are not
Official ExplanationRead the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:This sentence seems to be correct as written. "Until recently" situates the sentence in the past. The past perfect "had signed" is properly used for the event that occurred first, followed by the simple past "were not" to discuss the event that occurred in the more recent past. Keep (A) in mind and quickly review the other choices in case one offers a clearer, more concise version.
Scan and Group the Answer Choices:The verbs at the endings of the choices have a clear split. (A) ends with "were not," (B) ends with "have not been," (C) and (D) end with "had not been," and (E) ends with "are not."
Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:Eliminate (B) and (E). The sentence is describing two past events. The tenses in "have not been" and "are not" change the meaning of the sentence by shifting one event to the present.
Eliminate (C) and (D). These choices both include the past perfect "had not been." In the original sentence, first the child signed the contract, and then the parents were not held responsible. When two past tense events are included in a sentence, only the more distant past event takes the past perfect tense.
(A), which uses the correct tense for both verbs, is the answer.TAKEAWAY: When more than one action takes place in a sentence, make sure the verb tenses place each action in the correct relative time frame.
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