Source: Knewton In a shock to those who still lived under

Question

Source: Knewton

In a shock to those  who still lived under the impression that investments are closely monitored, a financial security group recently discovered a loophole for enabling a scammer to gain access to transactions made by a leading investment bank so that this person will be aware of any major deals that a corporation had made  before these deals are announced to the public

(A) who still lived under the impression that investments are closely monitored, a financial security group recently discovered a loophole for enabling a scammer to gain access to transactions made by a leading investment bank so that this person will be aware of any major deals that a corporation had made

(B) who had still been living under the impression that investments are closely monitored, a financial security group recently discovered a loophole for enabling a scammer to gain access to transactions made by a leading investment bank so that this person was aware of any major deals that a corporation might have made

(C) who still were living under the impression that investments are closely monitored, a financial security group recently discovered a loophole enabling a scammer to gain access to transactions made by a leading investment bank so that this person will be aware of any major deals that a corporation had made

(D) still living under the impression that investments are closely monitored, a financial security group recently discovered a loophole that enables a scammer to gain access to transactions made by leading investment banks so that this person is aware of any major deals that a corporation might make

(E) still living under the impression that investments had been closely monitored, a financial security group recently discovered a loophole that will enable a scammer to gain access to transactions made by leading investment banks so that this person was aware of any major deals that a corporation might make

imania · Answer

is there anyone to elaborate this case?

PTK · Answer

I will provide explanation further.

prab · Answer

this is a tough one, so here is my explination.
a.'for enabling' seems awkward. 
b. same as a
c.still were living is wrong.
d. correct
e. will enable -- wrong tense.

hope i'm correct.

elevinty · Answer

what I did is that I quickly eliminated any option that has past perfect tense at the end of the sentence, so I was left with B and D.
I eliminated B because of the past perfect at the beginning of the sentence (who had still been living) that means they are not in a shock anymore which contradicts the meaning of the sentence. That leaves D

daagh · Answer

Reasoning: The clue here is the word  “still” . When you say  still , then you can’t use past tense such as  “still lived ,” and “ still were living ” or past perfect such as “ still had lived ” While the general tenor of the sentence is present tense as you may see in the un-underlined part of the sentence, such use of past tenses are clear shifts of tense. . Therefore we can instantly eliminate A, B and C; between D and E, how can we reconcile with the awkward use of “ was aware  of any major deals that a corporation  might make ” – a past tense with a future tense. D is the only choice with a semblance of proper tense usage, although it would have been still better to say-“a financial security group  has recently  discovered a loophole that enables a scammer – thus maintaining the essence of the preset tenseness through out.

Conclusion: D is the best among the choices.

Source: Knewton In a shock to those who still lived under

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