An effort to upgrade the health care of children begun two

Question

An effort  to upgrade the health care of children begun two years ago  is starting to save lives in dramatic numbers, according to the executive board of the United Nations Children's fund

A)to upgrade the health care of children begun two years ago
B)begun two years ago for upgrading the health care of children
C)begun two years ago to upgrade the health care of children
D)at upgrading the health care of children begun two years ago
E)that has begun two years ago to upgrade the health care of children

hardworker_indian · Answer

E. 'that' is needed to join two part of sentences. All the other four (I think) are run on sentences.

NEWKID · Answer

Agree .'that' is required. But should 'has' be used in the sentence. I feel C is right. Well, I don't use much logic but go by what sounds right. A bad habit that I have to rectify. :roll:

amitbalan · Answer

i have issues with has begun. I feel it's a Present perfect begun should at a moment of time...it cannot continue... I am going to get a beer

hardworker_indian · Answer

'has' is okay, I think. Use has for anything that started in the past, where a clear time of occurence is not known.

Apparently the effort has begun in the past, so they call it "has begun". There is even a clear hint on time - "two years ago".

"An effort   that  has begun   two years ago  .

NEWKID · Answer

Hardworker Indian,

 

If the sentence was " an effort   that began   two years ago"...Would that have been correct?

Paul · Answer

C is most concise. Although E is grammatically correct, introduction of relative pronoun "that", along with present perfect tense, makes it wordier

hardworker_indian · Answer

May be I am missing something here, but I will explain why I chose E.

1) A and C are the same, except for word re-arrangment.

C = An effort  begun  two years ago to upgrade the health care of children  is  starting to save lives in dramatic numbers, according to the executive board of the United Nations Children's fund 
 I think there are two verbs here for the effort - begun and is starting - and may hence be a run on sentence like all the other three.

2)
E = An effort  that has begun two years ago  to upgrade the health care of children is starting to save lives in dramatic numbers, according to the executive board of the United Nations Children's fund.

that has begun two years ago  - is the relative clause - we removed the double-verb error by sending one verb into the relative clause.

I will modify my explanation from the above quote: 
Use present perfect (Eg: 'has begun') for anything that started in the past, and may continue to happen in the present.
Use past (began) for anything that happened in the past

Paul · Answer

A and C are  not  the same for the reason that the participial phrase is placed after different nouns
A sounds as if it were the "health care of children" which "begun 2 years ago"
C corrects the mistake by putting the participial phrase after "effort" and makes it clear that it is the "effort" which "begun 2 years ago"

crackgmat750 · Answer

For me issue was between B and C.. I picked C
 But the answer given is B. Iam not sure if that is the right answer.
Paul any thought?? Again it's deadly between " to something" and " for something..ing"

amitbalan · Answer

Hey Paul,
Is C not a run on sentence? I picked C but now...hmm...any insights?

Paul · Answer

efforts to + infinitive:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay. ... ubsection=
efforts at + gerund
efforts in + gerund
above are all good
"efforts for + gerund" ... well, I could not find any example supporting this. Since effort to + infinitive is good, I would find no reason why C is wrong. Actually, B sounds very odd to the ear

Paul · Answer

An effort begun two years ago to upgrade the health care of children is starting to save lives in dramatic numbers, according to the executive board of the United Nations Children's fund The portion in red is NOT an independent clause, it is a participial phrase(which cannot stand on its own). Remove it and keep the rest. You will see that it is just 1 smooth independent clause and no running on here :wink:

myfrankenstein · Answer

C for me. 
 C : upgrading ..starting 
E to upgrade + gerund

summer101 · Answer

Can any one explain what is wrong with E?

pqhai · Answer

Hi summer101:

E: that has begun two years   ago   to upgrade the health care of children

Present perfect tense does not go with signal word - "ago".

Hope it helps.

summer101 · Answer

Hey,
Present perfect = something ongoing but which began in the past.

Two years ago signal the start, so why is "ago" wrong?

pqhai · Answer

Hi summer101:

The action "beginning" started 2 years ago, but  the action-beginning cannot prolong for 2+ years . Only the effect of the action remains.
For example, you cannot say: I have begun studying GMAT for 2 years. The correct one is: I have studied GMAT for 2 years.

Moreover, in C, "an effort begun....", begun is Verb-ed modifier, not present perfect tense.

Hope it helps.

VerbalBot · Answer

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An effort to upgrade the health care of children begun two

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