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Revised Sentence:
Almost 20 years after Elvis Presley won his third
Grammy for his inspirational performance of the
A B
gospel song How Great Thou Art, the nation
distributed Verb Tense
distributing a postage stamp to pay tribute to him.
C D
No error
E
Correct Answer: (C)
If you read the sentence in its entirety your ear might catch the Verb Tense error, and your eyes should visually
catch the “before” at the beginning of the sentence as a tip-off to past perfect. Let’s check the answers one by one.
(A) “to earn” is an infinitive so let’s switch it to see if it should be a gerund (earning). Definitely
not the fix we need.
(B) “both” lets us know that we need to look for an “and.” We have one: both England AND
America.
(C) “has been” is present perfect. But we are not dealing with an action that floated at no set time
in the past (they give us the specific time period of WWII), and it isn’t an action that continues
on into the present (women now have job opportunities that do not involve the domestic front).
Notice the “before” and check to see that there are two past actions one happening before the
other. Action #1 – the best way to earn a living has been. Action #2 – began working.
Remember that action #1 gets the “had” so has been should be changed to had been.
(D) Check the past tense verb “regarded.” We are in a specific time in the past (before WWII) so
that checks fine. Now check the preposition “as.” Can something be regarded as? Yes!
Before women began working in munitions factoriesduring World War II, the best way for women to earn
A
a living in both England and America has been on the
B C
domestic front with labor regarded as “women’s work.”
D
No error
E