Visitors to the park have often looked up into the leafy canopy and saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs hang like socks on a clothesline.
- (A) saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs hang
- (B) saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs were hanging
- (C) saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, with arms and legs hanging
- (D) seen monkeys sleeping on the branches, with arms and legs hanging
- (E) seen monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs have hung
What does this question test?
This question tests your knowledge of verb tenses and the concept that helping verbs are not necessarily repeated before every verb in a list of verbs. It also tests your understanding of noun modifiers. Noun modifiers such as relative pronoun modifiers modify the nearest noun.
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What does the sentence mean?
This sentence states what visitors to the park have often seen. They have looked up and seen monkeys sleeping on the branches. The arms and legs of these monkeys hang like socks on a clothesline.What are the errors in the original sentence?
- Clause 1: Visitors to the park have often looked up into the leafy canopy and saw monkeys sleeping on the branches,
- Clause 2: whose arms and legs hang like socks on a clothesline.
Error 1: Verb Error: Clause 1 has a list of two verbs as shown below:
- Element 1: have looked
- Element2: saw
Ideally, it makes sense for “have” to apply to second verb “saw” as well since both actions happen at the same time – look and see. Thus, the correct form of element 2 should be – have seen. To express this, we may either write have only once prior to “looked” or we repeat have before both verbs.
Error 2: Modifier Error: The relative pronoun modifier “whose arms and legs…” appears to modify the closest noun – branches, when it should modify the verb – monkeys.
Answer Choice Analysis
Choice B – Same errors as choice A.
Choice C – Same verb tense error as choice A. This choice has corrected the modifier error. Now the modifier is no longer one that modifies the noun. The modifier “with arms and legs hanging…” modifies the action “sleeping on branches”.
Choice D – No error.
Choice E – Same modifier error as Choice A. Also verb tense of whose clause is incorrect. The present perfect tense is not correct.
What are the key takeaway messages?
- In a list of verbs, verb tenses must be same unless otherwise required to express sequencing of verbs.
- The relative pronoun modifiers modify the closest noun.
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