In World War I, the West Asia Bureau of the UK’s Foreign Office ...
In World War I, the West Asia Bureau of the UK’s Foreign Office had felt that an operation initiated and funded by external powers supporting the insurgent tribes would be beneficial to the British Empire.
Meaning Analysis
- In World War I, the West Asia Bureau of the UK’s Foreign Office had felt
- that an operation
-
- initiated and funded by external powers
- supporting the insurgent tribes
- would be beneficial to the British Empire.
This sentence tells us that the West Asia Bureau of the UK’s Foreign Office felt that a certain operation would benefit the British Empire. This operation would be initiated and funded by external powers that supported the insurgent tribes.
Error Analysis
The use of the past perfect tense verb “had felt” is incorrect. We don’t need the verb sequencing here since there is no related event from the past mentioned in the sentence.
Answer Choices
A
In World War I, the West Asia Bureau of the UK’s Foreign Office had felt that an operation initiated and funded by external powers supporting the insurgent tribes would be beneficial to the British Empire.
Incorrect:
This choice has the error pointed out in the error analysis.
B
During World War I, the UK Foreign Office’s West Asia Bureau felt that an operation initiated and funded by external powers in support of the insurgent tribes will be beneficial to the British Empire.
Incorrect:
The future tense verb “will” is incorrect in this context since it refers to actions that took place in the past.
C
The West Asia Bureau of the UK’s Foreign Office felt during World War I that an operation initiated and funded by external powers in support of their insurgent tribes would be beneficial to the British Empire.
Incorrect:
There is no antecedent in the sentence for the plural pronoun “their”.
D
An operation initiated and funded by external powers in support of their insurgent tribes was felt by the West Asia Bureau of the UK’s Foreign Office to be beneficial during World War I to the British Empire.
Incorrect:
1) This choice has the same pronoun error as in choice C.
2) The modifier “during World War I” is misplaced. It should modify the action “felt” as intended in the original sentence.
E
The West Asia Bureau of the UK’s Foreign Office felt during World War I that an operation initiated and funded by external powers supporting the insurgent tribes would be beneficial to the British Empire.
Correct:
This choice corrects the error in the original sentence. It changes the past perfect tense verb “had felt” into the simple past tense verb “felt”, which correctly represents an event from the past.