Çözüldü Sentence Improvement - Time Consistency - Tense Agreement

Because Lucy was furious, she speaks loudly.

A) she speaks
B) and speaking
C) and she spoke
D) as she spoke
E) she spoke

Correct Choice: E (she spoke)
Official Explanation:
The underlined segment of the sentence contains the subject of the sentence, Lucy, and the verb speaks. By using speaks, a verb in the present tense, rather than spoke (past tense), or will speak (future tense), or some other tense of the verb, the writer intends to convey the fact that the action is taking place at the present time.

A basic rule of English grammar is that the tense of verbs in a sentence must remain logically consistent. For example, it is nonsense, to say Mike walked to school after he gets out of bed, but it is perfectly acceptable to say Mike walked to school after he got out of bed.

Choice A uses speaks, a present tense verb. The sentence, however, begins in the past tense, saying that Lucy was furious. The shift from past to present tense makes the sentence incorrect. Choice A, therefore, is not a good answer.

In choice B, the phrase and speaking makes little sense because it has no grammatical connection to the words Because Lucy was furious.

Choice C has another kind of problem. The words Because Lucy was furious suggests that the rest of the sentence will explain what happened as a result of Lucy’s anger. But the words and she spoke fail to do that.

Choice D is wrong because it has the same problem as choice C. In addition, as she spoke turns the construction into a sentence fragment—an incomplete sentence.

Choice E is the best answer because the verbs was and spoke are both in the past tense, and she spoke loudly accurately describes what happened when Lucy lost her cool.

Writing Workbook for the New SAT
https://z-library.sk/book/808741/413945/writing-workbook-for-the-new-sat.html
Page 134 (140 in the pdf file)