Tense and Comma

[phodde]

3. 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)
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

My choice C. I do not have the Official Answer. PLs discuss

In E, the tense is wrong. "has begun two years ago".
In B, for upgrading is not correct
In C, I feel that there should be a comma after effort

An effort, begun two years ago, to upgrade....is starting to save...

Without a comma C looks like,

An effort begun two years ago to upgrade the health care of children
is starting to save---Does it become a run on sentence

Pls help me with this...

Thanks

[shatanjay]

I don't think A is a run-on sentence. You need two IC joined with a , to create that.
In A the meaning is not clear. C fixes that by keeping related words together. ( effort was begun 2 years ago, not the health care of children). One request please don't post the answers without allowing sufficient time for discussion.

[charu_mulye]

Eliminate B and D. (effort for and effort at are unidiomatic.)
If E had read "an effort that has been begun", it would have been correct.

"effort to " is idiomatic.
I agree with you that C must have comma before begun.

A is wrong as to what begun two years ago is not clearly conveyed.

IMO C

[phodde]

Even if E has "has been begun", I think it is still wrong tense. We need simple past tense with "two years ago".

Anyviews?

[charu_mulye]

If writer of the sentene intended to write simple past, he would have used "began" not "begun".

Somebody has begun an effort to do something.. (perfect tense In active)
An effort has been begun to do something.. (Here who is doing the effort is not important -- perfect tense In passive)

effort started two years ago and is still continuing..

[phodde]

Thanks Charu for explaning. But, please bear with me and answer a few more qs...

In C, we use just "begun". Is it wrong. Should we use "began"

My views, to summarize:

1. Effort began two yrs ago (Simple Past, OK)
2. Effort begun two yrs ago (Begun is past participle, Is it OK to use in simple past). If this is not OK, then C cannot be the answer.
3. Effort has begun two years ago (We cannot use present perfect with "two years ago". I am quite sure of this)
4. Effort has been begun two years ago (Again present perfect in passive voice, but still present perfect. Can't use with "two years ago")

For C to be the answer, we need a comma after effort

Effort, begun two years ago. In this case, ", begun..." is a participial phrase modifying effort. THen it is clear and correct.

Anyway, I found similar Q's in 1000SC. This is more clear and have a comma in the correct answer. Does anyone want to guess the Official Answer?

1. An attempt to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, begun almost two decades ago, has been unsuccessful despite efforts by many important groups, including the National Organization for Women.
(A) to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, begun almost two decades ago,
(B) begun almost two decades ago, for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment
(C) begun for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment almost two decades ago
(D) at ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, begun almost two decades ago,
(E) that has begun almost two decades ago to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment

Pls discuss further for clarity.

[beatit]

Rule 1: The effort was begun 2 years ago. Try to have "two years" as close to the effort as possible to bring out the correct meaning.
Eliminate A,D.
"has begun two years ago"? Wrong tense structure.
effort for is unidiomatic

Pick C.

For the 1000SC question, my pick is A. "attempt to" is idiomatic.

[phodde]

So beatit, you agree that C as is written is correct even without the comma.

Without a comma C looks like,

An effort begun two years ago to upgrade the health care of children
is starting to save

A is right for the similar Q from 1000SC.

Guys...pls help me understand this...very imp.

[charu_mulye]

Here in both the cases past participle is only used as adjective modifying noun. Modifying phrases should be set of by comma.

Participle should be used in two ways:
1) as adjective or
2) in perfect tenses

Participle can NOT be used in simple past.
I agree that perfect tense is not required here.