Sold over the counter

[saira]

Hey Ahmed
Could u pls post "Official Answer" for this question .
I feel it should be "B" bcos , it establishes a contrast between past and the present.
d and e appear to have pronoun reference error. what does they refer to ?
really need help in decoding this.
thanks
saira

[noonnoon]

I would go with D. Everything else seem to have misplaced pronoun. What is Official Answer

IMO E

I think D uses the wrong tense. We need past simple tense here. In E, it's not participial construction so we can use the different subject which refers to Cocaine.

[Otori Takeo]

Hello Noonnoon,

Can you explain more why do we need the simple past here? where did you spot "The Past simple" sense?

I pick E since in D the word "them" is vague...

[noonnoon]

Hi Otori

(d) Although they were selling them over the counter at the turn of the century
(e) Although they were sold over the counter at the turn of the century

I spot from the meaning of the sentence. The selling over the counter of Cocaine is already ended. This sentece emphasizes the result not the process of selling. So we should use the past simple tense. And dont be confused with "NOW" in the sentence because it's different the period of time.

[mr_sriramesh]

Isn't there a confusion of what "they" mean in (E). Does it refer to govt or cocaine? I still stick with D

[sanand]

E.
1. "although" sets the contrast well.
2. "were " agrees with the tense

[Otori Takeo]

Hi Noonnoon,

Thanks, i got your point...

[neeraj1973]

In my opinion E