The Final days of marie, for most of her life regarded to be egregiously sly and selfish exploitative,were endured with unexpected dignity and remorse.
a) The Final days of marie,for most of her life regarded to be egregiously sly and selfish exploitative,were endured
b) for most of her life regarded to be egregiously sly and selfish exploitative,marie's final days were endured
c) marie,for most of her life regarded as egregiously sly and selfish exploitative, endured her final days
d) marie,being for most of her life regarded egregiously sly and selfish exploitative, endured her final days
e) being for most of her life regarded as egregiously sly and selfish exploitative, marie endured her final days
This question is based on Modifiers and Idiomatic Usage.
The options give us the choice between the phrases ‘regarded as’ and ‘regarded to be’. The phrase ‘regarded as’ is idiomatically more appropriate.
The sentence contains a subject – Marie – and a verb -endured.
We also get three pieces of information – the final days, for most of her life regarded as egregiously sly and selfish, and with unexpected dignity and remorse. The appropriate option is the one that puts the information in place with the subject and verb.
Option A contains the idiomatically inappropriate expression ‘regarded to be’. Furthermore, the placement of the modifier causes ambiguity as it is not clear whether the modifier is modifying Marie or the final days. So, Option A can be eliminated.
In Option B, the modifier - for most of her life regarded to be egregiously sly and selfish exploitative – is placed immediately before the subject “Marie’s final days”. The apostrophe and ‘s’ after Marie makes final days the subject of the modifier. Since the sentence becomes illogical, Option B can be eliminated.
In Option D, there is no conjunction after the verb ‘regarded’, making the expression incomplete. This option also contains the redundant participle ‘being’. So, Option D can be eliminated.
The participle ‘being’ is redundant in this option also. So, Option E can also be eliminated.
In this option, the modifier is appropriately placed after the subject “Marie”. This option also contains the idiomatically appropriate phrase ‘regarded as’. Therefore, C is the best of all the options.