Noting that the price of oil and other fuel components, a major factor in the cost structure of an airline, have risen and will continue to rise, the company management was pessimistic about their outlook for the upcoming quarter.

A) have risen and will continue to rise, the company management was pessimistic about their
B) have risen and will continue to rise, the company management was pessimistic about the
C) will continue to rise, the company management was pessimistic about the
D) has risen and will continue to rise, the company management was pessimistic about their
E) will continue to rise, the company management was pessimistic about their

Please explain why:
1) have (plural) is incorrect. "Isnt the price of oil and other fuel components" a compound subject?
2) why is "have risen and will continue to rise" considered redundant? Arent they two different ideas?[/u]

Sentence talks about price, so it's singular.

What is OA? Is it C?

"Price" is the singular subject. "of oil and other fuel components" is a prepositional phrase; it does not contain the subject. Just because an "and" is in there doesn't mean that you have a compound subject - you actually have to have two nouns in there that both apply to the verb. "other fuel components... have risen" doesn't make sense - the components themselves don't rise.

The redundancy comes with the use of the word "continue." If I just say the price has risen and the price will rise, those are two separate pieces of info. But when I say something will "continue to rise" that means that it has already been rising.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, though. There are other things you can use to narrow this down.

oops, sorry, yes, OA is C.