That educators have not anticipated the impact of microcomputer technology can hardly be said that it is their fault: Alvin Toffler, one of the most prominent students of the future, did not even mention microcomputers in Future Shock, published in 1970

(A) Same
(B) That educators have not anticipated the impact of microcomputer technology can hardly be said to be at fault
(C) It can hardly be said that it is the fault of educators who have not anticipated the impact of microcomputer technology
(D) It can hardly be said that educators are at fault for not anticipating the impact of microcomputer technology
(E) The fact that educators are at fault not anticipating the impact of microcomputer technology can hardly be said

According to OG - the correct answer is (C) but I didn't pick (C) due to the following:

1. In the original sentence, the verb tense of the first clause is present perfect while the verb tense of the non-underlined part is the past tense.
2. While in (C) the verb tenses changes to present continous.

I have been told that one shouldn't change the verb tense of the original if needed. Please help!!

Thanks

The correct answer is D, not C.

In any given sentence, we don't change verb tenses UNLESS the meaning of the sentence indicates that the verb tense should change. So, I wouldn't say "I went to the store and will buy some milk" because nothing there justifies switching from past to future. I could say "I went to the store but they were out of milk, so I will go again tomorrow." Now, the meaning of the sentence justifies the tense change.

This problem says, essentially, that it isn't fair to say something is someone's fault today, because another person in the past who was touted as a good predictor of the future also failed to recognize this thing. Notice, in my sentence, how I switch from present to past.

Also, the other answer choices here all have other grammatical errors.
A) should say "hardly be said to be their fault"
B) same as above
C) pronoun - what does "it" refer to?
E) so jumbled I don't know where to start! :)

_________________
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director of Online Community
ManhattanGMAT