Sentence correction

Angela.x361

Despite recent increasesin sales and cash flow that have propelled automobile companies' common stocksto new highs, several industry analysts expect automakers, in order to conservecash, to set dividends more conservatively than they were

A.    to set dividends more conservatively than they were

B.    to set dividends more conservatively than they have been

C.    to be more conservative than they have been in setting dividends

D.    that they will be more conservative than they were in setting dividends

E.    that they will be more conservative than they have been to set dividends

这道题选C，我想问为什么一定要用have been，如果用一般过去时可以吗？是仅仅为了和前面的have propelled 的平行所以只能用have been吗？

guoyilin2015

可以把C改成
to be more conservative than they were in setting dividends
注意AB比较的是they were ()，括号里只能是形容词不能是副词，但前句没有形容词出现
也可以把B改成
to set dividends more conservatively than they did
这样就可以比较副词they did ()

have been应该与have propelled无关。

冰冻焦糖

主要是骗你去纠结have been 和 were，
实际上就像楼上解释的那样，重点是比较的对象要一致

Angela.x361

guoyilin2015 发表于 2015-9-19 10:41
可以把C改成
to be more conservative than they were in setting dividends
注意AB比较的是they were ()， ...

那E为什么不好呢？

guoyilin2015

Angela.x361 发表于 2015-9-21 06:31
那E为什么不好呢？

expect sb to do
expect that

E的结构是Expect sb that they to set
第一sb和they重叠，
第二即使不重叠，to set这里也不能和expect配对了，只能当作目的讲
they are conservative to set dividend
为了（能够）设定股利而变得保守，不符合句子原意

Angela.x361

guoyilin2015 发表于 2015-9-21 06:40
expect sb to do
expect that

终于搞清楚了，赞~~~