658. Some analysts point out that because people are becoming accustomed to a steady inflation rate of four to five percent, businesses found that they could raise prices according to this amount without thereby provoking strong public reaction.

(A) found that they could raise prices according to this amount without thereby provoking
(B) found that they were capable of raising prices by this amount and not provoke
(C) find that they are capable of raising prices by this amount and not provoke
(D) are finding that they can raise prices by this amount without provoking
(E) are finding that they can raise prices according to this amount and will not thereby provoke

Solution:

Parallelism

A and B, wrong tense- “are becoming accustomed”(present continuous) and “found”(simple past). Hence, parallelism is violated.
How can businesses found … before people became accustomed.
In C, people are becoming… businesses find…” violate parallelism.
E is wordy. Moreover, “according to this amount” is awkward.
D maintains parallelism through “people are becoming…businesses are finding…”.
Hence, D is the best choice.


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