2 quick grammar questions

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<ol>
<li>Many ancient Eastern rulers favored drinking vessels made of celadon porcelain (because of supposedly revealing the presence of poison) by cracking.</li>
</ol>

<p>For the question above I narrowed the choices down to two:</p>

<p>D) for it was supposed to reveal that there is poison
E) because it was supposed to reveal the presence of poison</p>

<p>The correct answer is E.
Is D wrong because of the "there" part?</p>

<p>My second question is is "tendency to" an idiomatic expression?
Are there any variations of it? Like tendency for (don't know if its right) ?
Is "tendency to" the only idiomatic expression?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<ol>
<li>The verb changes from “was” to “is”</li>
</ol>

<p>Yes. “tendency for” + verb is unidiomatic.</p>

3

<p>D is more awkward. Sentence correction requires the best answer, not only the most grammatically correct one. You add an unnecessary dependent clause.</p>

<p>I guess you can say I had a “tendency for (noun)” but its mainly verbs so the infinitive form is better.</p>