grammar help

<p>1) Jocelyn, my friend (since) junior high school, believes she is (more well suited) to a career in the sciences (than to) the buisness career her parents (have urged her) to pursue.
2) (only) by the after glow of the sunset (could) the hikers find (their) path to the campsite at (so late) an hour. I thought it was could, but that was not the answer.
If you can tell me the reasons behind ur answers, that would be great! Thanks!!</p>

<p>1) Should be “B” - (“better suited”)
2) I think it’s no error - there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with this one…</p>

<p>yup ur right. I thought that could should have been replaced with did</p>

<p>“Could” in fact is already in past tense, and you would not want to change it with “did” because “could” implies that an action WAS ABLE TO BE DONE while “did” implies that the action WAS ACTUALLY PERFORMED. There is no indication in the sentence that tells us that the action was actually performed, therefore, “could” is suitable.</p>

<p>Remember that could = would be able to. You would not say “only by the dark, they did make it” because only implies the modal tense. Rather, one would say “only by the dark would they be able to make it”</p>

<p>hmm, that makes sense. Thanks guys!!</p>