<ol>
<li>Whereas the participating candidates described the debate as vigorous,** to some members of the audience it seemed **downright hostile.</li>
</ol>
<p>I chose C.</p>
<p>C. and it seemed to some members of the audience.</p>
<p>But the answer says:
A. to some members of the audience it seemed</p>
<p>2 problems with “C.” It makes the sentence grammatically incorrect with the use of the conjunction “and” (the sentence is expressing 2 different perspectives, not one single viewpoint), and “vigorous” and “hostile” are not synonymous. They have 2 different meanings of course, and using “and it seemed…” intimates that the audience members agree that it was vigorous (lively), by instead using the term “hostile” which they do not, and which has a different meaning.</p>