<p>pg 724 #14.</p>
<p>Writing about people whose circumstances
A B
were deplorable, Dickens used the novel to protest
C D<br>
social conditions in Victorian England. No error
E </p>
<p>Shouldn't the answer be A (writing about) instead of E. He is not currently writing, he is dead! I think it should say "Having written".</p>
<p>I'm sorry, that I cannot align the letters but A refers to "writing about" and that's all you really have to know.</p>
<p>I don't think so - the gerund ("-ing" form) can be used with the past as it was done here. "Having written" is also correct I believe. However, since the focus is on whether there is an error, regardless of if there is another correct way of writing the sentence, and there is no error in "A" or any others, "E" is correct.</p>
<p>I'm trying to find a web page I used as a reference that could explain this in a better way, but unfortunately I can't find it. If I come across it anytime soon I'll post.</p>
<p>It's true that "writing" is a present participle - but in dependent clauses, the tense of a participle refers to time relative to the verb of the main clause. So "writing" isn't present in the sense of "at this very moment," but present in the sense that it was occurring at the same time he used the novel to protest.</p>