Two improving sentence questions help please

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>I don't know how to underline things on this forum so I've put the underlined stuff in capitals.</p>

<p>1) FOR THE PAST hundred years or more, Yellowstone National Park WAS a kind of sociological laboratory IN WHICH North Americans have been exploring THE MEANING OF the national-park concept. NO ERROR</p>

<p>According to the collegeboard book, the answer is "WAS". But I'm not sure why. Is it because the Yellowstone National Park still exists and so you'd have to use something like "HAS BEEN"?</p>

<p>2) AS the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas a Becket assumed AN INDEPENDENCE that was intolerable TO the king, who HAD LONG BEEN his friend. NO ERROR.</p>

<p>The collegeboard book says "NO ERROR" but can somebody explain to me why "AN INDEPENDENCE" is not wrong? </p>

<p>Thanks :)</p>

2

<p>Well, on number 2, can you think of a better way to say it keeping the same general structure of the sentence? I am not a grammer guru, but maybe someone here will post and explain it for both of us.</p>

3

<p>WAS should be HAS BEEN</p>

<p>NO ERROR because everything is correct. AN INDEPENDENCE refers to what Becket assumed</p>

4

<ol>
<li>Remember that FOR, SINCE, etc are signals to a HAS BEEN or HAVE BEEN structure. it certainly means that something has lasted for sometime and will be still existing in the future. hope that can help. good luck</li>
</ol>

5

<p>For the first question, “had been” could also work depending on intended meaning.</p>