<p>At the conclusion of the novel Te Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner recently [arrived to] New York, [moodily] [watches] the blinking green light at the [tip of] Long Island.No error. </p>
<p>Why C is right?? Shouldn't it be 'Watched'?</p>
<p>Also he's talking about the novel in which I read each time that the hero is doing the thing in present not past?</p>
<p>Yikes, I’m sorry. I didn’t answer this earlier because I could have sworn I saw another post in your other thread that answered it.
Anyway, this sentence is actually in the present tense. Only “a young Midwesterner recently arrived to New York” is in the past tense, and that’s because it’s explaining an event that happened before the conclusion of the novel.
This sentence COULD be in past tense as well if the writer chose it (so “watched” is not necessarily incorrect); nevertheless, the goal is to identify an error, not to phrase the sentence differently.</p>
<p>Ignore the parenthetical phrase and see it this way:
“At the conclusion of the novel Te Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway moodily [watches] the blinking green light at the [tip of] Long Island.”
“Watches” seems right now, doesn’t it?</p>