改错题 17.When more and more factories move out of the cities each year, manufacturing jobs, historically the first step into the job market for the urban poor, have become fewer and fewer.

A、 When more and more factories move out of the cities each year, manufacturing jobs, historically the first step into the job market for the urban poor, have become fewer and fewer.
B、 At the time that more and more factories move out of the cities each year, manufacturing jobs, historically the first step into the job market for the urban poor, become less and less.
C、 When more and more factories move out of the cities each year, then manufacturing jobs historically the first step into the urban poor's job market, become less and less.
D、 Since more and more factories have moved out of the cities each year, manufacturing jobs, historically the first step into the urban poor's job market, have become less and less.
E、 As more and more factories move out of the cities each year, manufacturing jobs, historically the first step into the job market for the urban poor, become fewer and fewer.

【正确答案】 E

【答案解析】Verb form; Diction
The verb tenses of the sentence should match. When more and more factories move out dictates that the verb predicated of manufacturing jobs should be become, not have become. For have beome to be correct, the sentence would need to begin with When more and more factories have moved out. Some of the answer choices incorrectly have less and less; because manufacturing jobs are countable, fewer and fewer is correct (as it is in the underlined portion of the sentence).
A Have become is incorrect. The tense should match that in when more and more factories move out, thus, become would be correct.
B This version of the sentence is unnecessarily wordy (e.g., at the time that) and incorrectly uses less and less rather than fewer and fewer.
C This version of the sentence incorrectly uses less and less rather than fewer and fewer. The use of then after the first comma is unnecessary and unidiomatic.
D This version of the sentence incorrectly uses less and less rather than fewer and fewer.
E Correct. The verb become has the same tense as the phrasal verb move out and fewer and fewer is correct.
The correct answer is E.