Directions: The following question presents a sentence, part of which or all of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.

The Audubon Society and other conservation groups, concerned over what they have perceived to be the serious threatening of the environment as posed by the policies of the government, are preparing for a major political effort.

E is correct because it uses the present tense 'perceive' to match the current state of concern, and 'perceive X as Y' is idiomatic. 'The serious threat to the environment' is more concise and natural than 'the serious threatening of the environment as.' A uses the present perfect 'have perceived' which is awkward and incorrect, and 'threatening...as' is unidiomatic. B changes to simple past 'perceived' when present tense is needed to show ongoing concern, and is still wordy. C incorrectly uses 'perceive being' which is not idiomatic. D uses the continuous 'are perceiving' which is unnecessarily verbose and has the same 'threatening...as' error as A.