Step 1 — Read the full sentence:
(a) At last there came a time when the driver went
(b) further afield than he had yet gone,
(c) and during its absence, the horses began to tremble
(d) worse than ever and to snort and scream with fright.
Step 2 — Check part (a):
"At last there came a time when the driver went" — this is grammatically correct.
Step 3 — Check part (b):
"further afield than he had yet gone," — this is also correct, expressing distance and movement properly.
Step 4 — Check part (c):
"and during its absence, the horses began to tremble" — this is where the error lies. The subject is "the driver," which is a person, so the pronoun must be "his" and not "its." Using "its" is incorrect because it refers to non-living things, not a human being.
Step 5 — Check part (d):
"worse than ever and to snort and scream with fright." — this part is correct.
Step 6 — Correction:
Replace "its" with "his."
Corrected part: "and during his absence, the horses began to tremble."
Final Answer:
The correct option is (C) : c.