<p>(B) Dating to around 900 B.C., the recently discovered Mexican artifacts that some archaeologists claim display the earliest known writing in the Americas.
(C) The recently discovered Mexican artifacts, which date to around 900 B.C., are claimed by some archaeologists to be displaying the earliest known writing in the Americas. (D) Some archaeologists claim the earliest known writing in the Americas, displayed by the recently discovered Mexican artifacts, dating to around 900 B.C.
(E) Some archaeologists claim that the recently discovered Mexican artifacts, which date to around 900 B.C., display the earliest known writing in the Americas.**</p>
<p>What is wrong with each answer?</p>
<p>I know A is wrong because of a modification error</p>
<p>*As the mayor looked ahead to the next election, she was concerned that she might offend her closest supporters were she to accept measures currently proposed by the opposition.
(A) were she to accept
(B) if she would have accepted
(C) would she have accepted
(D) had she accepted
(E) if she will accept *</p>
<p>Why is each answer wrong?? They all seem fine!</p>
<p>I think right answer is e.
A. sounds like the archaeologists date to 900 BC. Obviously they are not that old.
b. is awkward.
c. “claimed by some archaeologists” sounds awkward as well because the subordinate clause is all screwed up.
d. “displayed by the recently discovered Mexican artifacts” modifies “americas” which shouldn’t be the case.
Hope that helped!</p>
<p>I’m assuming (Dating to around 900 B.C., some archaeologists claim that the recently discovered Mexican artifacts display the earliest known writing in the Americas). is the correct answer.</p>
<p>B, C and D just doesn’t sound right when I read it. E seems like a good answer but “which date to around 900 B.C” makes it too wordy.</p>
<p>a is modification
b is a fragment because the word “that”, makes the sentence not complete. “that some archaeologists claim display the earliest known writing in the Americas” ← this whole thing is describing the word artifacts. Other than that, do you see any main verb? (rhetorical question)
c “to be displaying” is bad writing. that’s the only reason that’s wrong
d this is a fragment too. Some archaeologists claim the earliest known writing in the Americas dating to around 900 B.C. <–that’s obviously not complete when you take off the clause separated by the commas. “dating to around 900 B.C.” you would choose as wrong if only it was underlined.</p>
<p>A’s def right for the next one.</p>
<p>there trying to get at your understanding of verb tenses. “As the mayor looked ahead to the next election” indicates that that she’s thinking about something in the future</p>
<p>a “were she to accept” sounds good
b “if she would have accepted” this makes it sound like she already lost the election lol
c “would she have accepted” same here ^
d “had she accepted” this is in the past talking about something in the future
e “if she will accept” she doesn’t plan on accepting it</p>
<p>It’s hard to explain because they’re not set off by commas like the which ones are. It’s really a logical thing. If you read a bunch of sentences with the word that in it, you’ll get it. It’s something you can refine really quickly.</p>