Question

Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.

• A. The army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
• B. Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, was protected in his afterlife by an army of terra-cotta warriors that was created more than 2,000 years ago by 700,000 artisans who took more than 36 years to complete it
• C. It took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
• D. More than 2,000 years ago, 700,000 artisans worked more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
• E. More than 36 years were needed to complete the army of terra-cotta warriors that 700,000 artisans created 2,000 years ago to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

The army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete

Here, the sentence begins with a modifier 'rivaling the pyramids of Egypt...' and so because of the modifier 'rivaling' the first noun after the comma should be modified. Logically, 'the army of terra-cota warriors' should be modified - these terra-cota warriors rivaled the pyramids of Egypt or the ancient cities of the Maya. Apart from A, all the rest of the options do not befit the context. 'Qin Shi Huang' (placed right after the comma sfter achievement) in option B did not personally rival the pyramids of Egypt. The 'it' in C is also inappropriate as its unclear what it refers to. 'More than 2000 years ago' is another modifying phrase and the subject after it is '700,000 artisans'- it seems illogical for 'rivaling' to modify 700,000 artisans in option D. In option E, the subject 'more' is modified which is again incorrect. Therefore, the logical answer is option A.