Sentence Correction

Native American burial sites dating back 5,000 years indicate that the residents of Maine at that time were part of a widespread culture of Algonguian-speaking people.

A. same
B. had been part of a widespread culture of people who were Algonquian-speaking
C. were people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking
D. had been people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking
E. were a people which had been part of a widespread, Algonquian-speaking culture

I had a difficult time to pick up the answer. None of them seemed right to me. Eventually I picked C, but OA is A.

The part that confuses me is that, in original sentence, it says "residents...were part of a culture of certain people". And I thought residents should be part of certain people, who are Algonquian-speaking.

However, in the OA, explanation for choice C says "Algonquian-speaking should refer to people, not culture."

So can I say "English-speaking culture"? And residents are part of a culture?

Source: OG Verbal Review, SC section question 3.

you are right in thinking residents were part of people. "a widespread culture of Algonguian-speaking" modifies people here, so "people" needs to be as close as possible to this modifier.

pakaskwa wrote: The part that confuses me is that, in original sentence, it says "residents...were part of a culture of certain people". And I thought residents should be part of certain people, who are Algonquian-speaking.

However, in the OA, explanation for choice C says "Algonquian-speaking should refer to people, not culture."

So can I say "English-speaking culture"? And residents are part of a culture?

in the original sentence "culture" is used in the sense of a tribe or a demographic group. so it makes sense when it says : the residents were part of this bigger group/culture of alongquian speaking people.

we can say english-speaking culture, here culture is used to mean a practice or a custom