Sentence Correction

571. Over five thousand years ago, archaeologists have discovered that Mesopotamian cooks were preparing chicken with coriander and tamarind, just as Egyptian cooks are still doing today.
(A) Over five thousand years ago, archaeologists have discovered that
(B) Over five thousand years ago, archaeologists had discovered that
(C) Archaeologists have discovered that, over five thousand years ago,
(D) Over five thousand years ago, as archaeologists have discovered it,
(E) Archaeologists have discovered, over five thousand years ago, that


Hi,
The correct answer is C)....BUT....
all of them did not look to me correct due to tense.... Can we use "over500 years ago" and have pp or had pp use at the same time???
Also, why C) is better than A)??

The right answer is C because you can omit the sentence between commas (ellipsis) C) Archaeologists have discovered that, over five thousand years ago,

in A the meaning is changed since it seems to indicate that archeologists have been discovering this fact during (over) 5 thousand years ago

Thank you.

So, I can just ignore the sentence between commas.

One more question...

But the only diference between C) and E) is the placement of "that" - dose it make any difference?

Over five thousand years ago, archaeologists have discovered that Mesopotamian cooks were preparing chicken with coriander and tamarind, just as Egyptian cooks are still doing today.
(A) Over five thousand years ago, archaeologists have discovered that
(B) Over five thousand years ago, archaeologists had discovered that
(C) Archaeologists have discovered that, over five thousand years ago,
(D) Over five thousand years ago, as archaeologists have discovered it,
(E) Archaeologists have discovered, over five thousand years ago, that

A - Misplaced modifier
B - same problem
D-wordy and confusing
E - again misplaced modifier
C- correct choice

You need "that" befor ethe commas

I am confused between C n E .. Please explain the usage of ' that '

Thanks,
Iwill

C: archaeologists have discovered recently that, over 5000 ys ago, M were cooking as E are doing even today.

E: seems to mean archeologists have been discovering something over a span of 5000 years that M were cooking as E are doing even today

"that" describes what has been discovered by the archaeologists

I really do not understand why A is incorrect.
it does not change the meaning.
That modifies Mesopotamian.
I think C is wrong one.
when that modify something, it should reside next what it modify
Any guru help?

Over five thousand years ago, archaeologists have discovered that Mesopotamian cooks were preparing chicken with coriander and tamarind, just as Egyptian cooks are still doing today.
(A) Over five thousand years ago, archaeologists have discovered that
(B) Over five thousand years ago, archaeologists had discovered that
(C) Archaeologists have discovered that, over five thousand years ago,
(D) Over five thousand years ago, as archaeologists have discovered it,
(E) Archaeologists have discovered, over five thousand years ago, that


This is a typical question on the prepositional phrases..
Even the prepositional phrases modify the noun or the verb or the subject depending on the sentence...
In option A ,"over the five thousand years ago" modifies archaeologists. It means that archaelogists have been doing this discovery or trying to discover this since five thousand years which is not the intended meaning of the sentence...


IN Option C, "over five thousand years ago" modifies "Mesopotamian cooks were preparing" which is exactly the intended meaning of the sentence...

Prepositional phrases should be closer to the thing or the part it modifies in the sentence...

Hence the correct answer is C and not A....

Hope this helps, if yes then you can thank me;;.