Sentence Correction

The Scandinavian assault on western Europe culminated in the early eleventh century with the Danish conquest of the English Kingdom,which other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat,unsuccessfully,later in the same century.

(A) which other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat,unsuccessfully,later in the same century.
(B) which other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later that same century,but not successfully
(C) an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted later in the century to repeat,but were not successful at it
(D) an achievement attempted later in the century by other Scandinavian kings that was not successful
(E) an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later in the century,but without success.

OA:E

Mr. Hunt,

I think E has an elliptical structure.

(E) an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later in the century,but without success.

(E) an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later in the century,but [an achievement that was attempted] without success.

I think this is implied after the "but" = an achievement that was attempted

richachampion wrote:Mr. Hunt,

I think E has an elliptical structure.

(E) an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later in the century,but without success.

(E) an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later in the century,but [an achievement that was attempted] without success.

I think this is implied after the "but" = an achievement that was attempted

Hi richachampion,

I think you are confusing the implication of the word "attempted". If the author has used the word "attempted" and not "achieved" or something more definitely positive in connotation, does not mean that the word "attempted" showcases failure. In the sentence, it could very well have been "an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later in the century, and succeeded in establishing even greater milestones. The idea is that the attempt or the objective of those attempts was to meet those achievements - whether those attempts were successful or not would be mentioned in the later part of the sentence.

Hope this clarifies the doubt.

richachampion wrote:Mr. Hunt,

I think E has an elliptical structure.

(E) an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later in the century,but without success.

(E) an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later in the century,but [an achievement that was attempted] without success.

I think this is implied after the "but" = an achievement that was attempted

I discuss this issue in my posts here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-scandina ... tml#757284