og2016 SC

1. Participles - present and past - are parts of verbs. In the verb IS EATING, there is a present participle that works as part of the verb because (in an actual sentence) it would have a subject, and this subject would be doing the action mentioned: i.e. EATING. Likewise, in the verb HAS EATEN, there is a past participle that works as part of the verb because (in an actual sentence) it would have a subject and this subject would have done the action mentioned: i.e. he or she would have EATEN.

2. Separated from the verbs to which they belong, participles can also function as adjectives. This is what happens in the sentence that you have quoted: FASHIONED works to modify some noun in the sentence, and because the sentence is not correctly constructed, it illogically modifies THE KUSHAN EMPIRE. Thus FASHIONED is not parallel with DATE, because DATE is a verb in the Present Simple tense and FASHIONED is working adjectivally to modify a noun.

3. This is one reason why option E is the correct answer in this question: it is the only one that pairs a verb with a verb: DATE with WERE FASHIONED.

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