Sentence Correction

Reporting that one of its many problems had been the recent extended sales slump in women's apparel, the seven-store retailer said it would start a three-month liquidation sale in all of its stores.
(A) its many problems had been the recent
(B) its many problems has been the recently
(C) its many problems is the recently
(D) their many problems is the recent
(E) their many problems had been the recent

I know the an answer is A , and also the explanation tense wise as given in the OG Verbal guide. However the confusion is regarding the use of recent .
even if recent modifies sales slump whats wrong in it ? [/spoiler]

Experts,
can someone please explain why A is wrong and the other options are incorrect? Coz i find B and C as equally competitive.

Thanks in advance...

Hi,
recent - adjective (modifies noun/pronoun)
recently - adverb (modifies verb,adjective,adverb,clause,sentence)
'slump(noun)' is modified here. So, we use recent(adjective).

one doubt, if we use recent then noun (sales slump) is modified BUT how can something be "extended" and "recent". Extended means something that started early and then extend

vikram4689 wrote:one doubt, if we use recent then noun (sales slump) is modified BUT how can something be "extended" and "recent". Extended means something that started early and then extend

Hi,
Let's say there was sales exhibition planned for 2 days. Because the response was high, it has been extended for 1 more day and it was over sometime back, say yesterday. So, if we talk about it now, can't we say recent extended exhibition?

Can any expert please reply to this thread and help understand the meaning error occurring due to to recent/recently?

Thanks in advance

shobhitk wrote:Can any expert please reply to this thread and help understand the meaning error occurring due to to recent/recently?

Thanks in advance

the recently extended sales slump
Here, recently (adverb) serves to modify extended (adjective).
HOW was the sales slump extended?
It was extended RECENTLY.
A reader might construe the following meaning:
That A SHORT TIME AGO, the retailer purposefully EXTENDED the sales slump.
Not the intended meaning.

the recent extended sales slump
Here, recent (adjective) serves to modify sales slump (noun).
What KIND of sales slump?
The RECENT sales slump.
This is the intended meaning: that the SALES SLUMP took place A SHORT TIME AGO.