Though renowned by 19th century US generals for their tactic

vinni.k wrote:Though renowned by 19th century US generals for their tactical prowess and tenacity in battle, few people are now aware that the Apache had already established a fearsome military reputation after their successful 17th century attacks on the Spanish settlements of Sonora.

a) few people are now aware that the Apache had already established
b) few people are now aware that the Apache have already established
c) it is worth noting that the Apache already established
d) the Apache had earlier established themselves
e) the Apache, as few people now realize, had already established

OA is E

What do you think about this question ?

In this case, the non-underlined portion - "Though renowned by 19th century US generals for their tactical prowess and tenacity in battle" - acts as an adjectival phrase, i.e., something that describes a noun . The noun after the comma should answer the question of "Who/what renowned by 19th century US generals for their tactical prowess and tenacity in battle?". Hence we must have "the Apache" as the subject immediately after the comma. Eliminate A, B, and C - "few people" and "it" were not renowned for their tactical prowess.

Between D and E, the sequencing of events is illogical in D - the Apache had earlier established themselves. We want to say that the Apache, although renowned by the 19th century for.., had established a fearsome military reputation after the 17th century attacks. "Earlier established" distorts the original meaning of the sentence - this means that the Apache had "earlier" established a fearsome reputation but they were not recognized by the nineteenth century, and they do not have a fearsome reputation today. Eliminate

This leaves us with option E which has the correct subject after the descriptive phrase and provides the correct sequencing of events:

E - the Apache, as few people now realize, had already established - Correct

Hope this helps.