sth take sb some time to do sth

[JJJooe]

Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them.

A.
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them
B.
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it
C.
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
D.
700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete
E.
to complete them too 700,000 artisans more than 36 years

IMO, the correct answer is C.

the army of terra-cotta warriors...is...and took...
a verb 'took' should follow the 'and'
so D and E are wrong

and obviously the 'then' and 'it' in A and B are redundant.

so i choose C...but some state that 'sth take sb some time to do 'is a grammar mistake and we can only use 'it takes sb some time to do sth'

is that true in GMAT? thanks![/b]

[kc_raj]

IMHO

, ... is more than 3000 - its talking about singular collective noun army, therefore they and them should be out A, E.

D changes the meaning took 70,000 vs. 70,000 took 36 yrs.

Between B, and C, i think it is needed to refer back to the army,

so B is the answer

[mruzeful]

whats OA?

[JJJooe]

well...friends,actually there is no OA.

but i guess the answer is either B or C, based on whether the 'it' is necessary...

[heshamelaziry]

"IT" is not necessary because the reference is clear that it refers to the army. addit "IT" will sound awkward and redundant.

[capnx]

OA is: b

souce:
https://www.ittestpapers.com/articles/42 ... Page1.html

[m&m]

I searched and found a post at BTG indicating the source as GMAT Prep and OA as C

[JJJooe]

i checked the question source and the OA is actually C, the relatively best choice...

whatever the OA is, an experienced GMATer told me that strictly speaking, the C is also faulty because in the sentence 'the army of terra-cotta warriors' becomes the subject and the '700,000 artisans' play which role of the sentence, the object or the subject? actually '700,000 artisans' is the the subject of the verb 'took'...so i got really confused