OG12 / 111

[necromancer_678]

Construction of the Roman Colosseum, which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, was completed a decade later, during the reign of Titus, who opened the Colosseum with a one-hundred-day cycle of religious pageants, gladiatorial games, and spectacles.

a) which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian,
b) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and

c)which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and
d) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater and begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian it
e) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, which was begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and

C is the right option in the following question...but "which" would refer to "construction" in this case as we have an "of" i.e. a preposition after the noun construction.
Please elaborate.

[bharathh]

which clearly refers to the noun just before it ... Colosseum esp due to the comma.

I narrowed my choices down to A and C due to this.. but picked A as I felt the and was unnecessary. What is the role of the conjunction "and" here?

[tom4lax]

Construction began in AD 69 AND was completed a decade later

Construction began in AD 69, was completed a decade later

First option makes more sense

[kbharadwaj.1987]

Dude, are you sure it's C.
I seriously feel it's A.
Look it up.

[hmboy17]

It should be C. As was is not underline part we need AND in the sentence. With AND you see correct parallelism "began in A.D. 69 AND was completed"

[bharathh]

Ok. I understand now.

Construction ... began in ... and was completed ...

Without the and the sentence is wrong as we have two clauses

Oh well better to make mistakes now than when it counts. Hopefully I will remember this.

[farooq]

Why not B?

[Stacey Koprince]

Received a PM asking me to reply. This is an OG question (and we're not supposed to post or discuss these online), so I won't address the question directly, but I will address a comment that the original poster made:

but "which" would refer to "construction" in this case as we have an "of" i.e. a preposition after the noun construction.

I think you've slightly misunderstood the lesson. It is NOT the case that, just because there is a prepositional phrase after a noun, the first noun is automatically the modified noun.

Rather, IF there is a noun followed by an essential description (typically accomplished via a short prepositional phrase), then it is POSSIBLE for that first noun to be the main noun to which the following noun modifier applies. But this does not have to be the case - it could still be the case that the noun right before the comma (that is, the noun in the prepositional phrase) is the modified noun.

The presence of a short, essential descriptor simply makes the sentence more flexible. The default is to assume that the immediately preceding noun is the modified noun, unless that flexibility exists, in which case the main noun could be the modified noun. This is an exception - it does not happen that often.

[PussInBoots]

Sorry for bringing this thread from archive, but what's wrong with option B?

edit: begun vs began, got it. F!@#king irregular verb sneaked in