Explanation Plzz..

[akashrg]

Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years as old as any of their supposed Mediterranean predecessors.

(A) as old as any of their supposed
(B) older than any of their supposed
(C) as old as their supposed
(D) older than any of their supposedly
(E) as old as their supposedly




OA is B

[ikant]

Hi,

It is pretty simple. The idea that the sentence reflects is that Brittany monuments are older by 2000 yeras than the Mediterranean ones.

So the structure as.. as is not right as it is used to reflect equality and not comparison.

The suave and simple way is to use the comparative degree which is older.

[akashrg]

why is option D wrong?

[ikant]

Hello,

supposedly is an adverb. For an adverb you need a verb, adjective or another adverb to modify.

In the sentence you have a noun and hence it makes d wrong

[camitava]

Guys, I think, iKant has given a very good explanation and the explanation he gave to dismiss the option D is quite correct. In one word, I am agree with iKant.

[Stuart@KaplanGMAT]

Ikant is right, here's bit more info:

an adverb can modify a verb, adverb or adjective.

In this sentence, the only possible target for supposedly is "Mediterranean". However, the author isn't questioning whether the monuments are Mediterranean, she's questioning their age. Therefore, "supposedly" doesn't make sense in this sentence.

"Supposed", on the other hand, is an adjective, and properly modifies "predecessors".