1000 Sc Q#66

[demigodkv]

66. After the Arab conquest of Egypt in A.D. 640, Arabic became the dominant language of the Egyptians, replacing older languages and writing systems.
(A) became the dominant language of the Egyptians, replacing older languages
(B) became the dominant language of the Egyptians, replacing languages that were older
(C) becomes the dominant language of the Egyptians and it replaced older languages
(D) becomes the dominant language of the Egyptians and it replaced languages that were older
(E) becomes the dominant language of the Egyptians, having replaced languages that were older


IMO: A
OA: anyone??

[paes]

Please underline the SC properly.

I am not sure what you are asking from.

For me also

IMO A

[Krabhay]

We cant use simple present tense here as the event clearly happened in past. So, C,D and E are eliminated.
By assigning the modifier 'that were older' only to the languages, B excludes writing systems from the purview of oldness and thus implies that Arabic wiped of all writing systems, whether older or not. The text, however, meant that it replaced both older (languages and writing systems.) This is a meaning defect in B.
Hence, a is the answer.