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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
JOURNAL ARTICLE The Social Archaeology of Megalithic Monuments Colin Renfrew Scientific American Vol. 249, No. 5 (November 1983), pp. 152-163 Published by: Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24969036 Page Count: 12
The development of carbon-14 dating caused the complete collapse of the diffusionist view. It was soon learned that the megalithic monuments in several areas of Europe were nearly 2,000 years older than any of their supposed Mediterranean predecessors. Some of the earliest of them, in Brittany, could be dated back to 4500 B.C. There could no longer be any doubt that the monuments, the earliest stone structures still standing anywhere in the world, were of local European origin.
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25 Apr 2008, 08:39
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supposedly=adverb--> modifier to a verb, an adverb, a clause, a phrase, a sentence, an adjective supposed=adjective--> modifier to a noun
As you can see, what comes after "supposed" is a noun and should thus be preceded by an adjective.
However, "supposed" could also be used as a past participle in which case you would have a sentence as follows: You are supposed to eat what I tell you to eat. As you can see, "supposed" here plays the role of a past participle (to be + participle). As such, you will have "supposed" in front of a verb (to eat)
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03 Jun 2007, 23:59
LM wrote:
Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years as old as any of their supposed Mediterranean predecessors.
Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years as old as their supposed Mediterranean predecessors.
Which of the above two sentences is correct and why?
Both sentences are correct.
But the meaning of both sentence is different.
Sentence 1) There may be many predecessors(such as generations) for megalithic monuments and these monuments are compared with any of their predecessor.
Sentence 2) Here monuments are comapred with its immediate predecessor and not all (generations).
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04 Jul 2009, 09:05
skim wrote:
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
I think here ' as old as' makes sense. sentence is trying to say both MM and MP are 2000 years old.
if you use 'older than', then i tmeans MM are as old as MP + 2000 more years. I don't think this is intended meaning here.
'as old as' leaves you A, C and E options.
again 'supposed' vs 'supposedly' ..adverb doesnt go with MP.
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05 Jul 2009, 23:53
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imo c.... D& E are out bcoz we need an adjective to modify noun... camn any one explain how we can make A out... I also think its wrong to use "any of their....mediterranean predecessors" ...comments needed...
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..changes the meaning of the original sentence ...Sentecnce wants to say that both MM & MP are 2000 year old... (C) as old as their supposed ...correct (D) older than any of their supposedly (E) as old as their supposedly
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06 Jul 2009, 09:57
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Dear All,
Great discussion on the question at hand!
The OA is indeed (B).
Here's my personal take:
1. "supposed" correctly modifies the noun "predecessors", whilst "supposedly" is an adverb, and adverbs modifies nearly anything except nouns/pronouns. It follows that "supposedly" cannot modify the noun "predecessors"; therefore (D) and (E) can be eliminated.
2. "as old as" -vs- "older than"
It is my observation that "as old as" tends to be preceded by relation of quantities by multiplication - e.g. Jen is ten times as old as Ken [J = 10 x K]; whereas the usage of "older than" tends to be preceded by quantity specification - e.g. Sue is five years older than Ian [S = 5 + I] The answer choice fits the latter scenario; hence the choice is (B).
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16 Nov 2009, 17:57
There are two splits here First split - supposed vs supposedly supposed is an adjective and refers to Mediterranean predecessors supposedly is an adverb and refers to Mediterranean Thus, supposedly distort the meaning
Second split - as old as vs older - as old as any of ... older that any of ... clearly make sense
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03 Oct 2012, 22:40
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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
I understand that since supposed modifies predecessors, the answer should contain supposed. However, how do I choose between "as old as" and 'older than'?
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03 Sep 2013, 23:29
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pprd123 wrote:
Can anybody please explain why can't it be "as old as"? A & B are correct grammatically. B changes the meaning. Why can't the two monuments be equal in age? I thought we were asked to go by the original meaning of the sentence. So I chose A. But I am confused now.
Bro,
When you mention 'twice/thrice' or some multiplication between two quantities as
A * x times = B , then you use 'as Adjective/adverb/OLD/ as'
However, when the sentence mentions a figure 2000 years ,it has to be a addition/subtraction between quantities.
A+2000=B
So the correct idiom is OLDER THAN.
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My doubt is how we could zero on whether we have to use "SUPPOSED" or "SUPPOSEDLY".
Per the sentence we don't know whether the predecessors are MEDITERRANEAN or not.
And as have been said in above posts that MEDITERRANEAN is a noun , I don't agree as it is an Adjective.
So how we decide whether "SUPPOSED" modifies "PREDECESSORS" OR "SUPPOSEDLY" modifies "MEDITERRANEAN".
Plz clarify
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29 May 2014, 09:40
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A. as old as any of their supposed---- Unidiomatic. We can't say that something is nearly 2000 yrs as old as ; rather 2000 yrs older is more correct form.
B. older than any of their supposed --- Correct Answer.
C. as old as their supposed. You cannot linke 2000 years and "as old as
D. older than any of their supposedly -- Adj&Adv error. "Supposedly" is an adverb so as Adverb can modify verb, adjective and adverb. In this question, "supposedly"(Adverb) is modifying "Mediterranean"(Adjective). That results in the change of the meaning i.e. It is saying Mediterranean is supposed, though original sentence is saying that "Mediterranean Predecessor" is supposed.
E. as old as their supposedly -- "Supposedly" is an adverb so as Adverb can modify verb, adjective and adverb. In this question, "supposedly"(Adverb) is modifying "Mediterranean"(Adjective). That results in the change of the meaning i.e. It is saying Mediterranean is supposed, though original sentence is saying that "Mediterranean Predecessor" is supposed.
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17 Dec 2014, 07:54
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cemil1986 wrote:
does not "older" change the meaning? older means exactly older, while "as old as" means at least same age or older
[*]"I am as old as you" means I am the same age as you [*]"I am at least as old as you" means I am the same age as you or older (now the addition of "at least" allows it to also mean older) [*]"I am older than you" means that I am older
Basically, whenever we do a comparison with the "as ... as" construction, we are saying that they are the same. We can modify this with "at least" or something else as seen above, but the base of the comparison is similarity. If we want a difference, we use "... than".
Here, we give the number 2,000. We would never use "as old as" with a set number, because "as old as" means that two things are being compared as the same, whereas the number implies difference (unless we said that one is 2,000 years old and the other is as old as it or something, but we didn't here). Additionally, we are talking about their "predecessors", so we definitely know there is a difference, and no answer includes something like "at least", so we should use "older than" to make a comparison that implies difference.
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09 Mar 2015, 17:49
Choice B is correct.
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 correctly compare "monuments in Brittany" with "monuments of Mediterranean predecessors" fail to express the intended meaning of the comparison, "monuments in Brittany" older than "monuments of Mediterranean predecessors"
B. older than any of their supposed Correct. correct the errors in choice A
C. as old as their supposed wrongly compare "monuments in Brittany" and "Mediterranean predecessors"
D. older than any of their supposedly adverb "supposedly" wrongly modify "predecessors"
E. as old as their supposedly incorrect for reasons mentioned in choice A and choice D
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05 May 2015, 12:43
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The monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years older than those that had previously been dated. Thus, the issue in not whether these monuments are Mediterranean. They are. Rather, the issue is whether the previously dated monuments are actually predecessors. Therefore, the adjective supposed in answer choice B correctly describes the noun predecessors, whereas in choice D the the adverb supposedly incorrectly describes Mediterranean.
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03 Nov 2016, 11:54
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closed271 wrote:
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
I understand that since supposed modifies predecessors, the answer should contain supposed. However, how do I choose between "as old as" and 'older than'?
Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years older than any of their supposed Mediterranean predecessors.
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58% (00:45) correct 
