An attempt to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, begun almost two deca

Hi All,
An attempt to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, begun almost two decades ago, has been unsuccessful despite efforts by many important groups, including the National Organization for Women.

I would like to begin this post with a word of caution. This sentence is not structured in the most appropriate manner to adhere with the GMAT standards. Many of you may ask and have actually asked that the way verb-ed modifier “begun” has been placed, it can also modify “Equal Rights Amendment”. “begun” is a noun modifier and hence this confusion is unavoidable. So just solve this question and move on.



PoE

(A) to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, begun almost two decades ago,: This is the correct answer choice.

(B) begun almost two decades ago, for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment: Since the purpose of the attempt is to ratify the amendment, we must use to + verb form here. “for ratifying” is not appropriate.

(C) begun for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment almost two decades ago: Same error as in choice B.

(D) at ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, begun almost two decades ago,: Same reason as for choices B and C. “at ratifying” to the show the purpose is not appropriate.

(E) that has begun almost two decades ago to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment: This choice a verb tense issue. Notice the main verb “has been unsuccessful”. This means that the attempt started in the past and showed some result in the present. Hence, present perfect “has begun” is incorrect.

Take this sentence for example: The project that started two years ago has been successful. (Correct)
The project that has started two years ago has been successful. (Incorrect)

We know that the attempt to ratify the amendment has been unsuccessful. Here, we are talking about the attempt that started two years back and now has been unsuccessful.

Hope this helps.
Shraddha