Though the language of Beowulf is practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers, careful linguistic analysis reveals a multitude of similarities to modern English.A. Though the language of Beowulf is practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers, careful linguistic analysis reveals a multitude of similarities to modern English.
B. Despite that it is practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers, careful linguistic analysis reveals that the language of Beowulf has a multitude of similarities to modern English.
C. Though being practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers, the language of Beowulf reveals through careful linguistic analysis a multitude of similarities to modern English.
D. Though Beowulf has a language that is practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers, a multitude of similarities are revealed to modern English through careful linguistic analysis.
E. Despite having practically incomprehensible language to contemporary readers, Beowulf reveals through careful linguistic analysis a multitude of similarities to modern English.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
The opening clause "though the language of Beowulf is practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers," correctly modifies the main clause "careful linguistic analysis reveals a multitude of similarities to modern English." Moreover, all verbs are in the correct tenses and all nouns are properly modified. There are no errors in the original sentence.
(A) CORRECT. This choice is correct as it repeats the original sentence.
(B) This choice begins with the unidiomatic "despite that it." "Despite" must be followed by either a noun ("despite extreme hunger...") or a verb ("despite having been fired..."). It cannot be followed by a relative pronoun ("despite that..."). Moreover, the opening clause seems to modify "careful linguistic analysis," which is the subject of the main clause, creating an illogical meaning (that the analysis is incomprehensible to contemporary readers).
(C) "Though being practically incomprehensible" is wordy; "being" is unnecessary here. Moreover, the main clause seems to imply that "the language of Beowulf" performed the "careful linguistic analysis," thus creating an illogical meaning.
(D) "Though Beowulf has a language that is practically incomprehensible" is wordy. The original "though the language of Beowulf is practically incomprehensible" is more concise. Moreover, "a multitude of similarities are revealed to modern English" seems to imply that the "similarities" were revealed to "modern English" when the correct meaning is that that "similarities to modern English" were revealed.
(E) "Beowulf reveals through careful linguistic analysis" illogically implies that Beowulf carried out the analysis.