Discovered along the Red Sea coast, the man-made cave that was acciden

Question

Discovered along the Red Sea coast, the man-made cave that  was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year had been decorated using artifacts  belonging to ancient Egypt's sea-faring vessels.

A. was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year had been decorated using artifacts

B. was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year was decorated using artifacts

C. accidentally damaged a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition had been decorated last year with artifacts

D. was accidentally damaged during an unearthing expedition done by a team of archaeologists last year has been decorated using artifacts

E. a team of archaeologists accidentally damaged during an unearthing expedition last year was decorated with artifacts

adstudy · Answer

A. was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year  had been  decorated using artifacts

Explanation -> Tense 'had been' not required here as it was decorated after its accidental damage which means it is the near past and not the distant one. Hence Simple Past Tense will suffice.

B.  was accidentally damaged by a team  of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year was decorated using artifacts

Explanation -> if we read the beginning of the underlined part with the non-underlined part, 'that was accidentally damaged by a team'. It seems a little vague in meaning, as if the sentence wants imply that the accident was planned and was not an accident after all. So rejecting it on the basis of meaning.

C.  accidentally damaged a team of archaeologists  during an unearthing expedition had been decorated last year with artifacts

Explanation -> Changes meaning of the sentence by saying that the team of archaeologists got damaged instead of the cave. Hence rejecting on the basis of meaning.

D. was accidentally damaged during an unearthing expedition done by a team of archaeologists last year  has been  decorated using artifacts

Explanation -> Again wrong tense. We require Simple Past Tense here.

E.  a team of archaeologists accidentally damaged  during an unearthing expedition last year  was decorated  with artifacts

Explanation -> Conveys correct meaning and has the correct tense.

So IMO E

DharLog · Answer

1. We have to understand the sequense of actions and what happened.
As I did it:
There was some man-made cave along the Red Sea coast. It was decorated with the artifacts belongning to ancient Egypt's see-faring vessels.
A team of archaeologists discovered it and accidentally damaged it.

2. Now. Of course there can be the case that this team discovered a cave and then decorated it (option D). This option sounds right. But makes no sense for me. Why did they do so, to show this place to tourists? So D is out.

3. C is out. The simple one. Cave could not damage the team of people of course. It was another way around.

4. E is out. Since we decided the sequence of the events. We need past perfect, not present perfect ("had been decorated, not "has been decorated" and "was decorated")

5. B is out for the same reason. We need past perfect, not past simple ("had been decorated, not "was decorated").

So we are left with A.
Discovered along the Red Sea coast, the man-made cave that was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year had been decorated using artifacts belonging to ancient Egypt's sea-faring vessels.

Frankly speaking, it sounds a little odd to me. But will wait for comments of experts.

sandman13 · Answer

so the sequencing of events as per the intended meaning is as follows:
had been decorated --> discovered and damaged -->
past-perfect past tense
^this makes sense

Discovered along the Red Sea coast, the man-made cave that  was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year had been decorated using artifacts  belonging to ancient Egypt's sea-faring vessels.

A. was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year had been decorated using artifacts
 seems correct; keep 
B. was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year  was decorated  using artifacts
nope
C.  accidentally damaged a team of archaeologists  during an unearthing expedition had been decorated last year with artifacts
modifier error - cave damaged team? nope
D. was accidentally damaged during an unearthing expedition done by a team of archaeologists last year  has been  decorated using artifacts
we're decorating it now? nope
E. a team of archaeologists accidentally damaged during an unearthing expedition last year was decorated with artifacts
construction is too awkward; A is preferable

Answer: A

Edit:
 workout , is my reasoning correct? I couldn't pinpoint the reason I disliked E when I first attempted this question. Can you throw some light on it? Thanks.

Konstantin1983 · Answer

A. Use of "had been" seems incorrecr since two events are not related.
B. Seems good.
C.Changes the meaning
D.Use of "has been" seems wrong since "decoration" is a one-off action and doesn't last anymore.
E. Seems good too.

Ah tough choice between B and E. But E looks better because "with artefacts" is better than "using artefacts"

shekhu · Answer

I chose D,

A. was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year  had been  decorated using artifacts -  means the cave was earlier decorated with artifacts

B. was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year  was  decorated using artifacts - was decorated

C.  accidentally damaged a team of archaeologists  during an unearthing expedition had been decorated last year with artifacts

D. was accidentally damaged during an unearthing expedition done by a team of archaeologists last year has been decorated using artifacts -  correctly conveys the meaning that artifacts were damaged last year and have been decorated using artifacts belonging to ancient Egypt's sea-faring vessel s.

E. a team of archaeologists accidentally damaged during an unearthing expedition last year  was  decorated with artifacts

rachitbechem · Answer

+ 1 for D

Active voice and no redundancy

DharLog · Answer

Four different answers

Only C is out of question. On the second thought. I was completely wrong in my post above. "Was decorated with artefacts" is not an action, it is a attribute of the cave ---> it means that past perfect and present perfect here do not pass. (Thus A, C (anyway), D are out). So our sentence has to sound something like: "The man-made cave decorated with artifacts belonging to ancient Egypt's sea-faring vessels was discovered along the Red Sea during an unearthing expedition last year by the tean of arrchaeologists" Now. Between B and E. I choose E. Discovered along the Red Sea coast, the man-made cave that a team of archaeologists accidentally damaged during an unearthing expedition last year was decorated with artifacts belonging to ancient Egypt's sea-faring vessels Because "using artefacts" points on some action. It is like someone took an artefact (a stick for example) and used it (made a paint for example) to decorate a cave. "with artefacts" means that someone took an artefact (an ancient stick, i do not know) and put in the cave - it makes much more sense. Moreover, we can throw away th middle part of the sentence and all actions seem to be in their place - very good. Discovered along the Red Sea coast, the man-made cave that a team of archaeologists accidentally damaged during an unearthing expedition last year was decorated with artifacts belonging to ancient Egypt's sea-faring vessels E --------------------------------------------- Discovered along the Red Sea coast, the man-made cave that was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year had been decorated using artifacts belonging to ancient Egypt's sea-faring vessels. A. was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year had been decorated using artifacts B. was accidentally damaged by a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition last year was decorated using artifacts C. accidentally damaged a team of archaeologists during an unearthing expedition had been decorated last year with artifacts D. was accidentally damaged during an unearthing expedition done by a team of archaeologists last year has been decorated using artifacts E. a team of archaeologists accidentally damaged during an unearthing expedition last year was decorated with artifacts

shekhu · Answer

Geez, I made a mess of this question. You're right.

Nikhil · Answer

You don't really need to consider "discovered" in the sequence of events as it is just a modifier for man-made cave.

Option A conveys the intended meaning using past perfect to establish the sequence of related events

Sequence of events is lost. Either the cave was decorated(by someone else) before it got damaged or the cave was decorated(by the team of scientists) after it got damaged.

Meaning error.

Option E doesn't clearly specify what was damaged.  sandman13  your reasoning is correct.

Discovered along the Red Sea coast, the man-made cave that was acciden

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