Some of the most significant buildings of the early Scottish Celtic pe...
Some of the most significant buildings of the early Scottish Celtic period have long since been destroyed by the time the Middle Ages had ended.
Meaning Analysis
- Some of the most significant buildings of the early Scottish Celtic period have long since been destroyed
- by the time the Middle Ages had ended.
The sentence says that by the time the Middle Ages came to an end, some of the most important buildings of the early Scottish Celtic period had already been destroyed.
Error Analysis
1) Use of the present perfect tense verb “have… been destroyed” is incorrect because this action took place in the past and was over before a certain point in the past (i.e. by the time the Middle Ages ended).
2) Use of the past perfect tense “had ended” is incorrect because the buildings disappeared before the Middle Ages ended. Hence, the correct verb tenses should be “had been destroyed” and “ended”.
Answer Choices
A
Some of the most significant buildings of the early Scottish Celtic period have long since been destroyed by the time the Middle Ages had ended.
Incorrect: This choice has the errors stated in the error analysis.
B
By the time the Middle Ages ended, some of the most significant buildings of the early Scottish Celtic period had long since been destroyed.
Correct:
This is the correct answer choice as it corrects both the verb tense errors of the original sentence.
C
Having long since been destroyed by the time the Middle Ages ended, the early Scottish Celtic period had some of the most significant buildings.
Incorrect:
1) The opening verb-ing modifier “having…” illogically modifies “the early Scottish Celtic period”, suggesting that the period was destroyed long ago. The buildings were destroyed, not the period.
2) This choice changes the focus of the sentence. As per the original sentence, the main point is that some of the most important Scottish Celtic buildings were destroyed long back. As per this choice, the main point is that the early Scottish Celtic period had many buildings.
D
Some of the most significant buildings of the early Scottish Celtic period long since destroyed by the time the Middle Ages had ended.
Incorrect:
1) There is no verb for the subject “some of the most significant buildings.” Note that “destroyed” is a verb-ed modifier in this choice since it describes what happened to the buildings. It is not an action that was performed by the buildings.
2) This choice repeats the past perfect tense error found in Option A.
E
Some of the most significant buildings of the early Scottish Celtic period, by the time the Middle Ages had ended, these had long since been destroyed.
Incorrect:
1) The subject “Some of the most significant buildings of the early Scottish Celtic period has no verb.
2) The demonstrative pronoun “these” is used incorrectly. It should be followed by the noun that it refers to.
3) This choice retains the “had ended” verb tense error of Choice A.