The ancient Roman aqueduct is reported ______ by severe seismic activity during the fourth century AD.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. to have been damaged
- Step 1: Passive reporting verbs like 'is reported' require a perfect passive infinitive ('to have been + past participle') when referring to past events. This indicates that the damage occurred centuries prior to the present reporting. Answer: to have been damaged. Why not the others: "having been damaged" uses a participle instead of the mandatory infinitive complement after passive reporting verbs; "to be damaged then" uses present infinitive, falsely denoting simultaneous damage rather than historical occurrence; "being damaged badly" uses a gerund participle phrase which is syntactically invalid following 'is reported'.
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