Who Painted Mona Lisa?

[bruno_torres_gomez]

Source: Advanced SC Homework

In the centuries since painting it, scholars have debated the meaning of the enigmatic smile worn by the Mona Lisa.

a) In the centuries since painting it

b) Ever since painting it centuries ago

c) Ever since the painting was created

d) Since Leonardo da Vinci painted it

e) After the centuries in which Leonardo da Vinci created the painting

oa is c

I chose D, i was wondering, should i have ruled it out because of the "it" pronoun? i was not 100% sure.

[RonPurewal]

Hi,
What is "Advanced SC Homework"? Homework from what source?

Thanks.

[bruno_torres_gomez]

Manhattan GMAT, The question is in the homework from the Advanced Sentence Correction Workshop .

[RonPurewal]

Thanks.

I suppose that's probably the reason why they want (D) to be eliminated, but, in all honesty, that's not a very good reason for elimination.
After all, da Vinci did paint "the enigmatic smile", so the sentence actually makes perfect sense if "it" = enigmatic smile.

The meaning of the sentence is conveyed better by "ever since" (= ongoing process) than by just "since" (= it's happened at least once since then), but that is not a big enough difference to be dispositive.

So, in sum, I wouldn't worry much about this one.