A famed alchemist in the early sixteenth century,
Paracelsus' contributions to modern science included the rudiments of
what later became toxicology as well as the name of the element zinc.
A famed alchemist Paracelsus
A question about the great Paracelsus.
We have quite a variety in the underlined sections. We would like either a modifier or a verb to identify Paracelsus as "a famed alchemist in the early sixteenth century." Let's look at the choices:
(A) A famed alchemist in the early sixteenth century, Paracelsus' contributions to modern science included
This one uses an appositive phrase, but it incorrectly labels not Paracelsus himself, but Paracelsus' contributions, as the famed alchemist. This is logically incorrect.
(B) Paracelsus's famous alchemical contribution to modern science in the early sixteenth century included
This one tries to do too much all at once. We want to say that Paracelsus himself was a famous alchemist, not label his contributions as both "famous" and "alchemical." This changes the meaning too much. Also, it has a misplaced modifier: "modern science in the early sixteenth century." This one is a disaster: it is not correct.
(C) Paracelsus was a famed alchemist in the early sixteenth century including in his contributions to modern science
The first part is perfectly correct: it correctly identifies Paracelsus. But the phrase "including in his contributions to modern science" is awkward and indirect. If all the other answers are completely incorrect, we might settle for this, but we hope there's a much more direct and clear choice.
(D) Paracelsus, a famed alchemist in the early sixteenth century, his contributions to modern science included
This choice has the structure [noun][modifier][noun][verb] -- there's no proper connection between the first noun and the second noun, between the first noun and the verb, etc. This is grammatically incorrect.
(E) Paracelsus, the famous early sixteenth century alchemist, made contributions to modern science, including
This starts with a noun & appositive phrase, and the structure correctly identifies the man himself as the famous alchemist. Then we get a very direct and active verb structure "Paracelsus … made contributions to modern science": the core of the sentence has a clear, concise, efficient structure. Then simple modifier, "including", introduce the rest of the sentence. This is powerful, sleek, and elegant. This is by far the best possible answer.
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