Sentence Correction

At Tuesday's press conference Ms. Franco, who headed her country's antiterrorism committee for eight years, criticized airlines for simply banning items that had already been used in prior hijacking attempts without making a significant effort or anticipating the means of future attempts.

A) who headed her country's antiterrorism committee for eight years, criticized airlines for simply banning items that had already been used in prior hijacking attempts without making a significant effort or anticipating

B) the former head of her country's antiterrorism committee for eight years, criticized airlines that had banned items simply used in prior attempts at hijacking and had not made a significant effort to anticipate

C) the former eight-year head of her country's antiterrorism committee, criticized airlines simply for banning items that had already been used in hijacking attempts and made no significant effort in anticipating

D) who headed her country's antiterrorism committee for eight years, criticized airlines for simply banning items used in prior hijacking attempts and making no significant effort to anticipate

E) who had for eight years headed her country's antiterrorism committee, criticizing airlines that had simply banned items already used in previous hijacking attempts, made no significant effort at anticipating

OAD

Please explain each options.

Hi Experts ,

Please share your thoughts on this.

Many thanks in advance.

Kavin

Needgmat wrote:At Tuesday's press conference Ms. Franco, who headed her country's antiterrorism committee for eight years, criticized airlines for simply banning items that had already been used in prior hijacking attempts without making a significant effort or anticipating the means of future attempts.

A) who headed her country's antiterrorism committee for eight years, criticized airlines for simply banning items that had already been used in prior hijacking attempts without making a significant effort or anticipating

B) the former head of her country's antiterrorism committee for eight years, criticized airlines that had banned items simply used in prior attempts at hijacking and had not made a significant effort to anticipate

C) the former eight-year head of her country's antiterrorism committee, criticized airlines simply for banning items that had already been used in hijacking attempts and made no significant effort in anticipating

D) who headed her country's antiterrorism committee for eight years, criticized airlines for simply banning items used in prior hijacking attempts and making no significant effort to anticipate

E) who had for eight years headed her country's antiterrorism committee, criticizing airlines that had simply banned items already used in previous hijacking attempts, made no significant effort at anticipating

OAD

Please explain each options.

A) Logic problem: items that had already been used in prior hijacking attempts without making a significant effort The items didn't make a significant effort? No good.

B) Logic problem: the former head of her country's antiterrorism committee for eight years She was the former head for eight years? Does that mean she had the job, stopped working for eight years (during which she was the former head) and then took the job again? More likely, the writer wishes to convey that she was the head for eight years, not the former head for eight years. No good.

C) Even worse: the former eight-year head

D) Looks okay. Note the parallel construction (parallel terms in red): criticized airlines for simply banning items used in prior hijacking attempts and making no significant effort to anticipate

E) Here we have the construction: Ms. Franco, modifier, modifier, predicate. Remove the modifiers and we have the main clause Ms Franco made no significant effort at anticipating the means of future attempts. But it isn't Ms. Franco who didn't anticipate these attempts. She's criticizing the airlines for not making these attempts. E is out. The answer is D.

A) Logic problem: items that had already been used in prior hijacking attempts without making a significant effort The items didn't make a significant effort? No good.

B) Logic problem: the former head of her country's antiterrorism committee for eight years She was the former head for eight years? Does that mean she had the job, stopped working for eight years (during which she was the former head) and then took the job again? More likely, the writer wishes to convey that she was the head for eight years, not the former head for eight years. No good.

C) Even worse: the former eight-year head

D) Looks okay. Note the parallel construction (parallel terms in red): criticized airlines for simply banning items used in prior hijacking attempts and making no significant effort to anticipate

E) Here we have the construction: Ms. Franco, modifier, modifier, predicate. Remove the modifiers and we have the main clause Ms Franco made no significant effort at anticipating the means of future attempts. But it isn't Ms. Franco who didn't anticipate these attempts. She's criticizing the airlines for not making these attempts. E is out. The answer is D.

Hi David ,

Thank you so much for your explanation.

Just a couple of quick question.

1) In Option B the usage of past perfect had banned and had not made is right? If yes or no, then please explain.

2) In OA can you please explain COMMA+WHO?

Please explain.

Many thanks in advance.

Kavin

Needgmat wrote:

A) Logic problem: items that had already been used in prior hijacking attempts without making a significant effort The items didn't make a significant effort? No good.

B) Logic problem: the former head of her country's antiterrorism committee for eight years She was the former head for eight years? Does that mean she had the job, stopped working for eight years (during which she was the former head) and then took the job again? More likely, the writer wishes to convey that she was the head for eight years, not the former head for eight years. No good.

C) Even worse: the former eight-year head

D) Looks okay. Note the parallel construction (parallel terms in red): criticized airlines for simply banning items used in prior hijacking attempts and making no significant effort to anticipate

E) Here we have the construction: Ms. Franco, modifier, modifier, predicate. Remove the modifiers and we have the main clause Ms Franco made no significant effort at anticipating the means of future attempts. But it isn't Ms. Franco who didn't anticipate these attempts. She's criticizing the airlines for not making these attempts. E is out. The answer is D.

Hi David ,

Thank you so much for your explanation.

Just a couple of quick question.

1) In Option B the usage of past perfect had banned and had not made is right? If yes or no, then please explain.

2) In OA can you please explain COMMA+WHO?

Please explain.

Many thanks in advance.

Kavin

My take on the use of past perfect in this case is that it's problematic but debatable. In the phrase, criticized airlines that had banned items , it sounds as though the ban was complete by the time the airlines were criticized. (We use the past perfect to indicate an action completed in the past before another past tense action.) That doesn't seem to be the intended meaning, as there's no indication that the ban has expired. On the other hand, one could argue that the ban was implemented before the airlines were criticized. Anytime I'm able to generate an opposing argument for a given usage, I'll look for something that feels a little more definitive. (Note that there are other problems with B, in addition to the one I mentioned in my earlier post. For example, the placement of the modifier "simply" is illogical, as it makes as sound as though the items were used in a simple manner. All it takes is one definitive problem to eliminate an answer choice.)

As for your other question, we have Ms. Franco, who headed her country's anti-terrorism committee... So there's our subject, Ms. Franco, and then a relative clause (who headed....) that logically modifies Ms. Franco.