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1000SC #757

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by samyak » Tue Jun 01, 2010 11:03 am
757. The Forbidden City in Beijing, from which the emperors ruled by heavenly mandate, was a site which a commoner or foreigner could not enter without any permission, on pain of death.
(A) which a commoner or foreigner could not enter without any permission,
(B) which a commoner or foreigner could enter without any permission only
(C) which no commoner or foreigner could enter without permission,
(D) which, without permission, neither commoner or foreigner could only enter,
(E) which, to enter without permission, neither commoner or foreigner could do,

OA after few explanations. Can anybody put some light on the proper meaning & usage of "on pain of death"?
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by jube » Tue Jun 01, 2010 11:56 am
I think it should be B.

Pain of death: if you are told to do something on pain of death, you will be killed if you do not do it
from https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/on+pain+of+death

So basically the idiom acts as a deterrent. Nobody was allowed to enter without permission. Doing so (i.e. entering w/o permission) would be on pain of death (i.e. entering w/o permission was punishable by being sentenced to death)
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by asamaverick » Tue Jun 01, 2010 11:57 am
I think the answer is C.
A) 'Without any permission' is incorrect usage, should be 'without permission'.
B) This makes it sound as if it were possible to enter without permission. On top of this use of 'only' and 'without any permission' is incorrect.
C) Correct answer.
D) Use of only is incorrect. Also it is not clear what 'without permission' is modifying.
E) This is an absurd fragment.
The phrase 'on pain of death' means 'with death as the punishment for violation'.
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by tryingtocrack » Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:43 pm
IMO C
Agree with @asamaverick
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by vinay89 » Tue Jun 01, 2010 3:41 pm
I think its B since it means that the only way a foreigner would get in without permission would be if he was threatened to do so.
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by samyak » Tue Jun 01, 2010 11:12 pm
I can see an even distribution of opinions here. Even I opted for B. But OA says it should be C. Can any instructor comment on this?
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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Wed Jun 02, 2010 3:27 am
i think is very simple and concise hence correct "no admission without permission"
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by martin.jonson007 » Thu Jun 03, 2010 5:11 am
C
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by FightWithGMAT » Thu Jun 03, 2010 5:27 am
samyak wrote:757. The Forbidden City in Beijing, from which the emperors ruled by heavenly mandate, was a site which a commoner or foreigner could not enter without any permission, on pain of death.
(A) which a commoner or foreigner could not enter without any permission,
(B) which a commoner or foreigner could enter without any permission only
(C) which no commoner or foreigner could enter without permission,
(D) which, without permission, neither commoner or foreigner could only enter,
(E) which, to enter without permission, neither commoner or foreigner could do,

OA after few explanations. Can anybody put some light on the proper meaning & usage of "on pain of death"?
I go for B
We need to make "on pain of death" better fit to the sentence.
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