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Whats the answer?

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by gmatrant » Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:35 pm
Several financial officers of the company spoke on condition that they not be named in the press reports.

A. that they not be named
B. that their names will not be used
C. that their names are not used
D. of not having their names
E. of not naming them

OA is C while I chose answer as [spoiler]A.(isnt this subjunctive)[/spoiler]
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by yxhh2008 » Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:07 am
I pick up A
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yeah

by maverick2007 » Wed Nov 07, 2007 5:41 pm
I go with A too.
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by yxhh2008 » Wed Nov 07, 2007 5:56 pm
oh, the OA is C, can someone explains why use "are not used"? how to use "on condition that"?
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by Danielle » Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:16 pm
It can't be A because "they" is ambiguous -- could be referring to either the company or the specific people who spoke. Same reason why E can't be correct. So you should be choosing between B, C, and D. B is in future tense, and the example sentence is in past tense, so that can't be right. D is wrong because the idiom goes "on the condition that..." The best answer is C.

I sympathize with everyone picking A though, because this one is hard, and none of the answer choices given are the way I would have corrected the sentence.
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by gmatrant » Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:50 pm
Danielle wrote:It can't be A because "they" is ambiguous -- could be referring to either the company or the specific people who spoke. Same reason why E can't be correct. So you should be choosing between B, C, and D. B is in future tense, and the example sentence is in past tense, so that can't be right. D is wrong because the idiom goes "on the condition that..." The best answer is C.

I sympathize with everyone picking A though, because this one is hard, and none of the answer choices given are the way I would have corrected the sentence.
Danielle,
how can 'they' refer to 'the company', isnt 'the company' singular... hmm..quite confused.
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by Danielle » Wed Nov 07, 2007 9:36 pm
Sorry, the word company is singular in American English and should be treated that way grammatically. However, sometimes a company is referred to in vernacular English as "they". That however, does not signify, just trying to explain how I read it.

My bad. Thanks for catching that G'rant.
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by yxhh2008 » Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:40 am
it seems that the only way to explain why A is wrong is that the useage of subjunctive mood after "on condition that" is wrong, ha?
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by Danielle » Fri Nov 09, 2007 10:35 am
The subjunctive mood is not the best way to express the meaning of the sentence. I was looking at it (again), and it occured to me that "to name" someone can mean several things:

1) that you actually bestow a name on them (ex: you were lucky to be named after your father)

2) that you mention, identify, or accuse someone (ex: Richard was to clever to be named as one of the thieves)

Maybe it's also that answer A is somewhat ambiguous in meaning. Answer C is clearing saying that names would be not be used in the reports, where answer A uses the "be named" construction, which has more than one meaning.
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by yxhh2008 » Sun Nov 11, 2007 7:16 am
thank you, Danielle
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Re: Whats the answer?

by dingo001 » Sun Nov 11, 2007 7:35 pm
gmatrant wrote:Several financial officers of the company spoke on condition that they not be named in the press reports.

A. that they not be named
B. that their names will not be used
C. that their names are not used
D. of not having their names
E. of not naming them

OA is C while I chose answer as [spoiler]A.(isnt this subjunctive)[/spoiler]
My problem with A, is "that they", who is they.. is that the missing modifier press reporter?

I chose C, 'condition of X' idiom too
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by john83.amar » Tue Sep 02, 2014 6:12 am
My guess was A, but official answer is C. Can anyone explain why A is wrong?
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