Sentence Correction

According to some analysts, whatever its merits, the proposal to tax away all capital gains on short-term investments would, if enacted, have a disastrous effect on Wall Street trading and employment.

(A) its merits, the proposal to tax
(B) its merits may be, the proposal of taxing
(C) its merits as a proposal, taxing
(D) the proposal’s merits, to tax
(E) the proposal’s merits are, taxing


Please help

IMO A


A--makes the restrictive clause right
Other have modifier problems

i would go with E



have a disastrous effect on Wall Street trading and employment

pronoun "have" doesnt go with antecedent "proposal" in A

whats the OA??

A B C are incorrect because its is a possessive pronoun and hence subject should be proposal's not proposal.

between D and E

D - to tax is wrong, a noun is required

E is correct because "taxing all........, if enacted, have disastrous" is a gerund phrase

OA is A


But I'm really unable to figure out why D is wrong...
Can some one help me with D?

Is it because in A "its merits" refer clearly to "Proposal of tax merits "

What is the source of this q?

schumi_gmat wrote:What is the source of this q?

1000 SC # 48

srisl11 wrote:OA is A


But I'm really unable to figure out why D is wrong...
Can some one help me with D?

Is it because in A "its merits" refer clearly to "Proposal of tax merits "

only a proposal can be enacted. taxing cant be enacted. so the proposal will have to be the subject.
only A and B have this. B is wordier, shorter is better. hence A

scoobydooby wrote:

srisl11 wrote:OA is A


But I'm really unable to figure out why D is wrong...
Can some one help me with D?

Is it because in A "its merits" refer clearly to "Proposal of tax merits "

only a proposal can be enacted. taxing cant be enacted. so the proposal will have to be the subject.
only A and B have this. B is wordier, shorter is better. hence A

Thank you very much for the explanation,,,,

raunekk wrote:i would go with E



have a disastrous effect on Wall Street trading and employment

pronoun "have" doesnt go with antecedent "proposal" in A

whats the OA??

The verb is " would ... have", not "have" alone.

B should be the answer..

According to some analysts, whatever its merits, the proposal to tax away all capital gains on short-term investments would, if enacted, have a disastrous effect on Wall Street trading and employment.

(A) its merits, the proposal to tax
(B) its merits may be, the proposal of taxing
(C) its merits as a proposal, taxing
(D) the proposal's merits, to tax
(E) the proposal's merits are, taxing

In A, "its merits" is touching "the proposal" making it clear what it refers to.

I believe the correct idiom is: "propose to" therefore eliminating B.

I do not see any similar question in OG. we should focus on OG. However I try

check grammar. No grammar error

check meaning, style

gmat do not want "to do", "doing" to be subject. there is one case gmat permit is "to do is to do"

a and b are left.

I think idioms are "whatever its merit" , "propose to tax". I am not sure of this. help .pls

Ans is E.

Antecendent to the possesive pronoun -its- must exist.

So A is wrong and E is right.

srisl11 wrote:According to some analysts, whatever its merits, the proposal to tax away all capital gains on short-term investments would, if enacted, have a disastrous effect on Wall Street trading and employment.

(A) its merits, the proposal to tax
(B) its merits may be, the proposal of taxing
(C) its merits as a proposal, taxing
(D) the proposal�s merits, to tax
(E) the proposal�s merits are, taxing


Please help

A is perfect here.

C, D and E are changing (completely) the intended meaning of the sentence.
Subject of the main clause, as per the original meaning, is THE PROPOSAL, not the "taxing" or "to tax".

In B, subject is retained, but meaning is not. MAY BE does not convey the intended meaning.

Good question though!!!