doubt: OG - Q.No: 93 - The Beat The GMAT Forum - Expert GMAT Help & MBA Admissions Advice

doubt: OG - Q.No: 93

Expert replies

anuroopa: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 16; Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 7:36 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by anuroopa » Sun Feb 11, 2007 4:30 am

Hi,
Here goes:

By a vote of 9 to 0, the supreme court awarded the CIA broad discretionary powers enabling it to withhold from the public the identities of its sources of intelligence information.

a. enabling it to withhold from the public
b. for it to withhold from the public
c. for withholding disclosure to the public of
d. that enable them to withhold from public disclosure
e. that they can withhold public disclosure of

Source: OG

Ans: A - here's what i have a problem with - the ans explation in the OG says 'it' clearly refers to the CIA - to me it seems like 'it ' could refer to the supreme court as well - and thereby the sentence has an antecedent issue

i thought i understood the pronoun - antecedent funda, up until now - this has me confused - can somebody help me

thanks

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun Feb 11, 2007 4:30 am

jatros123: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 14; Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2006 3:10 am; Thanked: 2 times

Pronoun

by jatros123 » Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:24 am

Ok here we have a simple case of SUBJECT OBJECT Pronoun.

Supreme court is the subject which is performing the action of awarding on the object CIA.

the pronoun is always refering to the object here as it is indicating the result of action on the object in the following clause. Hope this clears your doubt.

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:43 pm

You can also use logic. The "powers" are "enabling it" - who has the "powers"? The sentence tells us that the Supreme Court awarded the "powers" to the CIA. So the holder of the "powers" is enabled...

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spikeysam: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 7; Joined: Sat Nov 22, 2008 10:11 am

by spikeysam » Fri Feb 06, 2009 7:39 am

So does this mean logic can be used to reliably clarify pronoun reference errors on the GMAT?

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raunekk: Legendary Member; Posts: 1159; Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:35 pm; Thanked: 56 times

by raunekk » Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:32 am

absolutely..logic is as important as other aspects..

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sjd00d: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 97; Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:04 pm; Thanked: 2 times

by sjd00d » Fri Feb 06, 2009 11:19 am

wait a sec. What's wrong with B? I would be devastated if GMAT chose participle over a preposition.

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tanviet: Legendary Member; Posts: 1404; Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 18 times

by tanviet » Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:09 pm

B is wrong because "it" has no clear referent and distort the meaning

"it" in A has clear referent. and correct meaning

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12rk34: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 5:10 pm

by 12rk34 » Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:53 pm

[quote="sjd00d"]wait a sec. What's wrong with B? I would be devastated if GMAT chose participle over a preposition.[/quote]
] Use of 'for it' in '[b]B[/b]' is unnecessary.

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varundaga05: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 64; Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2010 3:48 am; Thanked: 1 times

by varundaga05 » Thu Jun 17, 2010 11:37 pm

Hi

Can someone tell the issue with the option B.

I am not clear why we have discarded B.

How it in option A is pointing to CIA and it in option B is confusing

Please help

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kvcpk: Legendary Member; Posts: 1893; Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 11:48 pmFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 215 times

by kvcpk » Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:12 am

I have the same doubt too.. How is "it" pointing to CIA in A and not in B?

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paes: Legendary Member; Posts: 995; Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:56 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 31 times

by paes » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:18 am

I also have the same doubt with b.

One more doubt with A :

Don't you think that comma is must before enabling.

"enabling it to withhold from the public the identities of its sources of intelligence information."

is a adverbial modifier, so commas must be present before enabling.

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martin.jonson007: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 226; Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2010 1:46 am; Thanked: 2 times

by martin.jonson007 » Fri Jun 18, 2010 4:09 am

I believe, For A to be correct

There must be comma before ENABLING

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paes: Legendary Member; Posts: 995; Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:56 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 31 times

by paes » Fri Jun 18, 2010 4:23 am

This is a OG problem.

I checked, comma is not there.

Can some expert help to justify the absence/presence of comma here.

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FightWithGMAT: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 364; Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:13 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 31 times

by FightWithGMAT » Fri Jun 18, 2010 5:00 am

anuroopa wrote:Hi,
Here goes:

By a vote of 9 to 0, the supreme court awarded the CIA broad discretionary powers enabling it to withhold from the public the identities of its sources of intelligence information.

a. enabling it to withhold from the public
b. for it to withhold from the public
c. for withholding disclosure to the public of
d. that enable them to withhold from public disclosure
e. that they can withhold public disclosure of

Source: OG

Ans: A - here's what i have a problem with - the ans explation in the OG says 'it' clearly refers to the CIA - to me it seems like 'it ' could refer to the supreme court as well - and thereby the sentence has an antecedent issue

i thought i understood the pronoun - antecedent funda, up until now - this has me confused - can somebody help me

thanks

No very clear to me.
X awarded Y powers enabling it to do Z
X awarded Y powers that enable it to do Z
X awarded Y powers to do Z
X awarded Y powers for doing Z
X awarded Y powers for it to do Z

Which of these constructions are correct.

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adi_800: Legendary Member; Posts: 544; Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:14 amFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Pune, India; Thanked: 31 times

by adi_800 » Fri Jun 18, 2010 5:03 am

This reply is taken from Bob's notes..

Pronouns do not necessarily refer to the nearest eligible noun. If that were true, there would be no such thing as ambiguous pronoun reference. The real reason that "it" is not ambiguous in choice A is that the participle "enabling" refers to the Supreme Court, and so the object "it" of the participle refers to the object of the Supreme Court's award, the CIA.

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