First time poster here. This question has been explored before, but the debate seemed to focus on a different aspect of the grammar being tested. In my case, I'm wondering why C cannot be correct as well (the official answer is D). If C were the correct answer, the underlined portion would be referring to "advice" instead of the "head of a watchdog organization," as in: "ignoring the advice ________ warning that..."

A more common sentence of this structure might be "...ignoring the sign prohibiting smoking..."


Why is this incorrect? Thanks!

Dear newbie88,

You can read the question like this:

Because of surging economic indicators, most analysts upgraded the company's stock - This has already happened and is in the past.

They ignored the advice from the watchdog organization - Did the Head of this organization warn them after they bought the stocks or while they were planning to buy the stocks ?

Obviously, while they were planning to buy the stocks. Hence, "warned" suits here. I am left with A and D. Consider the idiom not only...but also. You can rule out A.

Hence, the answer is D.

I hope I was helpful.

Thanks,
Viju

viju9162 wrote: Obviously, while they were planning to buy the stocks. Hence, "warned" suits here. I am left with A and D. Consider the idiom not only...but also. You can rule out A.

"Not only..but" is also correct. I have seen number of SC problems where "Not only..but" is considered correct.

Refer this thread: https://www.beatthegmat.com/idiom-not-on ... t9913.html

There has been lot of discussion about this problem. There is confusion between A and D as both look grammatically correct.

Refer this thread: https://www.beatthegmat.com/economic-ind ... 47-15.html

I pick A because of brevity.

Dear Hardik,

Thanks for this. I didn't know that not only.. but is also correct.

Regards,
Viju

Option A changes the meaning of the sentence. Using "but" alone instead of "but also" changes the meaning of the sentence. I choose option D. The usage of "both" is correct in option D.

Option A changes the meaning of the sentence. Using "but" alone instead of "but also" changes the meaning of the sentence. I choose option D. The usage of "both" is correct in option D.

Thanks for all the input guys. However, I still don't understand why C is not also okay. One reply said it's a tense issue, but I'm not fully convinced since "ignoring" is in the present tense already regardless of "warning" or "warned". If C is chosen, this would be the passage:

As a result of surging economic indicators, most analysts upgraded the company's stock to a strong "buy," ignoring the advice of the head of a watchdog organization warning that the company's product would prove itself to be both dangerous and ineffective in the long run.

Like I mentioned before, warning here would refer to "advice" instead of "head", and such constructions seem pretty common: "...ignoring the sign prohibiting smoking..."

Sorry if I'm slow, but I would like someone to directly explain why my reasoning is wrong. I just can't seem to get my head around it. Maybe an expert can help? Thanks!

newbie88 wrote:Thanks for all the input guys. However, I still don't understand why C is not also okay.

Here's what I think about C.

For one, C is wrong because "would prove itself to be" is wordy. Second, if we choose to start the modifier with "warning...", then the modifier seems to be modifying "the advice" not "head of a watchdog organization". So it alters the meaning.

Hope that helps..

Ah, yes, I forgot I have to try to preserve the original meaning. Thanks!