Sentence Correction

Hello Everyone!

Let's take a look at the options, one problem at a time, and narrow things down to find the correct answer.

Because it regarded the environmentalists as members of an out-of-state organization, the city council voted that they are denied permission for participating in the parade.

A. that they are denied permission for participating
B. that they be denied permission for participating
C. denying them permission for participation
D. the denial of permission that they participate
E. to deny them permission to participate

After a quick scan of each option, a few differences stick out that we should address:

1. Their endings: for participating/participation vs. participate
2. Passive vs. active voice

We can see that if we start with #1 on our list, no matter which way we go, will eliminate 2 or 3 options right away. Let's start there!

If you read options A and B carefully for their exact meaning, you may see a bit of a problem:

A. that they are denied permission for participating
B. that they be denied permission for participating

By using the phrase "for participating," the sentence means that the environmentalists were denied something because they participated in the parade. This isn't accurate - the vote determined they were not allowed to be in the parade in the first place! We can throw out options A and B because the phrase "for participating" changes the intended meaning, making them INCORRECT.

Next, let's look at option C in its entirety:

C. Because it regarded the environmentalists as members of an out-of-state organization, the city council voted denying them permission for participation in the parade.

This is INCORRECT because there needs to be a comma before "denying" for this to even work. It also sounds clunky and confusing, which is a bad thing on the GMAT.

Now we're left with options D and E. Let's look at them closely for any other problems:

D. the denial of permission that they participate

This sounds about as terribly awkward as option C, doesn't it? This is INCORRECT because the phrase "the denial of permission" is in passive voice, which the GMAT does not like.

E. to deny them permission to participate

This is CORRECT because it is concise and conveys the correct meaning - and it's the only option left!

There you have it - option E is the correct answer!


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