Sentence Correction

During the past decade, the labor market in France has not been operating according to free market principles, but instead stifling functioning through its various government regulations restricting the hiring and firing of workers.

A. principles, but instead stifling functioning through its various government regulations restricting the hiring and firing of workers
B. principles, instead it has been functioning in a stifled manner as a result of various government regulations that restrict the hiring and firing of workers
C. principles, rather functioning despite being stifled as a result of government regulations that variously restrict worker hiring and firing
D. principles; the hiring and firing of workers is restricted there by various government regulations, its functioning being stifled
E. principles; instead, its functioning has been stifled by various government regulations restricting the hiring and firing of workers

OA E

Is A wrong for not using a clause of BUT?

This is what Mgmat says about A..
The original sentence is problematic in its use of the possessive pronoun "its." The antecedent to "its" is the "labor market," which incorrectly and illogically suggests that the labor market is somehow possessing or passing government regulations itself. In addition, the original sentence incorrectly uses active rather than passive voice to describe the effects imposed on the "labor market" by government regulations, thus illogically suggesting that the "labor market" itself is stifling functioning, rather than being stifled by other forces.

Also...Did not get what mgmat wanna say for eliminating A...
Can anyone explain?

Dear Adi_800,

Option (A) does not make grammatical sense to me. The choice of the words 'stifling functioning through its various government regulations' doesn't convey any sensible meaning. Hence I ruled out option (A).

ahh tuff for me , i voted for B.

For E - isn't it passive ->
its functioning has been stifled by various government regulations


Can anyone explain this question clearly.

adi_800 wrote:Is A wrong for not using a clause of BUT?

This is what Mgmat says about A..
The original sentence is problematic in its use of the possessive pronoun "its." The antecedent to "its" is the "labor market," which incorrectly and illogically suggests that the labor market is somehow possessing or passing government regulations itself. In addition, the original sentence incorrectly uses active rather than passive voice to describe the effects imposed on the "labor market" by government regulations, thus illogically suggesting that the "labor market" itself is stifling functioning, rather than being stifled by other forces.

Also...Did not get what mgmat wanna say for eliminating A...
Can anyone explain?

A has multiple issues -

1. but and instead convey the same meaning. Use of both together leads to redundancy.

2. its refers to the labor market. Replace its by the labor market and look closely at the meaning conveyed.

but instead stifling functioning through the labor market's various government regulations restricting the hiring and firing of workers.

The meaning conveyed is that the labor market possesses various governmental regulations. This is nonsensical.

3. The use of active voice also gives a wrong meaning.

but instead stifling functioning through the labor market's various government regulations restricting the hiring and firing of workers.

This suggests that the labor market, through various regulations, is stifling functioning. This is again nonsensical in the given context.

puneetdua wrote:ahh tuff for me , i voted for B.

For E - isn't it passive ->
its functioning has been stifled by various government regulations


Can anyone explain this question clearly.

That is a very gross generality and one may pay dearly for it. We cannot rule out any construction just because it is in passive voice. Sometimes, a sentence warrants a passive construction (such as this sentence).

Note the error in B. It joins two independent clauses using a comma.

1) During the past decade, the labor market in France has not been operating according to free market principles
2) instead it has been functioning in a stifled manner as a result of various government regulations that restrict the hiring and firing of workers

This is a definite no-no.