Sentence Correction

In theory, international civil servants at the UN are prohibited from continuing to draw salaries from their own governments;in practice, however, some governments merely substitute living allowances for their employees' paychecks, assigned by them to the UN.

I am confused with why this answer selection is NOT correct.

(B) for the paychecks of their employees, having been assigned

The answer says that "having been assigned" illogically modifies governments. I don't see that though. Doesn't "having been assigned" modify employees. Can someone clarify? thanks a lot.

Niner710 wrote:In theory, international civil servants at the UN are prohibited from continuing to draw salaries from their own governments;in practice, however, some governments merely substitute living allowances for their employees' paychecks, assigned by them to the UN.

I am confused with why this answer selection is NOT correct.

(B) for the paychecks of their employees, having been assigned

The answer says that "having been assigned" illogically modifies governments. I don't see that though. Doesn't "having been assigned" modify employees. Can someone clarify? thanks a lot.

Ask yourself, Can paychecks have living allowances. You will have your answer

I have found the original problem from another forum:
In theory, international civil servants at the United Nations are prohibited from continuing to draw salaries from their own governments; in practice, however, some governments merely substitute living allowances for their employees' paychecks, assigned by them to the United Nations.

(A) for their employees' paychecks, assigned by them "THEM" has no clear referent (i.e. employees or governments??)
(B) for the paychecks of their employees who have been assigned
CORRECT

(C) for the paychecks of their employees, having been assigned

pgarg00, "having been assigned" actually refers to GOVERNMENTS because GOVERNMENTS is the subject of the sentence

CORRECT: Peter (the subject) was tired, having studied SC all night.

INCORRECT: Peter could not find his SC prep guide, having been left at the library

having been is a modifier of the subject (D) in place of their employees' paychecks, for those of them assigned
IDIOM = substitute X for Y
(E) in place of the paychecks of their employees to have been assigned by them
IDIOM = substitute X for Y

Hence the answer is B . . . OA?

IMO E

GMATGuruNY wrote:

In theory, international civil servants at the United Nations are prohibited from continuing to draw salaries from their own governments; in practice, however, some governments merely substitute living allowances for their employees' paychecks, assigned by them to the United Nations.

(A) for their employees' paychecks, assigned by them
(B) for the paychecks of their employees who have been assigned
(C) for the paychecks of their employees, having been assigned
(D) in place of their employees' paychecks, for those of them assigned
(E) in place of the paychecks of their employees to have been assigned by them
OA B..

In A, assigned seems to modify paychecks, implying that the PAYCHECKS are assigned to the United Nations.
Not the intended meaning.
Eliminate A.

COMMA + VERBing should refer to the SUBJECT of the preceding clause.
Thus, in C, having been assigned seems to refer to governments, implying that the GOVERNMENTS have been assigned to the United Nations.
Not the intended meaning.
Eliminate C.

In D and E, substitute...in place of is redundant. Eliminate D and E.

The correct answer is B.

B conveys the following meaning:
Some governments merely substitute LIVING ALLOWANCES for the PAYCHECKS of their employees.
What KIND of employees?
Their employees WHO HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED TO THE UNITED NATIONS.

Great explanation Hunt.

pls explain the role of doing phrase in the following

those non natives learn gmat, their good spirit helping them a lot.

in above sentence the phrase "their... a lot" contains doing. Can you explain how this phrase relates to the main clause.

thank you.

..their good spirit helping them a lot is an "absolute phrase" (noun+noun modifier).

helping them a lot is participial phrase (a noun modifier) modifying the noun their good spirit.