Sentence Correction

48. According to some analysts, whatever its merits, the proposal to tax away all capital gains on short-term investments would, if enacted, have a disastrous effect on Wall Street trading and employment.
(A) its merits, the proposal to tax
(B) its merits may be, the proposal of taxing
(C) its merits as a proposal, taxing
(D) the proposal's merits, to tax
(E) the proposal's merits are, taxing


[spoiler]Doubt: Do we need a verb after "its merits" - e.g. "its merits are/may be" or just "its merits" might also be correct?[/spoiler]

vaibhav.iit2002 wrote:48. According to some analysts, whatever its merits, the proposal to tax away all capital gains on short-term investments would, if enacted, have a disastrous effect on Wall Street trading and employment.
(A) its merits, the proposal to tax
(B) its merits may be, the proposal of taxing
(C) its merits as a proposal, taxing
(D) the proposal's merits, to tax
(E) the proposal's merits are, taxing

A:IMO

We need a purpose that is better seved using infinitive, i.e. to tax rather than of taxing. The other options with taxing are all wrong. whatever its merit is an nominative absolute that correctly modifies the proposal.

(B) its merits may be, the proposal of taxing: of
(C) its merits as a proposal, taxing: awkward
(D) the proposal's merits, to tax: to tax should link proposal rather than merits, the change in word order make it awkward.
(E) the proposal's merits are, taxing: taxing should modify the previous noun working as a present participle which is not the case here.

B IMO.
I think we need a verb after merits. Verb is given only in choice B.
What's the OA?

I don't think we need an 'are' after 'merits'. IMO - A

I thought we need a verb here.
OA is A