By a unanimous vote, the City Council granted the School Board considerable autonomy allowing it to make spending decisions without seeking Council approval.
A
allowing it to make spending decisions
B
for it to make spending decisions
C
for making decisions of spending
D
that enable them to make decisions for spending
E
that they can make spending decisions
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aloneontheedge
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D and E are out as they contain plural verbvindooo wrote:By a unanimous vote, the City Council granted the School Board considerable autonomy allowing it to make spending decisions without seeking Council approval.
A
allowing it to make spending decisions
B
for it to make spending decisions
C
for making decisions of spending
D
that enable them to make decisions for spending
E
that they can make spending decisions
B n C allowing for is not the correct idiom hence out.
Pick A.
If the context is clear,It is not considered ambiguous
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indiantiger
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my ans is A
By a unanimous vote, the City Council granted the School Board considerable autonomy allowing it to make spending decisions without seeking Council approval.
A
allowing it to make spending decisions (most appropriate one)
B
for it to make spending decisions
C
for making decisions of spending (no clear indication)
D
that enable them to make decisions for spending (must be singular)
E
that they can make spending decisions (must be singular)
By a unanimous vote, the City Council granted the School Board considerable autonomy allowing it to make spending decisions without seeking Council approval.
A
allowing it to make spending decisions (most appropriate one)
B
for it to make spending decisions
C
for making decisions of spending (no clear indication)
D
that enable them to make decisions for spending (must be singular)
E
that they can make spending decisions (must be singular)
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pesfunk
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In option A, isn't "it" ambiguous pointing to both city council and school board ?
blaster wrote:my ans is A
By a unanimous vote, the City Council granted the School Board considerable autonomy allowing it to make spending decisions without seeking Council approval.
A
allowing it to make spending decisions (most appropriate one)
B
for it to make spending decisions
C
for making decisions of spending (no clear indication)
D
that enable them to make decisions for spending (must be singular)
E
that they can make spending decisions (must be singular)
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e-GMAT
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Hi pesfunk,
A pronoun is considered ambiguous if it makes sense to refer to two different antecedents. Now what makes sense, depends entirely on the context of the sentence. Just because there are two antecedents prior to the appearance of the pronoun, does not directly imply that the pronoun reference is ambiguous. For example,
The teacher scolded Tom because he did not do his homework.
In this sentence, we know from the context of the sentence that "he" and "his" both refer to Tom only. These two pronouns cannot refer to "teacher" since if it did, the sentence will not make sense. Now lets consider the sentence in question:
By a unanimous vote, the City Council granted the School Board considerable autonomy allowing it to make spending decisions without seeking Council approval.
The sentence talks about the City Council granting the Board autonomy. This autonomy will allow the board to make decisions without any approval from the council. Now from the context of the sentence, "it" can only refer to Board. Notice how the sentence will be non-sensical if "it" referred to the council.
By a unanimous vote, the City Council granted the School Board considerable autonomy allowing the City Council to make spending decisions without seeking City Council approval.
Thus, when you look at a pronoun, try to determine its logical antecedent. Ensure that the pronoun agrees in number with that logical antecedent. Then you look for other antecedents that this pronoun could refer to. Determine if it makes sense. If not, then there is no pronoun error. If yes, then the sentence is ambiguous at best since the meaning from the sentence is not clear because 1 pronoun can refer to more than 1 antecedents, resulting in multiple meanings.
I have provided such a framework in the following post"
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a-pronoun-in ... tml#314898
Thanks,
Payal
A pronoun is considered ambiguous if it makes sense to refer to two different antecedents. Now what makes sense, depends entirely on the context of the sentence. Just because there are two antecedents prior to the appearance of the pronoun, does not directly imply that the pronoun reference is ambiguous. For example,
The teacher scolded Tom because he did not do his homework.
In this sentence, we know from the context of the sentence that "he" and "his" both refer to Tom only. These two pronouns cannot refer to "teacher" since if it did, the sentence will not make sense. Now lets consider the sentence in question:
By a unanimous vote, the City Council granted the School Board considerable autonomy allowing it to make spending decisions without seeking Council approval.
The sentence talks about the City Council granting the Board autonomy. This autonomy will allow the board to make decisions without any approval from the council. Now from the context of the sentence, "it" can only refer to Board. Notice how the sentence will be non-sensical if "it" referred to the council.
By a unanimous vote, the City Council granted the School Board considerable autonomy allowing the City Council to make spending decisions without seeking City Council approval.
Thus, when you look at a pronoun, try to determine its logical antecedent. Ensure that the pronoun agrees in number with that logical antecedent. Then you look for other antecedents that this pronoun could refer to. Determine if it makes sense. If not, then there is no pronoun error. If yes, then the sentence is ambiguous at best since the meaning from the sentence is not clear because 1 pronoun can refer to more than 1 antecedents, resulting in multiple meanings.
I have provided such a framework in the following post"
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a-pronoun-in ... tml#314898
Thanks,
Payal
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kongaharsha
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blaster wrote:my ans is A
By a unanimous vote, the City Council granted the School Board considerable autonomy allowing it to make spending decisions without seeking Council approval.
A
allowing it to make spending decisions (most appropriate one)
B
for it to make spending decisions
C
for making decisions of spending (no clear indication)
D
that enable them to make decisions for spending (must be singular)
E
that they can make spending decisions (must be singular)
Can someone explain points B and C
