Somber in tone and menacing in content,

Question

Somber in tone and menacing in content, the leader of the terrorists who were holding the hostages sent a message leaving little hope that they would be released by the end of the week.

(A) leader of the terrorists who were holding the hostages sent a message leaving little hope that they would be
(B) leader of the terrorists holding the hostages sent a message that left little hope for their being
(C) leader of the terrorists holding the hostages sent a message leaving little hope of the hostages being
(D) message sent by the leader of the terrorists who were holding the hostages left little hope that the hostages would be
(E) message that was sent by the leader of the terrorists who were holding the hostages left little hope for the hostages to be

please explain D and E

GMATGuruNY · Answer

anksm22 wrote:Somber in tone and menacing in content, the leader of the terrorists who were holding the hostages sent a message leaving little hope that they would be released by the end of the week.

(A) leader of the terrorists who were holding the hostages sent a message leaving little hope that they would be
(B) leader of the terrorists holding the hostages sent a message that left little hope for their being
(C) leader of the terrorists holding the hostages sent a message leaving little hope of the hostages being
(D) message sent by the leader of the terrorists who were holding the hostages left little hope that the hostages would be
(E) message that was sent by the leader of the terrorists who were holding the hostages left little hope for the hostages to be

please explain D and E

A, B and C: menacing in content, the leader...
Here, menacing in content seems to refer to the leader, implying that THE LEADER was MENACING IN CONTENT -- a nonsensical meaning.
The intended meaning is that the MESSAGE was menacing in content.
Eliminate A, B and C.

E: the message...left little hope for the hostages to be released by the end of the week
Here, the infinitive modifier in red implies that the hostages are TO BE RELEASED BY THE END OF THE WEEK.
The intended meaning is just the opposite: that the hostages would NOT be released by the end of the week.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is D.

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Jim@StratusPrep · Answer

First, A, B, and C can be eliminated because the leader cannot have content. An introductory clause always relates to the noun that immediately follows it.

There are a lot of reasons why D is better than E. I always try to quickly find differences at the beginning and end of the underline. At the end, you see 'would be' vs 'to be'. The reason you would use 'would be' is because there is no certainty that the hostages will be released. The 'hope' puts this in the subjunctive.

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