ErikaPrepScholar wrote:Whenever we see that the first portion of our sentence is set off by a comma and describes something (here, someone/something is being described as "delighted with the productivity increase..."), we should look for modifier errors. A modifier describes the noun that it is closest to. E.g. In the sentence "Excited to see her owner, the dog ran to the door", "excited to see her owner" describes "the dog".

So who or what is "delighted with the productivity increase"?

A. Here, "the staff" is delighted with the productivity increase. That seems plausible - people like to be productive. However, taking the rest of the sentence into consideration, we see that it tells us that because the staff are happy with the productivity increase, they receive a raise. That doesn't make as much sense. Why would they get a raise for being delighted? Eliminate.

B. Here, "a raise" is delighted with the productivity increase. This makes no sense. Raises can't think. Eliminate.

C. Here "the decision" is delighted. Again, nonsensical. Eliminate.

D. Here, "the President of the company" is delighted with the productivity increase and, as a result, gives the staff a raise. This makes sense! Keep this one.

E. Like in A, here, "the staff" gets a raise for being delighted. Eliminate.