The odds

[bhumika.k.shah]

The odds are about 4 to 1 against surviving a takeover offer, and many business consultants therefore advise that a company's first line of defense in eluding offers like these be to even refuse to take calls from likely corporate raiders.

(A) that a company's first line of defense in eluding offers like these be to even refuse
(B) that a company's first line of defense in eluding such offers be to refuse even
(C) a company defending itself against offers of this kind that, as a first line of defense, they should even refuse
(D) companies which are defending themselves against such an offer that, as a first line of defense, they should even refuse
(E) that the first line of defense for a company who is eluding offers like these is the refusal even

OA B

One can easily eliminate A and E for using like instead of such when giving examples.

In C it starts with a company and ends with they should... hence wrong!

I am stuck between B and D...
whats wrong in D .... i know its talking about all companies in general ....but whats wrong in that ?

Please provide your valuable inputs!

[vijay_venky]

the option D is a bit lengthy and an awkward construction, also the ending of the sentence is better in B (refuse even) than in D (even refuse) and also B expresses it in a succinct and lucid style, so I go with B.

[bhumika.k.shah]

So besides option D being more wordy there isn't really any other grammatical error - right?

[girish3131]

@Bhumika


In case of D -> " They " may refer companies but to Advisor (business consultants ) too


actually problems with EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD GMAT TAKERS is that they don't get confused even when (when they are actually supposed to be ) they see ambiguous pronouns . This make right assumption but this is actually what GMAT don't expects them to be...

So be EXPERT but while doing SC , read like a NOVICE

I hope u got my point...


BTW yr posts are AWESOME!


Thanks!

[prinit]

The odds are about 4 to 1 against surviving a takeover offer, and many business consultants therefore advise that a company's first line of defense in eluding offers like these be to even refuse to take calls from likely corporate raiders.

(A) that a company's first line of defense in eluding offers like these be to even refuse
(B) that a company's first line of defense in eluding such offers be to refuse even
(C) a company defending itself against offers of this kind that, as a first line of defense, they should even refuse
(D) companies which are defending themselves against such an offer that, as a first line of defense, they should even refuse
(E) that the first line of defense for a company who is eluding offers like these is the refusal even

OA B

One can easily eliminate A and E for using like instead of such when giving examples.

In C it starts with a company and ends with they should... hence wrong!

I am stuck between B and D...
whats wrong in D .... i know its talking about all companies in general ....but whats wrong in that ?

Please provide your valuable inputs!

I got confused with the underlined statements..is that correct..coz choices do not look in sync either

[must82]

I was thinking in choice B "as" is missing, Can we ignore 'as' of "such as"?

[GMATGuruNY]

The odds are about 4 to 1 against surviving a takeover offer, and many business consultants therefore advise that a company's first line of defense in eluding offers like these be to even refuse to take calls from likely corporate raiders.

(D) companies which are defending themselves against such an offer that, as a first line of defense, they should even refuse

I am stuck between B and D...
whats wrong in D .... i know its talking about all companies in general ....but whats wrong in that ?

Please provide your valuable inputs!

At least two errors in D:

Redundacy: defending is redundant with defense.

Pronoun error: The pronoun which is incorrect; it needs to replaced with the pronoun that.

Here's why:

The pronoun which is used to introduce a phrase or clause not necessary for the meaning of the sentence:

Seals, which are mammals, like to play in the water.

Notice that the clause which are mammals is preceded by a comma. That's because we can remove the which clause without changing the meaning of the sentence:

Seals like to play in the water.

In the SC above, we can't remove the phrase are defending themselves without changing the meaning of the sentence; we need to know what kinds of companies the consultants are advising. Since the phrase is necessary, it should be introduced by the pronoun that:

...business consultants therefore advise companies that are defending themselves...

Here's an easy way to handle this situation. If you have a choice between that and which:

The pronoun which should be preceded by a comma.

The pronoun that should not be preceded by a comma.

Answer choice D can be eliminated because it doesn't include a comma before the pronoun which.

(Please note that the pronoun which doesn't always require a comma. The following is correct:

The table on which I placed the book is wobbling.

In the sentence above, the pronoun which could never be replaced with the pronoun that. You should worry about the comma issue only when you have to choose between the two pronouns.)

[GMATGuruNY]

I was thinking in choice B "as" is missing, Can we ignore 'as' of "such as"?

such as is used to give examples:

Many singers, such as Madonna and Lady Gaga, tour the world on a regular basis.

In the SC above, no examples are being given. The word such = these kinds of:

...many business consultants therefore advise that a company's first line of defense in eluding such offers be to refuse even to take calls...

means

...many business consultants therefore advise that a company's first line of defense in eluding these kinds of offers be to refuse even to take calls...

No as is necessary because the sentence is not giving examples.

[ansumania]

I was thinking in choice B "as" is missing, Can we ignore 'as' of "such as"?

such as is used to give examples:

Many singers, such as Madonna and Lady Gaga, tour the world on a regular basis.

In the SC above, no examples are being given. The word such = these kinds of:

...many business consultants therefore advise that a company's first line of defense in eluding such offers be to refuse even to take calls...

means

...many business consultants therefore advise that a company's first line of defense in eluding these kinds of offers be to refuse even to take calls...

No as is necessary because the sentence is not giving examples.

hi,

if 'suc' is not used for examples in this, then why option A is incorrect? pl. advise.....

[sumanr84]

I think A has split infinitive error. It should be "to refuse even".

I am always suspicious about "these" too, and if eliminations boil down to 2 options then I always choose the one without "these".

[GMATGuruNY]

The odds are about 4 to 1 against surviving a takeover offer, and many business consultants therefore advise that a company's first line of defense in eluding offers like these be to even refuse to take calls from likely corporate raiders.

(A) that a company's first line of defense in eluding offers like these be to even refuse

hi,

if 'suc' is not used for examples in this, then why option A is incorrect? pl. advise.....

Several errors in A:

Ambiguous pronoun: What plural noun is being replaced by the pronoun these?

"eluding offers like these": The word like is being misused. Like is used to compare nouns. The sentence is not comparing offers to these, so like is incorrect.

"to even refuse": the infinitive of the verb refuse is to refuse. Don't split the infinitive: the preposition to should immediately precede the verb refuse.

"to even refuse to take calls": What should the companies refuse to do? They should refuse even to take calls. The modifier even should be closer to what it's modifying, the phrase to take calls.

Hope this helps!

[pnk]

Hi Mitch,

'advice' in B appears as command subjunctive - in that case, advice should take infinitive ie 'advice to' in place of 'advice that'

What do you advice on this.

[GMATGuruNY]

Hi Mitch,

'advice' in B appears as command subjunctive case - in that case, advice should take infinitive ie 'advice to' in place of 'advice that'

What do you advice of this.

Use advise...to when the sentence is giving advice directly to someone or something:

I advise you to sell your stock. (I am giving this advice directly to you.)

Use advise that when the sentence is giving advice not directed at any particular person or thing:

Experts advise that investors sell their stock in the company. (The experts are not giving this advice directly to the investors; the advice is being given to all of us.)

Does this help?

[pnk]

Use advise...to when the sentence is giving advice directly to someone or something:

I advise you to sell your stock. (I am giving this advice directly to you.)

Use advise that when the sentence is giving advice not directed at any particular person or thing:

Experts advise that investors sell their stock in the company. (The experts are not giving this advice directly to the investors; the advice is being given to all of us.)

Does this help?

Thanks Mitch. It clarified my doubt.

[babuxavier]

IMO B