doubt: OG - Q.No: 93

[anuroopa]

Hi,
Here goes:

By a vote of 9 to 0, the supreme court awarded the CIA broad discretionary powers enabling it to withhold from the public the identities of its sources of intelligence information.

a. enabling it to withhold from the public
b. for it to withhold from the public
c. for withholding disclosure to the public of
d. that enable them to withhold from public disclosure
e. that they can withhold public disclosure of

Source: OG

Ans: A - here's what i have a problem with - the ans explation in the OG says 'it' clearly refers to the CIA - to me it seems like 'it ' could refer to the supreme court as well - and thereby the sentence has an antecedent issue

i thought i understood the pronoun - antecedent funda, up until now - this has me confused - can somebody help me

thanks

[jatros123]

Ok here we have a simple case of SUBJECT OBJECT Pronoun.

Supreme court is the subject which is performing the action of awarding on the object CIA.

the pronoun is always refering to the object here as it is indicating the result of action on the object in the following clause. Hope this clears your doubt.

[Stacey Koprince]

You can also use logic. The "powers" are "enabling it" - who has the "powers"? The sentence tells us that the Supreme Court awarded the "powers" to the CIA. So the holder of the "powers" is enabled...

[spikeysam]

So does this mean logic can be used to reliably clarify pronoun reference errors on the GMAT?

[raunekk]

absolutely..logic is as important as other aspects..

[sjd00d]

wait a sec. What's wrong with B? I would be devastated if GMAT chose participle over a preposition.

[tanviet]

B is wrong because "it" has no clear referent and distort the meaning

"it" in A has clear referent. and correct meaning

[12rk34]

[quote="sjd00d"]wait a sec. What's wrong with B? I would be devastated if GMAT chose participle over a preposition.[/quote]
] Use of 'for it' in '[b]B[/b]' is unnecessary.

[varundaga05]

Hi

Can someone tell the issue with the option B.

I am not clear why we have discarded B.

How it in option A is pointing to CIA and it in option B is confusing

Please help

[kvcpk]

I have the same doubt too.. How is "it" pointing to CIA in A and not in B?

[paes]

I also have the same doubt with b.

One more doubt with A :

Don't you think that comma is must before enabling.

"enabling it to withhold from the public the identities of its sources of intelligence information."

is a adverbial modifier, so commas must be present before enabling.

[martin.jonson007]

I believe, For A to be correct

There must be comma before ENABLING

[paes]

This is a OG problem.

I checked, comma is not there.

Can some expert help to justify the absence/presence of comma here.

[FightWithGMAT]

Hi,
Here goes:

By a vote of 9 to 0, the supreme court awarded the CIA broad discretionary powers enabling it to withhold from the public the identities of its sources of intelligence information.

a. enabling it to withhold from the public
b. for it to withhold from the public
c. for withholding disclosure to the public of
d. that enable them to withhold from public disclosure
e. that they can withhold public disclosure of

Source: OG

Ans: A - here's what i have a problem with - the ans explation in the OG says 'it' clearly refers to the CIA - to me it seems like 'it ' could refer to the supreme court as well - and thereby the sentence has an antecedent issue

i thought i understood the pronoun - antecedent funda, up until now - this has me confused - can somebody help me

thanks

No very clear to me.
X awarded Y powers enabling it to do Z
X awarded Y powers that enable it to do Z
X awarded Y powers to do Z
X awarded Y powers for doing Z
X awarded Y powers for it to do Z

Which of these constructions are correct.

[adi_800]

This reply is taken from Bob's notes..

Pronouns do not necessarily refer to the nearest eligible noun. If that were true, there would be no such thing as ambiguous pronoun reference. The real reason that "it" is not ambiguous in choice A is that the participle "enabling" refers to the Supreme Court, and so the object "it" of the participle refers to the object of the Supreme Court's award, the CIA.