SC is my weakest area, but I'll try to crack this one

"with their odometers disconnected" vs "with disconnected odometers"

It's the matter of concision, not about grammatical mistakes. I consider "with disconnected odometers" better choice. We have 3:2 split and (A), (B), (D) are wrong


(C) vs (E)

(C) its cars having been test-driven with disconnected odometers
(E) having cars that were test-driven with disconnected odometers

And again (E) as it is more concise version, (C) sounds clearly awkward

(E)

Please, provide additional explanations and correct me if I'm wrong

DRIVE A CAR WITH (DISCONNECTED ODOMETERS)..AS IF DISCONNECTED ODOMETERS IS SOME KIND OF A FEATURE IN A CAR
"WITH THEIR ODOMETERS DISCONNECTED" FAR BETTER CONVEYS THE MEANING CHOICE IS BETWEEN 'A' AND 'D'
WILL GO WITH 'D' BEACUSE 'A' GIVES A FEELING THAT THE CO. HAD LAUNCHED MANY
CARS AND ONLY SOME OF THEM HAD THE ODOS DISCONNECTED AND FOR WHOM
IT HAD TO PAY DAMAGES...WELL IT MIGHT BE TRUE BUT SOMEHOW D IS MORE
GENERIC AND SPECIFIES THE MEANING WITHOUT AMBIGUITIES
D for me

Well, as I've already said, I'm not sure.... Though I still prefer "disconnected odometers"

I suppose it all boils down to D vs E....

E suggests that the company just HAD cars that were driven with disconnected odometers. D suggests that THE COMPANY TEST DROVE THEM with the odometers disconnected. I think D is correct - it makes more sense that the company gets charged for doing the test driving rather than just possessing the cars.

IMO D.. 'Having' is required otherwise it doesn't make much sense.
'with their odometers disconnected ' is better than'disconnected odometers'.

I actually just remembered an important point leading me to agree that the answer here should be D. The construction "having + past participle" also indicates an action in the past before the main verb of the sentence. The main verbs of this sentence are "pleaded" and "agreed", so "having test driven" took place before the "pleaded." Another mistake I made with option B is that "that" would imply that there are other cars that the manufacturer didn't test drive. We don't know whether the manufacturer test drove most of these cars or a small number of them. I think it would make sense that he's in court because he did a mistake when he test drove ALL the cars. So option D says "having test driven cars" implies that we're talking about all the cars that he had were tested.

another mistake I've picked up from option B is that it has the "it." I believe there could be a typo in the question because I think it should be "manufacturer" rather than "manufacture." the company itself can plead in court, but it's rather a person who can do that, so the "it" in option B is simply wrong.

OA - D.

They've paid for HAVING TEST DRIVEN CARS,
not for cars or for having cars.

Here is my reasoning.

In December of 1987 an automobile manufacturer
pleaded no contest to criminal charges of odometer
tampering and agreed to pay more than $16 million
in civil damages for cars that were test-driven with
their odometers disconnected

(A) cars that were test-driven with their odometers
disconnected -> Sounds like manufacturer pays 16M for the cars
(B) cars that it had test-driven with their disconnected
odometers -> Sounds like manufacturer pays 16M for the cars
(C) its cars having been test-driven with disconnected
odometers -> Sounds like manufacturer pays 16M for its cars

We are left with D and E
(D) having test-driven cars with their odometers
disconnected
(E) having cars that were test-driven with disconnected
odometers

I choose D as it is more direct to convey the idea that Manufacturer is fined because of his action of test-driving the cars without the device on.

Please comment

(A) cars that were test-driven with their odometers disconnected - the auto manufacturer agreed to pay not for cars..but for driving the cars with odometer disconnected
(B) cars that it had test-driven with their disconnected odometers - it and the Error remains
(C) its cars having been test-driven with disconnected odometers -its
(D) having test-driven cars with their odometers disconnected - correct.
(E) having cars that were test-driven with disconnected odometers - Same as with A

Hi All,

In December of 1987 an automobile manufacture pleaded no contest to criminal charges of odometer tampering and agreed to pay more than $16 million in civil damages for cars that were test-driven with their odometers disconnected.



Understanding the intended meaning of the sentence is the key to get to the correct answer choice. The automobile manufacturer agreed to pay the fine for its action. It agreed to pay for the action of test-driving the cars which had their odometers disconnected.



Per the original choice, the auto manufacturers agreed to pay fine for the cars and not for their action. This distorts the intended meaning of the sentence.

PoE:

(A) cars that were test-driven with their odometers disconnected: Incorrect for the reason stated above.

(B) cars that it had test-driven with their disconnected odometers: Incorrect. Same error as in choice A.

(C) its cars having been test-driven with disconnected odometers: Incorrect. Same error as in choice A.

(D) having test-driven cars with their odometers disconnected: Correct. This choice correctly conveys the action for which the auto manufacturers agreed to pay the fine.

(E) having cars that were test-driven with disconnected odometers: Incorrect. Per this choice, the auto manufacturers agreed to pay the fine for “having cars”. This is not the intended meaning.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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