The J.C.Penney chain of retail stores broke with its conservative cash

IMO Ans is D


This que is inspired from one of the 1000SC que: (Que# 543)

Oberlin College in Ohio was a renegade institution at its 1833 founding for deciding to accept both men and women as students.
(A) at its 1833 founding for deciding to accept
(B) for the decision at its 1833 founding to accept
(C) when it was founded in 1833 for its decision to accept
(D) in deciding at its founding in 1833 to accept
(E) by deciding at its founding in 1833 on the acceptance of

"The J.C. Penney chain of retail stores broke with its conservative cash-and-carry policy during its 1958 reorganization for deciding to sell on credit."

Here, we must note that JC Penney does not break with a policy "for deciding to sell" on credit. Instead, we should use the phrase "in deciding to sell"; this indicates that when JC Penney sells on credit, it is not following its previous policy of selling on a cash-and-carry basis.

A. during its 1958 reorganization for deciding to sell
B. for the decision at its 1958 reorganization to sell
C. when it was reorganized in 1958 for its decision to sell

We also note that JC Penney deciding "on the selling of credit" does not seem to make a whole lot of sense.

E. by deciding at its reorganization in 1958 on the selling of

This leaves only one possible answer:

D. in deciding during its reorganization in 1958 to sell

The J.C.Penney chain of retail stores broke with its conservative cash-and-carry policy during its 1958 reorganization for deciding to sell on credit.

A. during its 1958 reorganization for deciding to sell
B. for the decision at its 1958 reorganization to sell
C. when it was reorganized in 1958 for its decision to sell
D. in deciding during its reorganization in 1958 to sell
E. by deciding at its reorganization in 1958 on the selling of

Can someone please help explain the correct answer (D) along with the wrong answer choices?
This Q is really confusing..........

this is by far the best explanation i found on the web by Eli Meyer (Kaplan Teacher)

(A) has a modification error; the phrase 'for deciding to sell' appears to modify 'reorganization', implying that the reorganization's purpose was to decide to sell on credit--this doesn't make much sense. We can eliminate (A), as well the tempting (C) for repeating that error.

From there, idiom errors take down the remaining two incorrect answers. (B) indicates that J.C Penny "broke with its...policy FOR the decision," which in addition to being awkward indicates that the decision was the reason for breaking with tradition--rather than the break in tradition itself. (E) just gets 'deciding' wrong; "Deciding... on the selling of..." isn't the right idiom here.

Though (D) has an awkward-sounding gerund in it's midst, the sentence we have is grammatically correct and its meaning is unambiguous and logical. For that reason, (D) is the correct answer.

BUt im still confused. Will be of great help if some of the experts can shed some more light on this. Thanks in advance

I am not sure about how D is correct. Could someone explain ?

Hi daagh , please help me check my reasoning!

Many thanks for your response!

The J.C. Penney chain of retail stores broke with its conservative cash-and-carry policy during its 1958 reorganization for deciding to sell on credit.

A. during its 1958 reorganization for deciding to sell

--> we want to convey a clear point of time, so 1958 reorganization is ambiguous and in 1958 is better. Furthermore, what does 1958 reorganization mean? Is it 1958 anniversary or 1958 awards...?

B. for the decision at its 1958 reorganization to sell

--> Same error as in A

C. when it was reorganized in 1958 for its decision to sell

--> was reorganized is passive voice, so it was reorganized by someone (e.g Board Of Directors...) , but its decision seems that it decided by itself, not by someone --> illogical

D. in deciding during its reorganization in 1958 to sell

--> no issues --> correct

E. by deciding at its reorganization in 1958 on the selling of

--> on the selling of is wordy and awkward, to sell is better

I'm going to take a stab at it. Experts, please let me know if I'm correct in my analysis. I didn't get this correct on the first time and really have to take a deep look here.

The J.C. Penney chain of retail stores broke with its conservative cash-and-carry policy during its 1958 reorganization for deciding to sell on credit.

A. during its 1958 reorganization for deciding to sell. 1958 reorganization is not the best way of modifying "reorganization". Best to say "reorganization in 1958"
B.for the decision at its 1958 reorganization to sell same as "A"
C. when it was reorganized in 1958 for its decision to sell. sounds like the meaning changed - became harsher. makes it sound like reorg was caused by "decision to sell"
D. in deciding during its reorganization in 1958 to sell. Correct. "deciding...to sell" = good. Also, "during its reorg in 1958 = good.
E. by deciding at its reorganization in 1958 on the selling of. Proper idiom: decide TO sell

Please let me know thoughts. Also, kudos appreciated

- I don't necessarily agree with your point "we want to convey a clear point of time". We want to convey something that happened at a past event (the reorg, which took place in 1958). To clarify, 1958 reorg means just that...means a reorg that happened in 1958. please don't pretend like this meaning is ambiguous...I'm not sure where you live but in my personal experience, no one in the U.S. would dare bat an eye if you said this...they'd know exactly what you're talking about.
-- A&B

- i agree w/ your point in (C) re: a meaning change. i would describe it a little bit differently, but the gist is correct.

- i also agree on (E). pretty straightforward.

for the record, i still don't like "D" but it is what it is...

Yeah, the gist is that in 1958 is better than 1958 reorganization

Your reasoning is correct, except that I may add a few nitpicks.
The expression, 'the 1958 reorganization' is dubious. It leads to the argument that there may be a 1959 reorganization or a 1960 reorganization and so on. Second, the expression --its 1958 reorganization for deciding to sell on credit-- implies that the whole exercise of reorganization was intended only to move over to credit sales. This is illogical and is not what the passage intends to convey. We can drop A and B for these considerations also.
C also gives the absurd meaning that the reorganization was undertaken only to decide to sell on credit or (even worse) because it decided to sell on credit.

The J.C.Penney chain of retail stores broke with its conservative cash-and-carry policy during its 1958 reorganization for deciding to sell on credit.

A. during its 1958 reorganization for deciding to sell: policy during 1958
B. for the decision at its 1958 reorganization to sell: broke the policy for the decision
C. when it was reorganized in 1958 for its decision to sell: broke & reorganized are in same tense
D. in deciding during its reorganization in 1958 to sell: same as option A
E. by deciding at its reorganization in 1958 on the selling of: same as option A


BEST OF LUCK....

for + VERBing is an ADJECTIVE.
It must serve to modify a NOUN.
A: its reorganization for deciding to sell on credit
Here, for deciding seems to modify reorganization.
Question: What KIND of reorganization?
Answer: a reorganization FOR DECIDING TO SELL ON CREDIT
This meaning is illogical.
Eliminate A.

To break for lunch = to stop working in order to have lunch.
To break for the hills = to run toward to the hills.
B: J.C. Penny broke...for the decision
This meaning is nonsensical.
J.C Penny did not stop working in order to have a decision.
J.C Penny did not run toward the decision.
Eliminate B.
To break for X is a colloquial idiom that is unlikely to appear in an OA on the GMAT.

A party was organized for Mary.
Here, for Mary conveys that MARY BENEFITED from the organization of the party.
C: J.C. Penny...was reorganized...for its decision
Here, for its decision implies that the DECISION BENEFITED from the reorganization.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate C.

E: the selling of on credit
Here, on credit is a MODIFIER and thus cannot serve as the object of the preposition of.
Generally, the object of a preposition must be a noun or noun phrase.
Eliminate E.

Kaplan's Explanation:

Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:

The phrasing that J.C. Penney broke with its policy "for deciding to sell ..." is awkward. The preposition "for" is incorrect idiomatically. The words "by" or "in" would be correct. Also, the placement of "during its 1958 reorganization" is disruptive because as the sentence is written, this phrase modifies the verb "broke," telling when the break took place. The phrase should be closer to the word it modifies.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:

There is no obvious split among the answer choices, so you must consider them individually.

Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:

(A) can be eliminated based on the initial analysis of the sentence.

(B) places the 1958 phrase even further from the verb, keeps the unidiomatic "broke ... for" construction, and changes "during the ... reorganization" to the incorrect "for the ... reorganization." Eliminate (B).

(C) changes the meaning of the sentence by rephrasing it in a way that makes it sound as if the company was reorganized because it decided to sell on credit. This distorts the original intent of the sentence, so eliminate (C).

(E) starts promisingly with "broke ... by deciding." However, it can be eliminated because it uses the weak "by deciding … on the selling of …." If the phrasing were "by deciding … to sell," this would have been a contender for the correct choice. Also, (E) changes "during" to "at," which distorts the original meaning of the sentence.

(D) rephrases the underlined portion of the original sentence to correct the idiomatic expression. It also reorganizes the information so that "in 1958" now modifies "reorganization" and "during its reorganization" modifies "deciding"—the modifying phrases are next to the things they modify.

Read (D) into the sentence to confirm: "The J.C. Penney chain of retail stores broke with its conservative cash-and-carry policy in deciding during its reorganization in 1958 to sell on credit." (D) is indeed correct.

TAKEAWAY: Even if an answer choice contains no grammatical errors, it's wrong if it changes the meaning of the original sentence.

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