It seems that I have not understood the SC. I chose B . What is the OA?

The Forbidden City in Beijing, from which the emperors ruled by heavenly mandate, was a site which a commoner or foreigner could not enter without any permission, on pain of death.

(A) which a commoner or foreigner could not enter without any permission,
correct, clear, short
(B) which a commoner or foreigner could enter without any permission only
wrong, means that a commoner could enter without permission
(C) which no commoner or foreigner could enter without permission,
double negative, which is more complicated and amiguous than (A)
(D) which, without permission, neither commoner or foreigner could only enter,
wordy
(E) which, to enter without permission, neither commoner or foreigner could do,
wordy

B, D, and E are out right away. We are left w/ A n C.

(A) The FCB, from which the emperors ruled by heavenly mandate, was a site which a commoner or foreigner could not enter without any permission.

(C) The FCB, from which the emperors ruled by heavenly mandate, was a site which no commoner or foreigner could enter without permission.

I think C is less wordy and proper.

Agree, I think either you have permission or you don't. I think preposition "any" is wrong.

Agree with OA. It is clearly A.

if your concern is C then what about Conjunction NO..... OR ( it should be
Neither...... nor )
You can rule out D, E for same reasons.
In B the word ONLY is unclear.

no...or is not wrong

look at example below-

The original employees hired, who had been there for over twenty years, were fiercely loyal to the firm and it offered no retirement benefits or profit sharing to any employees.


A and it offered no
B and it offered neither
C still it offered neither
D though it offered no
E though it offered neither

here the answer is D, and there is no....or

hence, the answer for 'forbidden city' question should be C. I'm surprised OA is A.

OA is actually C!!!!!!!!!!! Check out 1000SC , question under 757...

Well done r019h!

The Forbidden City in Beijing, from which the emperors ruled by heavenly mandate, was a site which a commoner or foreigner could not enter without any permission, on pain of death.

Let us substitute the following -C with ( or without) a full stop at the end
which no commoner or foreigner could enter without permission.

The Forbidden City in Beijing, from which the emperors ruled by heavenly mandate, was a site which no commoner or foreigner could enter without permission. on pain of death.

How would you account for " on pain of death" if you pick C.

Now check B -
.......a site which a commoner or foreigner could enter without any permission only on pain of death.

This takes care of the last part of the sentence without any awkward punctuation marks and makes perfect sense - they can enter without any permission - no problem - but only on pain of death.

I'll pick B.

Let us check a different sentence
meaning : if you are told to do something on pain of death, you will be killed if you do not do it.
They had been told to leave their homes by noon on pain of death

A person can enter X without permission only on the pain of death => meaning is "a person can enter without permission only if he is willing to play with his life."

A person cannot enter X without permission, on pain of death => absurd meaning

It should be B. It only gives the correct meaning. The modifier in C "on the pain of death" is absurd according to the meaning.