Hey All,

Just to make it clear, the only real issue in this question is idiomatic, not strictly grammatical.

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,
PROBLEM: "Without permission" is the idiom, not "without any permission". Permission is kinda like water. You can't have a water (or a permission). "Any" is indefinite, just like "a", and it's wrong.

(B) which a commoner or foreigner could enter without any permission only
PROBLEM: The wording here makes it sounds as if they COULD enter as long as they DID NOT have permission. That's totally wrong. They can only enter WITH permission. Also, what is the "only" doing there? It should modify "enter", if anything. Here, it modifies "permission".

(C) which no commoner or foreigner could enter without permission,
ANSWER: Looks good.

(D) which, without permission, neither commoner or foreigner could only enter,
PROBLEM: It's unclear what "without permission" is modifying (should be enter). Also, the "only" is confusingly placed again.

(E) which, to enter without permission, neither commoner or foreigner could do,
PROBLEM: This one is just ridiculous.

Hope that helps!

-tommy
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1. Neither ...nor, so D and E out
2. the permission applied to everyone, but A and B cannot convey the meaning "the permission applying to everyone", only "a commoner" or 1 person. A and B out

C remains
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I think the correct answer is B.
the message of this sentence should be "A commoner and foreigner could enter without any permission only if they do not hesitate to die."
This is a though question because the answer choises of A,B,C are all plausible.

(A)incorrect-I cannot point out gramatical error other than that of meaning.
(B)correct-This provides clearest sentence structure and meaning.
(C)incorrect-the same reason as (A)
(D)incorrect-wrong idiom, neither or awkward sentence
(E)incorrect-wrong idiom, neither or awkward sentence

I agree that GMAT always tries to confuse us. But I think that the sentence is clear. It doesn't mean that nobody is allowed to enter. Only commoners and foreigners needed a special permit. I guess the royal class and members of the government could enter. The phrase "on pain of death" just mentions the consequences of violating the law. It means that the penalty was very serious. You couldn't get away with a fine or time on jail. You would pay with your life. That serious was the law. And that phrase just means to put emphasis on that.

Even I have have the same question - on pain of death (what???)

I guess there was a typo. It should be "or" - or pain or death.
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Hey All,

"On pain of..." is an idiomatic expression. You'll have to look it up to get all the various details. It is a modifier that modifies whatever action was prohibited in the sentence. From a meaning perspective, it just means "If you do [whatever was prohibited in the sentence], you'll be punished with [whatever comes after the idiomatic expression]". It's not modifying a noun, it's modifying a clause, so it doesn't need to touch anything in particular, so it isn't "dangling" in any way.

It is definitely NOT a typo ("or pain of death"), just an idiomatic expression with a VERY specific meaning. Here it is in my mac dictionary:

on (or under) pain of the penalty for disobedience or shortcoming being

Hope that helps!

-tommy
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How can "which" appear without a comma?
Thanks.
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One more try.- could you explain this?
Thanks in advance.
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757. 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,
(B) which a commoner or foreigner could enter without any permission only
(C) which no commoner or foreigner could enter without permission,
(D) which, without permission, neither commoner or foreigner could only enter,
(E) which, to enter without permission, neither commoner or foreigner could do,



Please explain the structure of the sentence , what is the role of "on pain of death"??
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Shikhar

When Option B read clearly, states " A commoner or foreigner could enter without any permission" . whereas the actual argument states that a foreigner/commoner could not enter without permission.........die.

Let me know if this clarifies