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Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
NeverSurrender wrote:
The rebel group that has visited the operations headquarters say its decisions balances the interests of the main players: Egypt provides funding and pushes for greater rebel support, Turkey manages the border and urges caution, and the United States supervises and maintains a veto on weapon shipments.
A) The rebel group that has visited the operations headquarters say its decisions balances the interests of the main players: Egypt provides funding and pushes for greater rebel support, Turkey manages the border and urges caution, and the United States supervises and maintains a veto on weapon shipments.
B) The rebel group who has visited the operations headquarters says its decisions balances the interests of the main players; Egypt provides funding and pushes for greater rebel support, Turkey manages the border and urges caution, and the United States supervises, maintaining a veto on weapon shipments.
C) The rebel group who has visited the operations headquarters says its decisions balance the interests of the main players, Egypt provides funding and pushes for greater rebel support, Turkey manages the border and urges caution, and the United States supervises, maintaining a veto on weapon shipments.
D) The rebel group that has visited the operations headquarters says its decisions balance the interests of the main players: Egypt provides funding and pushes for greater rebel support; Turkey manages the border and urges caution; and the United States supervises, maintaining a veto on weapon shipments.
E) The rebel group that has visited the operations headquarters say its decisions balance the interests of the main players: Egypt provides funding and pushes for greater rebel support and Turkey manages the border and urges caution; the United States supervises and maintains a veto on weapon shipments.
Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the rebel group that has visited the operations headquarters says its decisions balance the interests of the main players in that Egypt provides funding and pushes for greater rebel support; Turkey manages the border and urges caution, and the United States supervises, and in doing so maintains a veto on weapon shipments.
Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Meaning + Pronouns + Grammatical Construction• Collective nouns (such as "group" in this sentence) are always singular.
• "who" is only used for referring to human beings.
• If a phrase is subordinate to another in terms of importance (or sharing a cause-effect relationship), the phrases do not maintain parallelism.
• The introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “maintaining” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.
• A comma cannot join two independent clauses; such usage leads to the error of comma splice; to correct this error, the comma must be replaced with semicolon or comma followed by a conjunction such as "and", "but" etc.
• The colon is used to introduce a list, a definition/explanation, or an answer/solution.
A: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "group" with the plural verb "say"; please remember, collective nouns (such as "group" in this sentence) are always singular. Moreover, Option A incorrectly refers to the plural noun "decisions" with the singular verb "balances". Further, Option A alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "supervises and maintains"; parallelism between the cause ("the United States supervises") and effect ("the United States...maintains a veto" incorrectly implies that the United States supervises, and
in a separate action maintains a veto on weapon shipments; the intended meaning is that the United States supervises, and
in doing so maintains a veto on weapon shipments; please remember, if a phrase is subordinate to another in terms of importance (or sharing a cause-effect relationship), the phrases do not maintain parallelism. Additionally, Option A incorrectly uses commas to link the independent clauses "Egypt provides...support", "Turkey manages...caution"; please remember, a comma cannot join two independent clauses; such usage leads to the error of comma splice; to correct this error, the comma must be replaced with semicolon or comma followed by a conjunction such as "and", "but" etc.
B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "decisions" with the singular verb "balances". Further, Option B incorrectly refers to the non-human entity "rebel group" with the pronoun "who"; please remember, "who" is only used for referring to human beings. Additionally, Option B incorrectly uses commas to link the independent clauses "Egypt provides...support", "Turkey manages...caution"; please remember, a comma cannot join two independent clauses; such usage leads to the error of comma splice; to correct this error, the comma must be replaced with semicolon or comma followed by a conjunction such as "and", "but" etc.
C: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the non-human entity "rebel group" with the pronoun "who"; please remember, "who" is only used for referring to human beings. Further, Option C incorrectly uses a comma to introduce an explanation; please remember, the colon is used to introduce an explanation. Moreover, Option C incorrectly uses commas to link the independent clauses "Egypt provides...support", and "Turkey manages...caution"; please remember, a comma cannot join two independent clauses; such usage leads to the error of comma splice; to correct this error, the comma must be replaced with semicolon or comma followed by a conjunction such as "and", "but" etc.
D: This answer choice correctly refers to the singular noun "group" with the singular verb "says" and correctly refers to the plural noun "decisions" with the plural verb "balance". Further, Option D correctly refers to the non-human entity "group" with the pronoun "that". Moreover, Option D uses the phrase "maintaining a veto", conveying the intended meaning - that the United States supervises, and
in doing so maintains a veto on weapon shipments; please remember, the introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “maintaining” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship. Additionally, Option D correctly uses a semicolon to introduce an explanation. Besides, Option D correctly uses a semicolon to join the independent clauses "Egypt provides funding and pushes for greater rebel support" and "Turkey manages the border and urges caution"
E: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "group" with the plural verb "say"; please remember, collective nouns (such as "group" in this sentence) are always singular. Moreover, Option E incorrectly refers to the plural noun "decisions" with the singular verb "balances". Further, Option E alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "supervises and maintains"; parallelism between the cause ("the United States supervises") and effect ("the United States...maintains a veto" incorrectly implies that the United States supervises, and
in a separate action maintains a veto on weapon shipments; the intended meaning is that the United States supervises, and
in doing so maintains a veto on weapon shipments; please remember, if a phrase is subordinate to another in terms of importance (or sharing a cause-effect relationship), the phrases do not maintain parallelism. Additionally, Option E incorrectly uses a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) to join the independent clauses "Egypt provides funding and pushes for greater rebel support" and "Turkey manages the border and urges caution".
Hence, D is the best answer choice.To understand the use of punctuations on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~9 minutes):
To understand the concept of "Comma plus Present Participle for Cause Effect relationship" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~3 minutes):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
close
11 Jun 2014, 18:58
45%
(medium)
34%
(01:58)
wrong 
