A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from

Question

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2) 
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A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from household soaps the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

A) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from household soaps the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

B) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

C) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banning the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

D) Because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit, a recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps.

E) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit, from household soaps.

generis · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)

THE PROMPT  
 
• Meaning and structure?
The sentence sets up a cause and effect relation. 
The ruling has banned the use of certain chemicals  because  they have not been shown to be safe.
→ In a cause-and-effect sentence, the word  because  is usually the clearest way to express the relationship.

THE OPTIONS  
 
• construction
→ the placement of  from household soaps  creates an awkward sentence.
→  from household soaps  should be placed right after the list of banned substances.
If the direct object of the verb is long or hard to follow (the  use  of X, Y, and Zs), we usually want to keep that direct object and its verb close together rather than insert a preposition ( from  and the indirect object ( household soaps ). (Indirect object? The chemicals are banned 
  from   what  ? From household soaps.)

• AND
→ The use of  and  fails to convey the causality inherent in the sentence. GMAC writers like this trap. Don't fall for it.
ELIMINATE A
 
• I do not see any errors
• This sentence is efficient. We know what was banned (the use of certain chemicals), and  from  what (household soaps), and why (because the chemicals are neither safe nor beneficial).
KEEP B

• The case of the Missing Verb
→ The subject of the main clause is  a ruling . That subject has no working verb.
We need  banned , not  banning .
The absence of a working verb creates a fragment.
ELIMINATE C

• modifier error - The clause  because they have not been shown to be safe  improperly tries to modify a recent FDA  ruling .
→ The introductory clause (the "because" clause) describes things that are not safe or beneficial. 
Whatever that clause describes should immediately follow the comma.
The ruling follows that comma. Wrong. 
First, the ruling is not unsafe. The chemicals are.
Second,  the ruling  is singular and does not agree with the plural  they  used in the introductory clause.
That is, the plural  they  in the opening modifying phrase is incorrectly describing the singular  ruling .
ELIMINATE D

→  From household soaps  is oddly stuck onto the end of the sentence.
In contrast to option A, in which  from household soaps  was placed close to the verb but intervened awkwardly between the verb and the direct object, in option E,  from household soaps  is too far away from its verb.

→ In a strict sense, the sentence is grammatical. It is also horrible. 
You do not need to recognize that fact immediately, but you do need to compare options B and E and to recognize that option B is leagues better than option E. 
In a comparison, option B wins.
ELIMINATE E

The correct answer is B.

NOTES  
 vatsal323  , you wrote:
 
Mmm, not quite. Option A is incorrect because it fails to convey causation.
We know that cause and effect exists because plural  they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.  can only belong to the other plural nouns:  triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics. 
We must infer from the other sentences that option A fails to convey the correct meaning.

In other words,  option A does not determine meaning. Please see the footnote*** below. 
I'll be more strident. I speak to everyone who does not truly believe me: read the footnote. 
Read the post to which it is linked. 
And read whatever else I link you all to.
I am not writing this stuff or hunting down examples for my health. 
(That's American vernacular. It means that I make the effort for you all, not for myself.)

Do not ever eliminate an option because it departs from what you think option A means.
Use all five options to determine the correct meaning.

I understand that you all are occasionally seeing OEs in which  many  test prep company writers say that an answer is wrong because it differs from the meaning in option A.
That reasoning is wrong. 
I also understand that some test prep companies still teach (today!) that option A determines meaning.
I wish they would stop. I'm playing whack a mole. See my footnote, in which I explain this issue and quote part of another post of mine.*

With respect to the highlighted portion, I like the way that you are trying to analyze meaning, but you are operating from a faulty premise, a fact that will steer you to faulty conclusions.

I am really glad that you asked the question. I am sure that others wondered about what you asked.

COMMENTS

vatsal323  , welcome to SC Butler.

I am glad to see that the Butler crew is working hard.
I know these days are hard.
Whoever studies even a little should be proud.
Be especially proud if you post, learn a concept, take a practice quiz, or challenge yourself in some small way that has absolutely nothing to do with the GMAT..

And if you cannot find the energy or time to study for a little while, that's okay, too.

jhavyom  and  Rajat8  , I am bumping you to Best Community Reply.

Nice work, everyone. Stay safe.

*****

****  There is nothing special about option A.

Some prep companies teach that option A determines the intended meaning.
Many older posts on many forums inaccurately repeat this same not-rule.
Option A does not determine the intended meaning.

The most logical, grammatical, and rhetorically effective sentence presents the intended meaning.
If that answer changes the meaning of A, that fact is fine.

Please see  this post, here  in which I give three official examples (of many) to demonstrate that option A does not determine intended meaning.

The three experts below collectively possess more than forty years' of experience teaching the GMAT. They too say that there is nothing special about option A.
 GMATNinja  ,  HERE,  Dmitry Farber,  here,  and Ron Purewal,  HERE.

Very frequently we can figure out meaning from the non-underlined portion of the prompt, a fact that may make it seem as if option A determines meaning.
(To state the obvious: Option A is the underlined portion of the prompt.)
 
Option A may happen to fit grammatically and rhetorically 20% of the time, but that fact does not mean that option A is the originally intended meaning.

I have no idea why this myth is still being taught.
I have watched too many people reject a correct official answer because they believed it changed or seemed to change the meaning of option A, or because it was missing a word that (A) contained -- even though the rejected choice was grammatical and better than any of the other four answers including Option A.

One last time:  There is nothing special about option A.  
Okay, GMAT soldiers -- onward.
You can find this analysis in my post,  here .

jhavyom · Answer

A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from household soaps the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

A) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from household soaps the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.
The second clause is the justification of the first clause. So, the use of 'and' is incorrect.
Same can be shown by 'comma+ing' or because.

B) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.
Correct

C) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banning the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.
Fragment

D) Because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit, a recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps.
Misplaced modifier, 'Because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit' incorrectly refers to ruling

E) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit, from household soaps.
'from household soaps' is incorrectly placed.

Choice B is the answer.

RajatJ79 · Answer

A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from household soaps the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

Pre-thinking :  Sentence Structure  can be made better.

A) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling  banned from household soaps the use of  triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

B) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling   banned the use of   triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics   from household soaps because   they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

C) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling  banning  the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.
 Incorrect form 'banning' should be used as 'banned' in the sentence.

D) Because they have not been shown to be safe or even to  have any benefit, a recent U.S. Food and drug Administration  ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps.
 'recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling' is incorrectly modified by 'they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit'

E) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit,  from household soaps .
 'from household soaps' should be closer to the 'triclosan ...' as it modifies 'triclosan ...'
 
 IMO answer should be option B

winterschool · Answer

A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from household soaps the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

A) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned  from household soaps  the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.  Incorrect

misplaced - from household soaps 
and uses wrong, parallelism problem

B)  A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.   Correct

C) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling  banning  the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.  Incorrect

ruling banning - participle form wrong

D) Because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit,  a recent U.S. Food and drug Administration  ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps.  Incorrect

they indicates a recent U.S. Food and drug Administration - logically wrong

E) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit , from household soaps.   Incorrect

from household soaps after ',' changes meaning

I prefer B over D because reference of they requires to place first in following clause
so, I think Answer B

zhanbo · Answer

My answer is  (B) . It took me 01:18.

(A) This version suffers from two issues. (1) It will be more natural and easier to read if "from household soaps" is moved after “the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics” (2) "and" after the comma fails to convey the relationship between two IC.

(B) It corrects two issues in (A). Keep.

(C) Fragment because there is no main verb in what is supposed to be the main clause.

(D) In comparison with (B), we find that this version keeps readers guessing what "they" refer to in "because" clause. It is not grammatically wrong, but it is nevertheless not as clear as (B).

(E) ", from household soaps" is awkwardly placed at the end.

sumitkrocks · Answer

A) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling  banned from household soaps  the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics,  and  they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

B) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

C)  A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banning the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

No main verb

D) Because  they  have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit,  a recent U.S. Food and drug Administration  ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps.
Wrong modification

E) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit , from household soaps.

B is the correct option IMO

carouselambra · Answer

IMO B

A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from household soaps the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

A) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned  from household soaps the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics,  and  they  have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.
Ambiguous antecedent pointer

B) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling  banned  the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics  from  household soaps  because  they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.
Correct.

C) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling  banning the use of  triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

D) Because  they  have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit,  a recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling  banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics  from household soaps. 
Incorrect usage of modifier.

E) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit,  from household soaps. 
Changes the meaning of the sentence to an incorrect one.

monk123 · Answer

A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from household soaps the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

A) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling  banned from household soaps  the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit. -  changed the meaning

B) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit. -  CORRECT, simple and clear

C) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration  ruling banning  the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit. -  changed the meaning

D) Because  they  have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit,  a recent U.S. Food and drug Administration  ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps. -  wrong modifier

E) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any  benefit, from household soaps.

TarunKumar1234 · Answer

A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from household soaps the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit.

A) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from household soaps the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics, and they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit. Incorrect

misplaced - from household soaps
and uses wrong, parallelism problem

B) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit. Correct

C) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banning the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit. Incorrect

ruling banning - participle form wrong

D) Because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit, a recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics from household soaps. Incorrect

they indicates a recent U.S. Food and drug Administration - logically wrong

E) A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned the use of triclosan, triclocarban, and seventeen other antiseptics because they have not been shown to be safe or even to have any benefit, from household soaps. Incorrect

from household soaps after ',' changes meaning

I prefer B over D because reference of they requires to place first in following clause
so, I think Answer B

vatsal323 · Answer

One doubt - can we eliminate option D & E using the following logic :

The question stem clearly implies that the use of some substances were banned and that they also had no benefits. It does not imply that the substances were banned because of the reasons mentioned (it could be that the substances were banned due to reasons not mentioned here)

And option D & E introduce the term 'because', which changes the meaning of the sentence

Is this a correct approach?

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here .

A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

A recent U.S. Food and drug Administration ruling banned from

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