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555-605 Level|   Clauses|   Meaning/Logical Predication|   Pronouns|                  
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was Updated on: 03 Jun 2021, 01:28
Originally posted by seofah on 17 Jun 2007, 05:05.
Last edited by Bunuel on 03 Jun 2021, 01:28, edited 5 times in total.
Edited the question.
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

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35% (medium)

Question Stats:

69% (01:38) correct 31% (01:52) wrong based on 9124 sessions

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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.


(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure

(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure

(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it

(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria

(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it


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Guys, this question was asked a few times.
It is an excellent question to learn from.
Please take time to explain thoroughly.
Thanks! :)

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/06/books/nonfiction-in-brief-003388.html

In addition to its strategic proximity to the Straits of Gibraltar, Morocco was of interest to the French because without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure. Mr. Porch describes with flourishes the period between 1903 and 1912 during which France ''nibbled'' away at Morocco until she digested her into the empire.
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 09 Aug 2007, 01:40
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bmw, thanks for bringing the question back!
OA is B

Lets see B:
Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure

Oranges agree with each other
Blues agree with each other

beckee, the above is slightly different to what you stated; you may wish to revisit or show that I am bullsh*tting :-D

For analysis of other choice, see below:
botirvoy


59. Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.
(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
wrong usage of contional sentence -"was" is wrongly used; change of meaning via "insecure"
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure CORRECT -OA!
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
wrong usage of contional sentence; "was not ever"?? -out!
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
"that" is ambiguous; badly constructed
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it
inverted; does not tally well with ununderlined section;wrong usage of contional sentence
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 22 Sep 2011, 08:01
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Multiple issues:
1. This construction implies a conditional. Check the if constrcution.
Also note that, not every conditional requires an if.Also, then can be correctly omitted from If-then constructions.
One more rule. was cannot be used in conditional's mail clause. Conditional calls for would
We have a split between if and non-if clauses. Both splits are correct, because the non-if clause still correctly indicates the meaning of a conditional. subject assumed that without something, something would happen - A clear conditional.
Choice A uses was in place of would - incorrect
Choice B correct use of would
Choice C - again, incorrect was
Choice D - could - an acceptable conditional but changes the meaning
choice E - would - correct

Other issues
A - wordy, awkward
B - correct
C - not ever: wordy ; what does pronoun it refer to? Morocco, Algeria or grip?
D - that - incorrect pronoun, could: changes meaning.
E - Correct verb, correct tense. but - the inversion? Only in poems, not on the gmat. and the pronoun it again.
(Note however that I have seen many OG problems whose correct choices have a pronoun with multiple possible antecedents. I would suggest that one doesn't eliminate such choices right away only on this basis)
One more issue: Secure about theri grip in C has different meaning than intended; intended meaning is a secure grip.
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 23 Jul 2012, 10:30
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WhyabloodyMBA
Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it
Show more

Let's try to solve this with the e-GMAT process.

Meaning:
The sentence is telling us that Morocco was of interest to the French throughout (for the entire time) of the first half of the 20th century (so 1900-1950 approximately) for two reasons:
- It (referring to Morocco) was close to the Strait of Gibraltar and;
- It (referring to Morocco) was needed to keep a strong grip on Algeria, and without Morocco, this grip on Algeria would not last

Error analysis:
Clause 1: Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century
Clause 2: because they assumed
Clause 3: that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

Clause 1 has correct subject verb agreement as well as correct placement of modifier "affording strategic..." clearly modifying "Morocco." Correct tense. No errors here.
Clause 2: correct subject verb agreement, correct tense. No errors here.
Clause 3: "they" and "their" refers to "the French" which is correct. Therefore, there is no pronoun error. However, there is tense error with the second part of clause 3 "their grip on Alberia was always insecure." It cannot be that the French always had an insecure grip on Algeria since the conditional statement is setting up a hypothetical situation. Therefore the word "would" be more appropriate here resulting in: their grip on Algeria would always be insecure.

Answer Choice Analysis:
A: wrong for reason mentioned above
B: correct answer.
C: their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it. Repeats the same error as choice a. Also uses "not ever secure" which is needlessly wordy and awkward. The "it" in this choice can refer to "grip on Algeria" or "Algeria" or "Morocco". Leads to confusion. Incorrect.
D: What is "that" referring to? It's not the right pronoun to refer to Morocco; a simple "it" is enough. Incorrect.
E: repeats pronoun error from choice c.

Correct answer: B
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was Updated on: 01 Aug 2023, 08:34
Originally posted by GMATNinja on 08 Mar 2023, 17:26.
Last edited by GMATNinjaTwo on 01 Aug 2023, 08:34, edited 1 time in total.
fixed mistake in explanation of B
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ashardeep128
GMATNinja, can you please help with the explanation?
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Quote:
(A) Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.
Show more
The first thing I notice here is the "if" construction. Because we're introducing a conditional scenario, we need "would" in the second part of that construction.

    "If Tim forgot to study, he would fail the test."

That's fine. Here we see the consequences Tim would face if he didn't study.

    "If Tim forgot to study, he failed the test."

Not fine! Now it seems like Tim actually failed. But if Tim actually failed, why is this whole sentence framed with the conditional "if?" That's a problem.

(A) is more like the second example. We get "was," making it sound like the grip was actually insecure, as opposed to conveying what would be true in a hypothetical situation.

So (A) is out.

Quote:
(B) Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure.
Show more
Looks good. Now we get the conditional "would," so the main problem in (A) is fixed.

And of the pronouns here all seem to point to something logical. "It" is "Morocco," and "their" refers to "the French." So let's hold on to (B).

Quote:
(C) Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it.
Show more
Same problem as (A): this option uses "was" when we want the conditional "would" instead. (C) is gone.

Quote:
(D) Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria.
Show more
The phrase "that without that" makes my head hurt. If you read it a few times you can figure out what the author means -- the first "that" is introducing a clause and the second "that" appears to be a pronoun standing for "the Strait of Gibraltar." While that's not an absolute grammatical error, it's far less clear than (B).

Then there's the phrase "they could never be secure about their grip." This seems to suggest that the French might feel insecure about their grip. What does that even mean? That the French might think that "Algeria" is cheating on them with other colonial powers?

Contrast this nonsense with the meaning in (B), which conveys a scenario in which the grip itself might be insecure. That's way more logical in this context.

So (D) is out.

Quote:
(E) Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it.
Show more
The phrase "they assumed that never would their grip on Algeria be secure" might not be grammatically incorrect, but it's a hot mess, and you need to read it several times to make sense of it.

Also, by including the conditional "would" part of the construction before the "if" component, at first we're left to think that the French just assumed their grip on Algeria would never be secure in general, before discovering that this is the case only if the French did not hold the Strait of Gibraltar. Inherently wrong? No. But it's confusing.

If (B) is clearer and less confusing than (E), it's better. So (B) is our answer.
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 08 Aug 2007, 23:53
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botirvoy
Guys, this question was asked a few times.
It is an excellent question to learn from.
Please take time to explain thoroughly.
Thanks! :)

59. Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.
(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it
Show more


got B for the answer
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure

it - refers to grip
their - refers back to the French
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 09 Aug 2007, 11:23
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botirvoy
bmw, thanks for bringing the question back!
OA is B

Lets see B:
Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure

Oranges agree with each other
Blues agree with each other

beckee, the above is slightly different to what you stated; you may wish to revisit or show that I am bullsh*tting :-D

For analysis of other choice, see below:
botirvoy


59. Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.
(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
wrong usage of contional sentence -"was" is wrongly used; change of meaning via "insecure"
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure CORRECT -OA!
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
wrong usage of contional sentence; "was not ever"?? -out!
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
"that" is ambiguous; badly constructed
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it
inverted; does not tally well with ununderlined section;wrong usage of contional sentence
Show more


Two thumbs up to the coloring scheme AND the explanation! Good job!!
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 10 Aug 2007, 08:38
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botirvoy
Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it
Show more


I too take B but on different ground. apart from the pronoun issue, other choices are incorrect because of tense issue. Since "they assumed" is a speculation in the past, we need "would". therefore I like B.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure .................. tense (was) problem.
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure.....correct
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it .................. tense (was) problem.
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria.................. tense (could) problem and awkward.
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it.............................. pronoun problem and also changes the meaning of the sentence.

I guess this one is nice question.
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 22 Jul 2009, 12:47
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This question was hard to me as well:

A "if they did not hold it," is too wordy
B CORRECT without it, it is Marroco. They were trying to hold Marroco.
C "if they did not hold it," is too wordy
D "without that" has no reference
E "if they did not hold it," is too wordy
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 14 Jul 2010, 13:25
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WhyabloodyMBA
Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure tense problem
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure tense is correct and conditional tense is used
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it tense problem
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria that cannot be used in the place of a pronoun/antecedent
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it
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awkward and logical sequence is disturbed


my explanation in red
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 16 Aug 2012, 19:49
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The word "that" is used to refer to a concept--in this case, it feels like it would actually refer to "strategic proximity".

"I love him." That is what I said. That refers to the phrase. I can't say for sure that it is ALWAYS this way, but generally that replaces a phrase or a concept, not an object.
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 16 Aug 2012, 20:01
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machichi
The word "that" is used to refer to a concept--in this case, it feels like it would actually refer to "strategic proximity".

"I love him." That is what I said. That refers to the phrase. I can't say for sure that it is ALWAYS this way, but generally that replaces a phrase or a concept, not an object.
Show more

Thanks for your response but does not look like that it is always true. I just found below defination for that and it as pronoun. I know OG author won't be wrong but would like to understand that can we generalize this idea or it is just applicable in few instances :?:

Pronoun that :
1.(used to indicate a person, thing, idea, state, event, time, remark, etc., as pointed out or present, mentioned before, supposed to be understood, or by way of emphasis): That is her mother. After that we saw each other.
2.(used to indicate one of two or more persons, things, etc., already mentioned, referring to the one more remote in place, time, or thought; opposed to this ): This is my sister and that's my cousin.
3.(used to indicate one of two or more persons, things, etc., already mentioned, implying a contrast or contradistinction; opposed to this ): This suit fits better than that.
4.(used as the subject or object of a relative clause, especially one defining or restricting the antecedent, sometimes replaceable by who, whom, or which ): the horse that he bought.
5.(used as the object of a preposition, with the preposition standing at the end of a relative clause): the farm that I spoke of.

Pronoun IT
1.(used to represent an inanimate thing understood, previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or present in the immediate context): It has whitewall tires and red upholstery. You can't tell a book by its cover.
2.(used to represent a person or animal understood, previously mentioned, or about to be mentioned whose gender is unknown or disregarded): It was the largest ever caught off the Florida coast. Who was it? It was John. The horse had its saddle on.
3.(used to represent a group understood or previously mentioned): The judge told the jury it must decide two issues.
4.(used to represent a concept or abstract idea understood or previously stated): It all started with Adam and Eve. He has been taught to believe it all his life.
5.(used to represent an action or activity understood, previously mentioned, or about to be mentioned): Since you don't like it, you don't have to go skiing.
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 29 Aug 2012, 07:46
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What happens between the use of that and it, as I see, is that while – that- could be used only in places where you can physically point one or the other, usually the distant thing, such as only in conversations with someone else; to that extent, the more informal usage of the demonstrative pronoun is not usable interchangeably with - it-
Hence the concept cited by GMATPrep in this case is universal, IMO. This is a general point, and save for the disclaimer that there may be some odd cases, where this rule may be breached,of which I am not aware.
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 23 Aug 2013, 15:27
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
Wrong. Grammar problem. If + simple past, then + would ==> "was" is incorrect.

(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
Correct. Normally, pronoun should refer to CLOSEST antecedent --> "It" refers to "Morocco" correctly.

(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
Wrong. Grammar problem. Same as A. "was" is incorrect.

(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
Wrong. "that" is wrong, "it" is correct. (We use "that/those" for different copies of antecedents).

(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it
Wrong. The structure of E is: X was of interest to Y because Y assumed that never would Y's grip on Z be secure if Y did not hold "it". if "it" refers to CLOSEST noun --> "it" refers to Z (Algeria). That's wrong.

TAKEAWAY: be ware of "middle man", (noun/noun phrase between antecedents and pronouns)
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 21 Dec 2013, 03:36
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First of all the part of the sentence must be underlined and the title of the post must be the first sentence of the question.

Thanks

Back to your question

SV: No error:
V: Conditional tense rule violated as if <past> , then <would> is correct usage and not if <past> , then <was> is not correct usage
Pronoun: correct : they / thier logially and unambigously refer to french and it logicaly refers to morocco
Parallelism: Not tested and hence no error
Meaning: No error
Modifier: No error
Idioms: Not tested and hence no error
Others: None


I do not agreee on that point because you always have a meaning on a sentence. You certainly could eliminate the wrong answer based on meaning/grammar errors

Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century becuase they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

a) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure

they assumed that if they......is already wrong just only to see this construction. If this is not enough for you, the sentence is constructed really really bad because the core part of the same is putted as an incidental phrase that we do not know what it modifies. let's take a look:

Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century becuase they assumed that if they did not hold it , their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

Notice how the main part is between TWO commas and this is non sensical. Even Without spotting a gramma error or a meaning issue or else: option A is wrong

b) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure

Correct

c) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it

here what the sentence says to us is this: if we do not have the grip we are insicure ?? we are insicure woithout a grip ???? just crazy. we are talking about countries not a grip; the grip should work as a means

d) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria

they assumed that ............without that, they could............Moreover, they are not secure about a possible attack via marocco up to France or they are not secure about the grip ???

e) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it.

Once again: the grip is the pivotal point.............

As you can see, you could pick the right answer only basing your decision on meaning AND grammar rules or meaning solely.

Hope this helps.

regards
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 23 Dec 2013, 11:34
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rahulvv
Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century becuase they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

a) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
b) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
c) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
d) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
e) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it.


Meaning: reason for why was morocco important to french

Error analysis: C1- Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century
C2- becuase they assumed
C3 that if they did not hold it,
C4-their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

SV: No error:
V: Conditional tense rule violated as if <past> , then <would> is correct usage and not if <past> , then <was> is not correct usage
Pronoun: correct : they / thier logially and unambigously refer to french and it logicaly refers to morocco
Parallelism: Not tested and hence no error
Meaning: No error
Modifier: No error
Idioms: Not tested and hence no error
Others: None

POE:
a) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
Faulty as pointed above

b) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure

Although would is used correctly but in the if, then construction 'if' is not used. From the theory taught in the verb conditional concept
i have learned that then may be ommited but if should always be present. Can you please explain then why B is correct though 'if' is ommited

c) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it

Conditional error as in A pronoun reference error as well- 'it' can refer to both algeria and morrocco

d) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria

pronoun error- that can not be used in place of it to refer to morrocco

Conditional errror: Assumption, so would need to be used in place of could

e) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it.

Pronoun error as 'it' can refer to both algeria and morrocco.
I could not find any other error in this choice


Can you please share your view on the analysis posted above. Also please explain why the usage of if , then construction is correct in B though 'if' is missing

PS:i understand that 'would can be used without a condition but here as there is a condition so i expect that whole if, then framework must be used (ofcourse then can be ommited but not if as mentioned in the concept file of verb conditional)


Thanks in advance
Rahul Vijay
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Hi Rahul,

Thanks for posting your doubt here. :-)

The first thing we need to notice here is that the original sentence does use the "if... then..."construction. However, that is not the case with the Correct answer choice B. The tense that this choice has is basically past-future of "will" that is "would".

In the time frame of past, when we speak of a future event, then we use "would" for such an event. For example:

Shahjahan was not aware that his son Aurangzeb would be responsible for the downfall of the Mughal Empire.

Same is the usage of "would" in the correct answer choice B. At that time, French thought without their grip on the Strait of Gibraltar, their grip on Algeria would not be secure.

So we actually do not have any "if... then..." construction here.

Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 21 Jun 2016, 04:15
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Following "then", the auxiliary verb has to be would/could. Only answer D fixes the problem without introducing new ones.
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 21 Jun 2016, 08:48
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HiLine
Following "then", the auxiliary verb has to be would/could. Only answer D fixes the problem without introducing new ones.
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure.

Answer will be (B)
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 21 Jun 2016, 11:59
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origen87
Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it

Show more

Whenever something is mentioned in past keeping future in mind, we use 'would' form of verb.

In this sentence, french people assumed something about future in the past.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure. 'was' is not showing the result that french wanted.
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure. Correct choice because 'would' is correctly showing the intended result in future
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it. 'Was' is wrong
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria. 'we want to know their grip on Algeria' and not 'about security'
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it. 'it' refers to what?
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Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was 22 Sep 2016, 23:54
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anyone can help pronoun issue?

why it refers to Morocco in B, IMO, pronoun "it " is ambiguous, because the pronoun "it" can refer to Morocco, also Strait or Gibraltar

thanks in advance

have a nice day
>_~
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