Bunuel wrote:
An academic institution that has granted tenure to one of its employees will
be prevented from terminating his or her employment lacking some just cause.
A. be prevented from terminating his or her employment lacking some just cause
B. be prevented at terminating their employment without just cause
C. be prevented from terminating his or her employment should there be no just cause for it
D. be prevented from terminating his or her employment without just cause
E. prevent terminating his employment if there is a lack of just cause to do so
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
An academic institution that has granted tenure to one of its employees will be prevented from terminating his or her employment lacking some just cause.A. be prevented from terminating his or her employment lacking some just cause
This GMAT question presents different ways of creating a condition. While the words if/unless are a very common way of introducing the condition part of the sentence, there are other alternative constructions, such as "lacking", "should there be", "without", etc.
1. If there is a snowstorm tomorrow, schools will close.
2. Should there be a snowstorm tomorrow, schools will close.
3. Unless children dress warmly, they are liable to catch cold in the snow.
4. Lacking warm clothes, the children are liable to catch cold in the snow.
5. Without warm clothes, the children are liable to catch cold in the snow.
This answer choice is grammatically incorrect and illogical. First, the article some can describe only plural count nouns or non-count nouns whereas the noun cause is a a singular count noun.
What helps us identify this mistake is the following Stop Sign:
some, much, (a) little, less, the amount of
Next, lacking some just cause is illogically placed after the noun employment but it should appear after an academic institution, because it's the institution, not the employment, who is lacking (missing) a just cause.B. be prevented at terminating their employment without just cause
While this answer choice corrects the original Parts of Speech mistake, it is grammatically incorrect. The plural pronoun their is used to refer to one of its employees, which is a singular noun phrase.
Furthermore, the phrase prevented at is non-idiomatic. The verb prevent is used with the preposition from, and the correct idiom is prevent A from doing B, or in the passive voice: A is/was prevented from doing B.C. be prevented from terminating his or her employment should there be no just cause for it
While this answer choice corrects the original illogical modifier placement and Parts of Speech mistake, it is grammatically incorrect and stylistically inferior.
The pronoun it is incorrectly used to refers to a previously mentioned verb (terminating). To refer to a previously mentioned verb, the phrase to do so or doing so should be used.
What helps us identify this question as a Pronoun question is the following Stop Sign:
Any pronoun in the underlined part or after it.
In addition, this answer choice is stylistically flawed. The phrase should there be no just cause for it is awkward and wordy.D. be prevented from terminating his or her employment without just cause
This answer choice corrects the original mistakes by changing the modifying phrase lacking some just cause with the more concise phrase without just cause.E. prevent terminating his employment if there is a lack of just cause to do so
This GMAT question presents different ways of creating a condition. While the words if/unless are a very common way of introducing the condition part of the sentence, there are other alternative constructions, such as "lacking", "should there be", "without", etc.
1. If there is a snowstorm tomorrow, schools will close.
2. Should there be a snowstorm tomorrow, schools will close.
3. Unless children dress warmly, they are liable to catch cold in the snow.
4. Lacking warm clothes, the children are liable to catch cold in the snow.
5. Without warm clothes, the children are liable to catch cold in the snow.
This answer choice changes the meaning of the original sentence. By using the active voice for the verb prevent, this answer choice indicates something or someone other than the academic institution is prevented from terminating employment. However, in the original sentence it is the academic institution that is prevented from doing so.
In addition, the phrase if there is a lack of just cause to do so is wordy and redundant.