At Tuesday's press conference Ms. Franco who headed her country's anti

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION


The intended purpose of the sentence is to convey two different grounds on which Ms. Franco criticized airlines. First, the airlines had simply banned items used in previous hijacking attempts; second, they had made no significant effort to anticipate the particulars of future attempts. For the sentence to be effective, it should place these two criticisms in parallel, avoiding constructions that mistakenly attribute the airlines' actions to Ms. Franco herself. In addition, the sentence should be worded so as to avoid redundancy.

(A) The use of both "already" and "prior" is redundant. In addition, "anticipating the means" is placed in parallel with "making a significant effort," illogically suggesting that those two constructions represent independent ideas. The airlines didn't make a significant effort to do what? They didn't make a significant effort to anticipate the means of future attempts.

(B) The combination of "former" and "for eight years" is illogical; the original sentence indicated that Ms. Franco was the head of the committee for 8 years. "The former head for eight years" would refer to the period of time after she ceased to be the head of the committee; in other words, she was the head for some unspecified period of time, but she left the job eight years ago. This information was included to demonstrate her credentials in criticizing the airlines, but knowing how long ago she left the job does not establish her credentials. In addition, the adverb "simply" is inappropriately placed; it is meant to describe the airlines' act of banning previously used items, and so should be placed in front of "banned."

(C) This version of the sentence places "criticized" and "made" in parallel – thus illogically suggesting that Ms. Franco herself (the subject of both verbs) "made no significant effort." The sentence must be structured so as to make clear that the airlines, not Ms. Franco, failed to make such an effort. The adverb "simply" is inappropriately placed; it is meant to describe the airlines' act of banning previously used items, and so should be placed in front of "banning." Finally, "former eight-year head" is awkward and unclear.

(D) CORRECT. The first modifier provides additional description of Ms. Franco's background; the past tense is appropriately used to describe a state that prevailed during a definite interval in the past. The two grounds on which Ms. Franco criticized the airlines – banning and making – are expressed properly in parallel. Finally, the adverb "simply" is appropriately placed in front of banning, the act that it is intended to describe.

(E) "Criticizing" is written as a modifier, illogically suggesting that Ms. Franco had spent her entire eight-year term criticizing the airlines. Moreover, if the modifiers are removed from the sentence, the remaining subject and verb are "Ms. Franco" and "made" – thus illogically suggesting that Ms. Franco herself, rather than the airlines, "made no significant effort."