By a vote of 9 to 0, the Supreme Court awarded the Central Intelligenc

Question

By a vote of 9 to 0, the Supreme Court awarded the Central Intelligence Agency broad discretionary powers  enabling it to withhold from the public  the identities of its sources of intelligence information.

(A) enabling it to withhold from the public

(B) for it to withhold from the public

(C) for withholding disclosure to the public of

(D) that enable them to withhold from public disclosure

(E) that they can withhold public disclosure of

The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 11th Edition, 2005

Practice Question  
Question No.: SC 93
Page: 652

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/17/us/justices-grant-cia-wide-discretion-on-secrecy.html

The Supreme Court today gave the Central Intelligence Agency broad discretion  to withhold the identities of its sources of intelligence information from public disclosure .

KarishmaB · Accepted Answer

By a vote of 9 to 0, the Supreme Court awarded the Central Intelligence Agency broad discretionary powers  for it to withhold from the public  the identities of its sources of intelligence information.

The meaning of this sentence is different. We know that broad powers would have made it possible for CIA to withhold the IDs of sources. But this sentence (option B) implies that the broad discretionary powers were given to withhold the IDs. That it made it compulsory for them to withhold the IDs. That is not true. It is given that the powers were discretionary.

kumarashok29 · Answer

IMO - A

By a vote of 9 to 0, the Supreme Court awarded the Central Intelligence Agency broad discretionary powers  enabling it to withhold from the public  the identities of its sources of intelligence information.

Let's re-write this sentence for more clarity :   The Central Intelligence Agency broad was awarded discretionary powers by the Supreme Court, enabling  it  to withhold from the public the identities of its sources of intelligence information. . Here 'it' refers back to 'The Central Intelligence Agency', not to anyone else.

(A) enabling it to withhold from the public -- correctly modifying.

(B) for it to withhold from the public --- use of for,

(C) for withholding disclosure to the public of -- use of for, withholding disclosure - wordy

(D) that enable them to withhold from public disclosure --- pronoun error

(E) that they can withhold public disclosure of -- pronoun error

(B) for it to withhold from the public >>  this is changing the meaning. Now, it is sounding as if SC awarded the DP to CIAB just to enable it to withhold.....so, nonsensical

(C) for withholding disclosure to the public of >>  As per VAN rule (Verb>Adj>Noun), using 'withhold' (verb) is preferred over 'withholding' (noun). Also, this is changing the meaning as explained in B.

(D) that enable  them  to withhold from public disclosure >>   them  is incorrect pronoun. Referring to whom??

(E) that  they  can withhold public disclosure of >>   they  is incorrect pronoun. Referring to whom??

cloudz9 · Answer

would pick A

D and E use the word 'they' which is incorrect for CIA which is singular
the reason i eliminated B and C is because 'powers for' doesn't sound correct to me..but i could be wrong here as i dont know the correct idiom officially

vageesh · Answer

I also want to know that why "it" is not ambiguous here.

PTK · Answer

Supreme Court awarded the Central Intelligence Agency - Supreme Court is active and CIA is passive, so SC gives CIA discretionary powers , which enable it (CIA) to withhold from the public. "it" is not ambigous here at all

deepaksharma1986 · Answer

Even i don't get why "B" is incorrect. Could anyone explain ?

daagh · Answer

When there is a pronoun ambiguity in GMAT, one of the best ways of solving the muddle is to apply logic rather than mere structure.

In the given context, there are two eligible contenders for the pronoun ’ it’  i.e., Supreme Court and the CIA, but the question is why will Supreme Court award the CIA something in order to enable itself? Isn’t logic missing then? That is the reason to conclude without further doubt that the pronoun refers to the CIA.

The answer is certainly A

joshnsit · Answer

Take this sentence
 I love my girlfriend  laughing at the chimps.
Here the bolded part is sufficient to frame the sentence. But adding a modifier  laughing at the chimps  helps in adding information. Something similar has happened in this question:
The correct usage is “A award B X(enabling …)” where (enabling ...) is acting as modifier.

Here enabling is modifying powers, where  A award B X  is fully complete even in absence of modifier
HTH

Chembeti · Answer

In my opinion, A is correct NOT because of active/passive usage. If the author wanted to refer to SC, then the sentence should have 'reflexive' pronouns rather than ' simple pronoun'. As that is not the case, the 'it' here refers to CIA only but not SC.

Eg: He solved the problem HIMSELF; they caused the trouble THEMSELVES.

Hope this is clear.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Hi WinWinMBA,

Thank you for your question.

Let's start by looking at the first major difference I saw when looking over the question quickly: it vs. they/them. Since the pronoun is referring back to the Central Intelligence Agency, which is a singular noun, the pronoun should match - so let's keep answers A, B, and C because they use the singular "it" or no pronoun at all. Therefore, we can eliminate answers D & E because they use the plural "they" or "them," which is wrong.

Answer C should also go because it doesn't clearly state WHO gets to do the withholding, and it sounds awkward. This leaves us with answers A & B. Let's look at what is different about each one:

A:  enabling  it to withhold from the public
B:  for  it to withhold from the public

In answer B, using the word "for" changes the meaning of the sentence and the intentions of the Supreme Court. By saying they are awarding the CIA powers "for" a purpose, they are saying that the Supreme Court awarded the CIA more power knowing they would use it for that purpose and ONLY that purpose. This isn't true - they just gave the CIA more power, but it's not clear WHY they did so.

The word "enabling" is a much stronger choice to show that the Supreme Court is giving the CIA power, and that power allows them to withhold information. Using "enabling" shows that the court decision is a cause, and withholding information is an effect, which is the intended meaning. The court didn't give them the power to withhold information directly - they did that indirectly by awarding them more power. Therefore, this is the right answer.

aragonn · Answer

(A) enabling it to withhold from the public -- correctly modifying.

(B) for it to withhold from the public --- use of for,

(C) for withholding disclosure to the public of -- use of for, withholding disclosure - wordy

(D) that enable them to withhold from public disclosure --- pronoun error

(E) that they can withhold public disclosure of -- pronoun error

akadiyan · Answer

By a vote of 9 to 0, the Supreme Court awarded the Central Intelligence Agency broad discretionary powers enabling it to withhold from the public the identities of its sources of intelligence information.

(A) enabling it to withhold from the public -   Correct  
(B) for it to withhold from the public -   'for' is incorrect usage  
(C) for withholding disclosure to the public of -   'for withholding' is incorrect usage  
(D) that enable them to withhold from public disclosure -   'enable them' is incorrect usage  
(E) that they can withhold public disclosure of -   "powers that they can withhold" , we are not withholding powers here - Incorrect

Ans:   A

goaltop30mba · Answer

this is a weird one. Does gmat really test you with these kinda questions?

Clearly the usage if *it* in option A is ambiguous!

Gmatprep550 · Answer

Hi  VeritasKarishma   aragonn

"from  the  public  the  identities" sounds awkward but is that correct? I am feeling like some connecting word is missing.

Hanzel101 · Answer

It is important to note that pronoun error is not a deterministic error in GMAT, especially in cases in which you can logically determine what noun that pronoun refers to. The error arises when you're confused with what exactly the pronoun stands for.

Eg; A bird can eat a mango even though it is not very large in size. 
Now the ambiguity arises - is  it  used for bird or the mango?

By a vote of 9 to 0, the Supreme Court awarded the Central Intelligence Agency broad discretionary powers  enabling it to withhold from the public  the identities of its sources of intelligence information.

(A) enabling it to withhold from the public -- correctly modifying.

(B) for it to withhold from the public --- use of for,

(C) for withholding disclosure to the public of -- use of for, withholding disclosure - wordy

(D) that enable them to withhold from public disclosure --- pronoun error

(E) that they can withhold public disclosure of -- pronoun error

(B) for it to withhold from the public -  the usage of for here implies that SC granted this power so that the CIA could withhold from the public.... The intention of the original sentence is certainly not so. The original sentence intends to describe the powers.

(C) for withholding disclosure to the public of -  same as B

(D) that enable them to withhold from public disclosure -  SV Agreement error. Them is incorrect here. CIA is clearly a single noun entity.

(E) that they can withhold public disclosure of -  SV Agreement error.

Thanks

SingaravelChocks · Answer

(A) enabling it to withhold from the public -- correctly modifying.

(B) for it to withhold from the public --- use of for,

(C) for withholding disclosure to the public of -- use of for, withholding disclosure - wordy

(D) that enable them to withhold from public disclosure --- pronoun error

(E) that they can withhold public disclosure of -- pronoun error

sidjain93 · Answer

The question can be solved on the basis of of pronoun mismatch , and Idiom.

"They and Them" cannot be used for Supreme court , hence option D and E are eliminated.

The correct usage is "With Hold FROM",option c is eliminated

we are left with option A and B.

Option B is awkard "For it to ....." hence eliminated.

Correct answer is A.

payalkhndlwl · Answer

Enabling is modifying "powers" --> enabling should modify CIA. Is my understanding incorrect?

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Payal, basically:

i) CIA was awarded powers
ii) Those powers enable CIA <to do something>.

So,  enabling  correctly modifies  powers  in the original sentence.

By a vote of 9 to 0, the Supreme Court awarded the Central Intelligenc

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By a vote of 9 to 0, the Supreme Court awarded the Central Intelligenc

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