Corporate finance committees do not plan the detailed activities of th

Question

Corporate finance committees do not plan the detailed activities of the various divisions in a large firm, but  by their allocation of investment funds they make strategic judgments as to where the firm should expand .

(A) by their allocation of investment funds they make strategic judgments as to where the firm should expand

(B) when they allocate investment funds, they make strategic judgments about where the firm might be expanding

(C) they make strategic judgments on where the firm should expand when they allocate investment funds

(D) by allocating investment funds, they will make strategic judgments about where the firm might be expanding

(E) allocations of investments fund as to where the firm should expand are their exercise in strategic judgment

daagh · Accepted Answer

Strategy 1

The first split is the use of the idiom “ as to where"  vs. " on where" and "about where".  "As to where" is the appropriate idiom and hence A and E qualify. Between the two, E is not worth looking beyond the idiom.

Strategy 2

The diction ‘ when they allocate funds ’ is improper because  when  denotes a specific point of time, as if the committees make strategic decisions only when they allocate funds. What do they do at other times? " By their allocation”  the intent of the committee is rather brought out more explicitly. Hence B and C can be dumped. E is too awkward to merit any consideration. Between A and D, the use of future tense in D to indicate a normal activity of the committee is faulty. A wins

shkusira · Answer

Corporate finance committees do not plan the detailed activities of the various divisions in a large firm, but by their allocation of investment funds they make strategic judgements as to where the firm should expand.

a) by their allocation of investment funds they make strategic judgements as to where the firm should expand 
b) when they allocate investment funds, they make strategic judgements about where the f irm might be expanding  --AWKWARD
c) they make strategic judgements on where the firm should expand when they allocate investment funds 
d) by allocating investment funds,  they will make  strategic judgements about where the  firm might be expanding  
e)  allocations of investments fund as to where the firm should expand are their exercise in strategic judgement --NONSENSE

I'll go for A. C seems ambiguous to me and kind of hides the cause and effect relationship the sentence is trying to convey. OA?

daagh · Answer

Just one step; the right idiom is  ‘as to where’  and not ‘ on where’  or ‘ about where’.  BCD are out. Between the A and E, E is a useless sentence

Reg C; The use of ‘ when ’ is wrong. It restricts the meaning of the text as if they take strategic decisions only when they allocate funds. What happens when they do not allocate any fund? Are they failing to take strategic decisions in such instances? The meaning gets distorted in C

A is the choice.

nishtil · Answer

A is not parallel to   Corporate finance committees do not plan the detailed activities  , 
C when should be used only for timestamsps both the options are wrong in some way.

IMO C as it is parallel and concise

what is OA?

daagh · Answer

In C, when we say that the committees make strategic investments when they allocate funds, the honorable question is as to what their job is when they do not allocate funds. Are they required to drift and idle? When denotes a particular moment of time, too narrow to accommodate a general conception as in the context. That is the on C cannot perform over A in spite of its concision.

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mourinhogmat1 · Answer

I was inclined towards C as well due to parallelism and brevity. But I think answer should be A.

The problem with C is: "When".
When they allocate the funds changes the causal meaning intended in the original phrase. In the original phrase the author meant to say that : by allocating (Cause) ---> strategic decisions (effect).

But in C, the meaning is changed because the author says strategic decisions (effect) ---> When (time frame). So, causal meaning from original sentence is lost.

Marcab · Answer

The sentence construction is as "X DOES NOT Y BUT DOES Z".
In B,The use of "might" is incorrect because this tense in not agreeing with the rest of the sentence.
In C, "when" is incorrectly used.
In D, "will make" doesn't complies with the rest of the sentence.
Does not agree with the structure of the sentence.

+1 A.

pqhai · Answer

First, " as to" is correct idiom. It means "about" 
So "as to where" is better than "on where".

(A) by their allocation of investment funds they make strategic judgments as to where the firm should expand CORRECT
(B) when they allocate investment funds, they make strategic judgments about where the firm  might be expanding   AWKWARD
(C) they make strategic judgments  on where  the firm should expand when they allocate investment funds "ON WHERE" is not idiomatic
(D) by allocating investment funds, they will make strategic judgments about where the firm  might be expanding  AWKWARD 
(E) allocations of investments fund as to where the firm should expand  are their exercise in strategic judgment  AWKWARD

daagh · Answer

Hi guys; as a general perception, be wary of the word ‘when’ if you see it in GMAT; It refers to a narrow band of time, only when some action is occurring, and not outside those timelines. In addition, let us not bother whether the use of ‘where’ is correct, though it does not denote a physical place in the text, but this is passable as it is a synonym for ‘in which’, an oblique reference to a situation. And, you have ‘where’ in all the choices.

(A) by their allocation of investment funds they make strategic judgments as to where the firm should expand ---  Correct choice pointing out to the purpose and function of such committees

(B) when they allocate investment funds, they make strategic judgments about where the firm might be ---- this means the they make the strategic judgments only at those moments they allocate funds and not at other time. This obviously doesn’t make much sense for a committee to do.

(C) they make strategic judgments on where the firm should expand when they allocate investment funds-----  same as B. In addition ‘judgments on’ is unidiomatic; Judgments as to where is ok.

(D) by allocating investment funds, they will make strategic judgments about where the firm might be expanding --- ‘ will make’ is out of sync with the tenor of the text, as if this part of the first conditional.

(E) Allocations of investments fund as to where the firm should expand are their exercise in strategic judgment --- Allocations refers to the numerical count; allocation means the general function – meaning is altered. In addition funds are changed to fund.

A IMO

bhatiavai · Answer

Hi Daagh,

Isn't 'judgement on' idiomatic ? They make a judgement on something

Also, when I read the statement I figured the intended meaning of the sentence is the following :

The committee is not involved in making decisions on one thing, but is involved in the other.

Cant the above be inferred from the given sentence ?

Cheers

daagh · Answer

I just feel it is rare to say 'make judgment on' something; 'we pass judgements on' something or 'sit in judgment on' something' However, to 'make judgment about' something is ok., I feel.

daagh · Answer

This has more to do with meaning than grammar. The use of when has certain limitations when employed in generalizations. It limits the scope of the phenomenon to just when it occurs, thus leaving the generalization as a partial one. That is the reason choices B and C have to be dropped. D is wrong because of the use a future tense verb. E means it weirdly as though allocations as some sort of practice exercise. We are therefore left with the one and only choice A.

_________________

Thank you Daagh for your time on GMAT Club and all your contributions! Thank you for everything you did!
Your work will remain a great tribute to you here on GMAT Club!
-bb

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urshila · Answer

Can you please explain why "C" is wrong?

daagh · Answer

. they make strategic judgments on where the firm should expand when they allocate investment funds 
If we say that they make strategic judgments when they allocate, it will mean that they do so only when the make the allocations. While strategic judgments are on- going processes, the allocations are the results of those judgments and may very well be onetime affairs. That is the reason that ‘when’ has a limited scope in explaining a perpetual generalization. The logical question is what they do when they do not allocate funds. Will they stop making judgments? The intent of the text is that the allocations themselves are indictors of the judgments. That is the reason C is wrong as also B

barrylee1991 · Answer

Compare A with C, C is wrong because of the wrong modifier.

"judgments on where the firm should expand  when they allocate investment funds "

It seems that "when they allocate investment funds" modified "where the firm should expand" and it is against the original intention. "when they allocate investment funds" should modify "make judgements"

Sam10smart · Answer

Dear  daagh  Sir

How would you explain the parallelism in A? Elements before and after "but" need to be parallel? Having said that, i understood the elimination and how A is the best, but how do we excuse parallelism?

Regards
Sambhav

daagh · Answer

sam
why do we have to excuse parallelism? There is an IC before 'but' and an IC after. The phrase 'by their allocation of investments' is a mere introductory prepositional phrase modifying the actual clause starting with 'they'. There is proper parallelism in A.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Choice A:  Option A preserves the intended meaning of the sentence and maintains idiomatic correctness throughout the sentence. Thus, Option A is correct.

Choice B:  By using the word "when", Option B alters the meaning of the sentence. The word "when" is used to refer to events that take place at specific points in time; therefore, the phrase "when they allocate investment funds, they make strategic judgments" incorrectly implies that it is only while allocating investment funds that the finance committees make strategic decisions. Thus, Option B is incorrect.

Choice C:  Option C commits the same meaning-related error that Option B does and uses the incorrect idiom "judgments on". Thus, Option C is incorrect.

Choice D:  Option D alters the meaning of the sentence by introducing ambiguity with the term "might" and utilizing the future tense through the verb phrase "will make". Thus, Option D is incorrect.

Choice E:  Option E alters the meaning of the sentence by changing "investment funds" to "investments fund". Thus, Option E is incorrect.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Where Versus When on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~30 seconds):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NpncN-JohU

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

(A) by their allocation of investment funds they make strategic judgments as to where the firm should expand
This looks absolutely spectacular therefore let us hang on to it

(B) when they allocate investment funds, they make strategic judgments about where the firm might be expanding
They are not investing on where it's expanding but to expand

(C) they make strategic judgments on where the firm should expand when they allocate investment funds
This means that they are only strategically planning when they are allocating funds

(D) by allocating investment funds, they will make strategic judgments about where the firm might be expanding
Similar flaw as B

(E) allocations of investments fund as to where the firm should expand are their exercise in strategic judgment
This feels a bit akward when they consider as exercise 
Hence IMO A

Corporate finance committees do not plan the detailed activities of th

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