Despite the Puritan sumptuary laws prohibiting the wearing of bright

Question

Despite the Puritan sumptuary laws prohibiting the wearing of bright or elaborate clothing, if you had either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds one was permitted to display their material prosperity in public.

(A) if you had either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds one was permitted to display their material prosperity in public

(B) if one had either a liberal education or annual income of two hundred pounds one was permitted to display their material prosperity in public

(C) having either a liberal education or annual income of two hundred pounds would allow one to publicly display their material prosperity

(D) those with either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds were allowed to display their material prosperity in public

(E) those having either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds were permitted their public display of material prosperity

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Official Answer

D

anothermillenial · Accepted Answer

Despite the Puritan sumptuary laws prohibiting the wearing of bright or elaborate clothing,  if you had either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds one was permitted to display their material prosperity in public .

At first glance, this has a pronoun issue with "one" and "you", which is shifting throughout the sentence. Consistency is necessary. "Their" is also the incorrect number for "one" or "you".

"Their" is also the incorrect number for "one" or "you".

Correct.

Changes the meaning a bit.... "permitted to" vs. "permitted".

BillyZ · Answer

Small Folk: A Celebration of Childhood in America Hardcover – January 1, 1980 
by Sandra Brant (Author), Elissa Cullman (Author)

thangvietnam · Answer

this question is an example of what gmat prefer. some point of grammar/style is not explained in grammar books but is prefered by gmat.
why choice E is wrong?

gmat prefer verb "to display" over noun "display". action should be presented by verb not by noun. this way make sentence more direct and clear.

this is the point gmat prefer. we do not need to understand more. choose a choice in which action is presented by verb not by noun.

in short, gmat prefer verb over noun. choose the choice with verb and eliminate the choice with noun.

another explanation of choice E"
choice E can be considered unidiomatic. if the second action is performed by the same subject, "permited to do " is used. if something, not an action, follow the the first verb, "permit something" is used.

The owners have been unwilling to permit the use of their land.

the above sentence is in the Oxford dictionary. the noun "use" show an action but this action is not perform by the subject, so noun , but not verb , is used to show this action.

in short, if the second action is perform by the same subject, "permited to do" is used.

we can not think for a long time this way in the test room. if you face both "permited to do" and "permited something", "permited to do" is normally correct. "permited something" is correct only when the second action is not done by the same subject or when there is no second action.

"we do not allow eating in the room.

above sentence is from oxford dictionary. "eating" show an action which dose not refer to the subject. so , we do not use "to eat". if the second action is also perform by the subject, "to do" is used.

so , be careful about " allow somebody to do". both "allow" and "to do" need to be performed by the same subject.

rnn · Answer

Hi - I could not find any fault in Option (E) those having either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds were permitted their public display of material prosperity.

Kindly shed some light on this please

Doer01 · Answer

Hi  rnn ,
 Participle clause “having........pounds” correctly modifies the subject those. 
Phrase “their public display of material prosperity” is wrong. Those individuals were permitted TO do something. That something here is “their public display”, which is just awkwardly constructed.
Had the sentence been written as “ were permitted to display their material prosperity in public.”, it would have been correct.

Posted from my mobile device

Gmat20201 · Answer

Despite the Puritan sumptuary laws prohibiting the wearing of bright or elaborate clothing, if you had either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds one was permitted to display their material prosperity in public.

(A)  if   you  had either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds  one  was permitted to display  their  material prosperity in public

- Y ou and one cannot be used together..use either one ...one or you ...you.
- IF clause with past perfect required " would " + verb to match the tense. Which is absent
- Plural "their" does not match subject "one"
 
Hence eliminate A

(B)  if one had  either a liberal education or annual income of two hundred pounds one was permitted to display  their  material prosperity in public

- Error of one and you in option A is corrected here.
-But there is error in mismatch of subject and verb- "one" - singular and " their " plural
-IF clause + Past perfect tense requires " Would" + verb- Which is absent.
 
Eliminate Option B

(C) having either a liberal education or annual income of two hundred pounds would allow  one  to publicly display  their  material prosperity

-  Subject Verb mismatch again " one " - singular and "Their" plural. No other plural referent for "their"
 
Eliminate C

(D) those with either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds were allowed to display their material prosperity in public

Correct  
" those " Plural reference of " their"
 All other errors are also rectified.

(E)  those having  either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds were permitted  their public display of material prosperity

- "Were permitted their public display" - meaning changes. As per original sentence those having x and y were permitted to display material prosperity... not their display

- "those having"- unnecessarily wordy.
So eliminate E

Ans - choice D

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Choice A:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the second-person pronoun "you" with the third-person pronoun "one". This answer choice also incorrectly utilizes the plural pronoun "their" alongside the singular pronouns "you" and "one". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice B:  This answer choice incorrectly utilizes the plural pronoun "their" alongside the singular pronoun "one". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice C:  This answer choice repeats the error found in Option B. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice D:  This answer choice maintains proper pronoun use and preserves the intended meaning of the sentence. Thus, this answer choice is correct.

Choice E:  This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence, slightly; the phrase "were permitted their public display" implies that certain people were allowed to  have  a public display of wealth, while the correct implication is that certain people were allowed to  take the action  of publicly displaying their wealth. Additionally, this construction is a bit awkward. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

LIBERTYRodP · Answer

CORRELATIVE IDIOMS, MODIFIERS

Despite the Puritan sumptuary laws prohibiting the wearing of bright or elaborate clothing,  if you had either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds one was permitted to display their material prosperity in public .

(A) if you had either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds one was permitted to display their material prosperity in public   -------- Modifier "Despite" should be next to the main clause.

(B) if one had either a liberal education or annual income of two hundred pounds one was permitted to display their material prosperity in public   -------- Modifier "Despite" should be next to the main clause.

(C) having either a liberal education or annual income of two hundred pounds would allow one to publicly display their material prosperity  ---------------- correlative idiom EITHER X OR Y is nor parallel, as the second element "annual income" does not carry an article.

(D) those with either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds were allowed to display their material prosperity in public    ----------- CORRECT

(E) those having either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds were permitted their public display of material prosperity  ---------------- Changes meaning as it implies that the people were permitted "something" , not that they were permitted to PERFORM AN ACTION, as it was originally intended.

MikeScarn · Answer

1.  Pronouns (you, one, their) 
2.  Parallelism 
3.  Style/Diction - Active vs Passive voice

" either " is a  parallel   trigger . Make sure that both items that "either" introduces are in parallel form.
Examples:
 Correct  "I will buy my nephew either  a basketball  or  a football .
 Incorrect  "I will buy my nephew either  a basketball  or  football .

Our  Parallelism  is fine.

What about our  Pronouns ? We start with 2nd person pronoun "you," then we switch to the 3rd person singular pronoun "one," then we switch to 3rd person plural pronoun "their."   Yikes!

Pronoun Error - Eliminate

Parallelism  is broken. We need the article "an" before "annual income" so that "a liberal education" is parallel with "annual income."

Pronouns  are inconsistent. We start with 3rd person  singular  " one " and use it twice, but then we switch to 3rd person  plural  " their ."

Pronoun and Parallelism Errors - Eliminate  
 
 Parallelism  is broken. Same issue as answer choice (B).

Pronouns  are inconsistent. We start with 3rd person  singular  " one ," but then we switch to 3rd person  plural  " their ."

Pronoun and Parallelism Errors - Eliminate

Parallelism  is fine.

Pronouns  are consistent.

Hold this answer choice.

Parallelism  is fine.

Pronouns  are consistent.

"were permitted their public display of material prosperity" is in  passive voice.

Answer choice  (D)  is much clearer and uses active voice.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

When we see that ‘Despite…’ is a  modifier , we need to ask what it is modifying.

Since Option A does not seem to have the  subject  placed immediately after the comma, we can scan the rest of the options.

We see that  options D and E  have the subject placed after the comma.

Option E  changes the meaning with ‘having’ incorrectly modifying ‘those’.

Eliminate Option E.

Option D  is the best choice.

Hope this helps!

Ccccc1111111 · Answer

The question on the website is wrong.

This is the question in OV:

(D) those with either a liberal education or  an annual income of two hundred pounds  were allowed to display their material prosperity in public

(E) those having either a liberal education or  annual income of two hundred pounds  were permitted their public display of material prosperity

"sb were permitted their public display of material prosperity" is not the problem.
permit sb sth
sb be permitted sth
allow sb sth
sb be allowed sth

"having" is not the problem.
those having sth=those who have/had sth= those with

the problem is  an  annual income of two hundred pounds

an!!!!!

armaankumar · Answer

Despite the Puritan sumptuary laws prohibiting the wearing of bright or elaborate clothing,  if you had either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds one was permitted to display their material prosperity in public .

(A) if  you  had either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds  one  was permitted to display  their  material prosperity in public
"their" does not have any plural antecedent. 
"You" and "one" are not consistent

(B) if one had either a liberal education or annual income of two hundred pounds one was permitted to display  their  material prosperity in public
"their" does not have any plural antecedent.

(C) having either a liberal education or annual income of two hundred pounds would allow one to publicly display  their  material prosperity
"their" does not have any plural antecedent.

(D)  those  with either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds  were allowed to  display  their  material prosperity in public

(E) those having either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds  were permitted their public display  of material prosperity
The meaning is illogical. The use of the possessive "their" implies that "public display" is something they owned and were permitted to have.

DmitryFarber · Answer

Ccccc1111111

You're right that "an" is missing in the official version of E, but that's not the problem, either. We don't need it!

The problem is one of meaning. If we say "permitted their display," it means that there definitely WAS a display. All four of the other choices indicate that such a display was allowed, but don't suggest that everyone chose to make the display. Consider the difference between "You are permitted to wear glasses during the GMAT" and "Your use of glasses during the GMAT is permitted." How do I know you use glasses?

The meaning problem in E is compounded by the singular "display." It's not impossible to say that a plural subject has a singular noun*, but it could create confusion here. Did all the rich folks gather for one big display?

As for "having," it isn't definitely wrong, but the GMAT tends to use it in suboptimal constructions, and this case is no exception.

*See this official Q: https://gmatclub.com/forum/neanderthals ... l#p2930781

telio · Answer

GMATNinja   DmitryFarber

In this problem, the correct option has a pronoun "Those" with no explicit antecedent but it is implied from the context.

For me it is difficult to differentiate between a pronoun with no antecedent and a pronoun with an antecedent that is implied from the context.

Any tips?

kelly_jacques · Answer

I understand that E is wrong due to meaning. However, is the use of the verb "having" followed by "were permitted" here incorrect? I am struggling to understand verb tenses.

GMATNinja · Answer

It comes down to process of elimination. "Their" doesn't agree with "one" in choices (A), (B), and (C), so we're stuck with (D) and (E), both of which use "those" without an explicit antecedent.

In this context, "those" basically means "those people" (as in, "those people with either a liberal education or an annual income of two hundred pounds..."). Is it necessary to include the word "people" to make the meaning clear? Probably not. At the very least, it's a gray area, and the pronoun agreement issues in (A), (B), and (C) are much more significant.

In case you're curious, a similar use of "those" appears in  this question , too.

I hope that helps!

Despite the Puritan sumptuary laws prohibiting the wearing of bright

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Despite the Puritan sumptuary laws prohibiting the wearing of bright

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