Germany's most infamous leader, Hitler's policies were

Question

Germany's most infamous leader, Hitler's policies were responsible for  the slaughter of 6 million Jews.
A. Same
B. Germany's most infamous leader, the policies of Hitler caused
C. More infamous than other leaders of Germany, the policies of Hitler were responsible for
D. Germany's most infamous leader, Hitler caused
E. Hitler, Germany's most infamous leader, had policies that caused

This question is about the dangling modifier and for me it came down to D vs E.
I very well know that in GMAT a short and simple sentence is a better choice, but then I had a different thought as well.

The given sentence talks about Hitler's policies and this is what E says, whereas D talks about Hitler himself. 
Since, I don't wanted to alter the intent of the question, I selected E instead of D.

Could you please help me explain where I'm going wrong here?

metallicafan · Answer

I also chose E.
But I think that the only explanation why D is better is wordiness.

jsahni123 · Answer

Hi, I also thought E D looks right to me because it was Hitler who caused the death and not policies Just my view

vivgmat · Answer

still not very clear..any other explanation?

Werewolf · Answer

Your logic is sound. D clearly states that Hitler was the person responsible for the deaths.

kyro · Answer

i agree with meinkampf, the D option, IMO requires a comma after hitler. . Hence E will be my option. . so why is the OA D???

MisterEko · Answer

Is it just me or is there tremendous amount of irony between the question and your screen name? :lol:

vivgmat · Answer

@MisterEko, Irony

The source of this question is Manhattan Review's Verbal Study Guide. Can we have an expert who can explain this question?

Mahmud6 · Answer

I also chose E. Policy was responsible not Hitler himself.

Mahmud6 · Answer

Official Explanation:  
This question involves a dangling modiﬁer. Were the policies Germany’s most
infamous leader? No. Then they should not go ﬁrst in the second part of the
sentence. That eliminates choices A, B and C. Choice E is not as efficient as D.
Choice D is the correct answer.

Not convincing!!!!

ggurface · Answer

OA is clearly wrong here.

The original question states that hitler's policies were the cause. D say's that Hitler himself caused the deaths.

So what makes more sense:
Hitler caused 6 million deaths
Hitlers policies caused 6 million deaths

IMO this is clearly E, as Hitler did not himself go and execute 6 million people, but rather his policies caused the execution of 6 million, which matches the original meaning as well.

The OE reasoning for D over E is clearly illogical, the only reason it is more efficient is because it omits key information.

goidelg · Answer

If a guy who got 770 says E, it's an E for sure.

rohan89 · Answer

Hi  daagh  ,

I chose E thinking that Hitler's policies cause the death of 6 mil people and not hitler himself.

can you please provide your insights?

Thanks,
Rohan

daagh · Answer

As I see it, it is too much to separate a person from his characteristics. Whenever we say Hitler caused, we always mean Hitler and his policies. What are Hitler’s policies? Are they something that one can buy in a store and adopt? It is because of Hitler, Hitler’s polices are there. When we say Fed defeated Nadal, we mean to say that Fed through his better play defeated Nadal. So IMO, the original text itself is flawed, and D effectively amends it. But I wonder whether the author was aware of this fact since there is no mention of it in the explanation.

rohan89 · Answer

Agreed. But E is not grammatically incorrect. D is just the 'better' option. Does GMAT expect us to correct the sentence or choose the better one? ( I understand that if a particular option is too wordy we should not choose, but that is not the case here , is it? )
Initially I also thought that Hitler's policies cannot exist without Hitler. But doesn't the inclusion of the word 'policy' make the sentence more clear?
Just my opinion.

Thanks,
Rohan

HKD1710 · Answer

The best answer choice in GMAT should be correct on following parameters.
1. Grammar 
2. Meaning
3. Brevity (concise and exact use of words in writing or speech)

In this case both D & E are grammatically and Meaning wise correct. But Option D wins over E because of Brevity.

DmitryFarber · Answer

The problem with E is that it says Hitler "had policies." This doesn't make sense. We could say that his policies caused deaths, or that he enacted policies that caused deaths, but what does it mean to say that he "had policies"? D is definitely the better answer.

As for "changing the meaning," A does not have a special place in terms of meaning. If the meaning of D makes sense, go with that. Having said that, official GMAT questions are not likely to eliminate an entire piece of the sentence's meaning, especially if it appears in 4/5 of the answer choices. (Of course, official Q's are also not likely to mention "the slaughter of the Jews.")

TaN1213 · Answer

Another version of MGMAt review has option E as

E. Hitler, Germany’s most infamous leader,  pursued  policies that cause

In this case, shouldn't the OA be E? The OA marked is again D.

Please explain this case.

lary301254M7 · Answer

Pretty sure OA & OE are incorrect
Option (D) clearly says Hitler "caused" the slaughter of 6 million Jews. 
(E) says Hitler pursued policies that caused the slaughter of 6 million Jews. 
Is the "slaughter of 6 million Jews" the result of a person or certain policies?

Germany's most infamous leader, Hitler's policies were

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