This question deals with two topics: Parallelism and Idioms

Correct parallelism for the two elements is: The X and The Y
Correct idiom is: “decline of”

A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for (DECLINE SALES FOR IS UNIDIOMATIC, THEN INCORRECT)

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales (THE THREAT AND DECLINING SALES ARE NOT PARALLEL, AND DECLINING SALES LACK OF THE PREPOSITION “OF”)

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for (SALES FOR IS UNIDIOMATIC AND THE USE OF AS WELL AS IS WORDY AND AKWARD)

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of (CORRECT IDIOM AND PARALLELISM)

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for (SALES FOR IS UNIDIOMATIC AND AS WELL AS IS WORDY)

CORRECT ANSWER IS D

Posted from my mobile device

At the monthly board discussion, board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the enterprise’s latest phone.

First of all check the end of the sentence: ‘Sales for’ is incorrect idiom, therefore cross A, C and E. ‘Sales of’ is correct idiom. We are left with option B and D
In option B: the relative pronoun 'which' is connected with ‘company’ rather it should refer to ‘challenges’ . Therefore B is wrong

POE: We are left with D which is correct.

A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for

"sales for" is incorrect

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales

Singular Verb "includes" does not agree in number with plural Subject "challenges".

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for

"sales for" is incorrect

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of

Correct Answer

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for

"sales for" is incorrect and use of "these" is incorrect

Including is exception to comma modifier . It always modifies noun entity.
Hence it is wrong in this statement
A. Also Threat from is incorrect. Threat of is correct
B. Incorrect as includes is singular verb
C. Incorrect as included and among is redundant
D. Correct as it uses among them with and
E. Incorrect as these pronoun is for threat

Posted from my mobile device

IMO D is the correct answer.

There are two things needed to note in this question:
- Correct idiom should be “the threat of” and “decline in sales of”
- “the threat of” and “the decline in sales of” should be parallel

A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for
—> Eliminate because of “the threat from” and “the declining sales for”

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales
—> Eliminate because “declining sales” is not parallel with “the threat of”

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for
—> Eliminate because of “the threat from” and “a decline in sales for”

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of
—> Correct

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for
—> Eliminate because of “the threat from” and “the decline in sales for”

Posted from my mobile device

Among is not used with a list of 2 , therefore only B is left.

All five choices introduce different modifiers. Let’s juxtapose them:


A. board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the enterprise’s latest phone.

1. “including among them” is a redundant construction. Any of them alone would suffice.
2. “the threat from X” implies that the threat comes from X. “the threat of X” implies that X itself is a threat. We need the latter because trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit is not threatening but it itself is a threat for the enterprise.
3. “declining sales” is parallel with “the threat”, but “declining sales” implies that sales themselves are the challenge. That’s nonsense. It’s “the decline” in sales what challenges the company.
4. we need “sales of”, not “sales for”. When something is being sold, we say sales OF something.


B. board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales the enterprise’s latest phone.

1. “which includes” illogically refers to “the enterprise” rather than to “challenges”.
2. “declining sales” is parallel with “the threat”, but “declining sales” implies that sales themselves are the challenge. That’s nonsense. It’s “the decline” in sales what challenges the company.
3. “sales the enterprise’s latest phone” misses “of”, hence illogical.
4. the present tense “includes” doesn’t make within the context of the sentence
5. even if we had “which included”, the meaning would be illogical. “including” and “which included” are different animals.


C. board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for

1. “included” illogically implies that the enterprise itself is included into something.
2. “included among them” may mean that they = challenges included the enterprise – nonsense.
3. “the threat from X” implies that the threat comes from X. “the threat of X” implies that X itself is a threat. We need the latter because trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit is not threatening but it itself is a threat for the enterprise.
4. “a decline” dilutes the meaning. “a” makes “decline” too general. We don’t know which decline is borne in mind.
5. we need “sales of”, not “sales for”. When something is being sold, we say sales OF something.


D. board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of…

Bingo. The correct answer. “among them” is a noun modifier that gives two samples of business challenges.


E. board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for…

1. “these” is very rarely used as a standalone pronoun.
2. “the threat from X” implies that the threat comes from X. “the threat of X” implies that X itself is a threat. We need the latter because trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit is not threatening but it itself is a threat for the enterprise.
3. we need “sales of”, not “sales for”. When something is being sold, we say sales OF something.


Hence D

Posted from my mobile device

Explanation:

IMO-D

A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for : Incorrect; Modifier Issue. Them may refer to challenges or investor.

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales. Incorrect ; here which includes refering company not challenges. Incorrect ; Modifier Issue ; Also it voilates parrelism by using "the threat" and "declining".

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for . Incorrect; sales for should be "sales of". Rest all usage is right

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of. Correct

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for. Incorrect; these usage is wrong here; used without proper Noun

Posted from my mobile device

Explanation

A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for - INCORRECT - Including and among cannot be used together

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales - INCORRECT - ...declining sales the enterprise... Makes no sense at all

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for - INCORRECT - Same error as A above

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of - CORRECT

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for - INCORRECT - 'among these the threat' is very awkward

Hence final answer is D.

Posted from my mobile device

At the monthly board discussion, board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the enterprise’s latest phone.


A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for : Incorrect including among them is redundant, we can either write "including" or "among them"

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales: Incorrect Subject-verb error: "Challenges" is plural, so the correct verb form will be "include". "Which" is also not clearly referring to challenges

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for: Incorrect included among them is redundant

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of: Correct : This one seems to have no errors

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for: Incorrect Using “these” makes this sentence incomplete

IMO D is the Correct answer

Posted from my mobile device

A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for
redundant , them -incorrect
B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales
sales of / for incorrect
C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for
wordy redundant -incorrect
D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of
them-incorrect

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for
These -correct use of the pronoun , redundancy of include and among corrected, a correct idiom used in sales for -correct

IMO-E

“Among them” has no clear antecedent

Posted from my mobile device

A: incorrect
the verb-ing modifier is modifying the verb clause before it which does not include threat or declining sales

B:incorrect
which modifies enterprise whereas it should modify presentation to make sense

C:incorrect
verb-ed modifier has several noun referents in close proximity that don't make logical sense

D:correct
use of threat of is the correct idiom and parallel to sales of

E:incorrect
use of threat from is incorrect and not parallel to sales for

Posted from my mobile device

A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for........................Redundancy because of Including among. Threat of & Sales of are preferred

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales.......which wrongly modifies the company.

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for...................Redundancy. Threat of preferred.

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of.........Looks fine

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for............Threat of & sales of are preferred.

Option D should be the answer.

Answer choice D.

The intended meaning is that "the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales" are among the several business challenge. Correct answer choice must present a logical modifier for this purpose.

A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for
"Including among them" is correct. The error in this sentence is "threat from", the correct usage is "threat of". Also, "the declining sales for" is incorrect.

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales
"which" modifies the preceding noun "enterprise".

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for
"Included among..." is correct. The error in this sentence is "threat from", the correct usage is "threat of. Also, "the declining sales for" is incorrect.

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of
Correct. "among them..." is a noun modifier that correctly modifies "several business challenges"

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for.
The error in this sentence is "threat from", the correct usage is "threat of. Also, these is a demonstrative pronoun pronoun and must be followed by challenges and it's not.

Posted from my mobile device

At the monthly board discussion, board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the enterprise’s latest phone.


A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for - Incorrect
the parallel verbs threat and declining (part of the list include in the challenges) are not in agreement

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales- Incorrect
the parallel verbs threat and declining (part of the list include in the challenges) are not in agreement

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for - Incorrect
included among is redundant and we have a better option in D

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of - Correct
corrects the parallel verbs mismatch with threat and decline

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for - Incorrect
this is wordy and we have a better option in D

At the monthly board discussion, board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the enterprise’s latest phone.


A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for... apparently correct

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales..which cannot modify enterprise here, it is about the threats.

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for..it's a fragmant and would have been correct if there were a verb after among them.

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of... run-on sentence

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for..same as E.

A is correct probably.

Posted from my mobile device

At the monthly board discussion, board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the enterprise’s latest phone.

sales of is correct and sales for /sales is incorrect

A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for

IMO D

IMO D

At the monthly board discussion, board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the enterprise’s latest phone.

Concept Checked: Sub Verb Agreement, Modifier, Use of Preposition
Correct use- Threat from "Someone" || Threat of "Something"|| Sales of "Something" || Sales in "Somewhere"

A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for - Incorrect -

Use of Preposition: "threat from" should be "threat of" & "Sales for" should be "Sales of"
"Including" always acts as a noun modifier.. In this sentence, "including" modifies "Several business challenges"

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales Incorrect -

Sub Verb Agreement: Which refers to " Challenges" which is plural, but the verb "includes" is singular

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for Incorrect

Use of Preposition: "threat from" should be "threat of" & "Sales for" should be "Sales of"

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of- Correct -

Uses Correct Preposition. "them" refer to Challenges.

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for Incorrect

Use of Preposition: "threat from" should be "threat of" & "Sales for" should be "Sales of"

Posted from my mobile device

IMO Anser choice D

A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for

Error : meaning issue: Threat from (competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement) Suit and (declining )sales . Note that the main objects of the clause Suit and Sales cannot pose the challenge themselves . It is the decline in sales and the threat of suit that are creating the challenge

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales

Error : Which wrongly modifies enterprise and the meaning thus becomes illogical. Enterprise include threat ………..and declining sales …..(Thus not make sense

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for

Same error as in A . Threat from suit is illogical

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of

Correct choice. Threat of suit and decline in sales pose the challenge

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for

Same error as in A . Threat from suit is illogical

At the monthly board discussion, board members watched a presentation on the several business challenges facing the enterprise, including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the enterprise’s latest phone.


A. including among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for

B. which includes the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales

C. included among them the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for

D. among them the threat of a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of

E. among these the threat from a competitor’s trillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for

A. Correct: Logically, author wants to say that, "In a discussion, board members watched a presentation on several challenges, including (among them) X (threat from a suit) and Y (declining sales)"

B. Incorrect: "which" incorrectly refers to "the enterprise".

C. Incorrect: Needs a working verb - E.g. included among them "were"..... X and Y.

D. Incorrect: A working verb is needed here. E.g. among them "are"...........

E. Incorrect: Same problem as D, and ambiguous use of "these".

Although in the first option, "among them" sounds awkward, I could not find any other option more preferable.