In an attempt to guarantee the security of its innovative water purifi

Question

In an attempt to guarantee the security of its innovative water purification method, the company required each employee to sign a confidentiality agreement  prohibiting that its water purification methods be disclosed to companies  using an analogous purification process.

(A) prohibiting that its water purification methods be disclosed to companies

(B) prohibiting them from the disclosing of its water purification methods to any company

(C) prohibiting disclosure of its water purification methods to any company

(D) that would prohibit them from disclosure of its water purification methods to companies

(E) that would prohibit its water purification methods to be disclosed to a company

CrackverbalGMAT · Accepted Answer

When you say "prohibit from", the correct form of the idiom is -

"prohibit someone/something from something"

For example - 
The court ordered the Bureau of Immigration to   prohibit the accused from leaving   the country.

Another way in which "prohibit" can be used is  "prohibit something"

For example - 
Kuwait was the only nation to   prohibit the entry of Syrian nationals   prior to Trump's executive action
Reddit's rules strictly   prohibit revealing anybody's private personal information   (Note here that "revealing ..." is a noun).

Let us look at the answer options -

Option A - Incorrect.
"prohibiting that its water purification methods   be disclosed   to companies" - Note that "prohibit" does not take the command subjunctive.

Option B - Incorrect.
"them" is incorrect. "each employee" is singular.

Option C - Correct.
This uses the second form of the idiom - "prohibit X"
X = the noun phrase "disclosure of its water purification methods to any company"

Option D - Incorrect.
"that  would  prohibit  them  from  disclosure  of its water purification methods to companies"

"them" is incorrect as "each employee" requires a singular pronoun.
"prohibit X from doing Y" is the correct idiom. "disclosing" should be used instead of "disclosure".
"would prohibit" - uses future in the past form "would". Implies that prohibition occurs some time after "signing". Illogical. Employees are prohibited from disclosing information as soon as they sign the agreement.

Option E - Incorrect.
Note that "prohibit + infinitive (to + Verb)" is not idiomatic.
"that would prohibit" is incorrect.

Hope this helps

daagh · Answer

prohibiting that its water purification methods be disclosed to companies ----  The use of the command subjunctive is not idiomatic when used with prohibit. (according to Ron) 
 
prohibiting them from the disclosing of its water purification methods to any company ---  them -a plural is wrong to denote the singular each employee

prohibiting disclosure of its water purification methods to any company ---  right choice

that would prohibit them from disclosure of its water purification methods to companies—  them - is again a problem

that would prohibit its water purification methods to be disclosed to a company---  prohibit cannot be coupled with an infinitive – to be disclosed -

Eholm314 · Answer

This is an idiom..Always use Prohibit from

mikeCoolBoy · Answer

Idioms can have more than one form. 
I think the correct answer choice here is C

(A) prohibiting that its water purification methods be disclosed to companies
The subjunctive mode is not correct in these case, since this is not a suggestion or request.

(B) prohibiting them from the disclosing of its water purification methods to any company
them has no antecedent

(C) prohibiting disclosure of its water purification methods to any company
nothing wrong with this one

(D) that would prohibit them from disclosure of its water purification methods to companies
them has no antecedent

(E) that would prohibit its water purification methods to be disclosed to a company

the conditional would is incorrect in this case. I think that prohibit X is better than prohibit X to be Y

seekmba · Answer

(A) "prohibiting that X be Y......" is unidiomatic
(E) "prohibit X to be Y " is unidiomatic

prohibit X, where X is a noun (disclosure) is correct
or
prohibit person from.....doing something..

Hence C

gijoedude · Answer

B and D are rules out as the two have "them" while the sentence has 'each' which is singular. For E "a company" implies just one company. So E is out. Between A and C, C seems less wordy and awkward.

toughmat · Answer

In D there is no antecedent for them as each employee becomes singular

fluke · Answer

Good point. We should not choose a statement just because it has a correct idiom usage.

****************
In an attempt to guarantee the security of its innovative water purification method, the company required each employee to sign a confidentiality agreement prohibiting that its water purification methods be disclosed to companies using an analogous purification process.

prohibiting that its water purification methods be disclosed to companies
 I don't know how can I eliminate this. Maybe just because it is wordier than C and indirect too. 
prohibiting them from the disclosing of its water purification methods to any company
 pronoun doesn't agree in number 
prohibiting disclosure of its water purification methods to any company
 agreement is prohibiting disclosure of company's water purification methods. Succinct and conveys the intended meaning. Correct. 
that would prohibit them from disclosure of its water purification methods to companies
 pronoun doesn't agree in number 
that would prohibit its water purification methods to be disclosed to a company
 There is sense of uncertainty in this sentence. 
********************

thanhphong01 · Answer

The phrase "prohibit sb from" should be followed by present participle. 
Why is the answer c correct ? Because it is "prohibit something", the "to" modifies the disclosure, not to go with prohibit. Moreover, the disclosing sounds a little awkward

daagh · Answer

The idiom is 'prohibit x from'; being a transitive verb, it takes an object immediately after. It would be ok, if it was 'prohibit X', where X could be any person, phenomenon or object pronouns such as him, her or them. B is wrong because the plural 'them' doesn't tally with the singular employee.

In C, the agreement is prohibiting a phenomenon namely 'disclosure'. Hence, it is correct.

Heman105 · Answer

A. prohibiting that its water purification methods be disclosed to companies -->  incorrect usage: "prohibit that x do y" 
B. prohibiting  them  from the disclosing of its water purification methods to any company -->  "each employee" needs singular pronoun 
C.  prohibiting disclosure of its water purification methods  to any company -->  Correct idiom: "prohibit x from doing y" 
D. that would prohibit  them  from disclosure of its water purification methods to companies -->  "each employee" needs singular pronoun 
E. that would prohibit its water purification methods to be disclosed to a company -->  "prohibit x to do y" is incorrect

asdfghjklasdfghj · Answer

So no "to be" when we are using prohibit ? I do not understand why we consider A wrong

DonnieDrastic · Answer

I thought that prohibit was followed up with "from" whereas forbid was followed up with "to"

DonnieDrastic · Answer

I get that but where I'm lost is "disclosure of its water purification methods  to  any company"

Do you have any other examples where "to" comes after prohibit/prohibited/prohibiting similar to how it does above? The Kuwait example has the word "prior" splitting it

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Note that "to any company" - is a prepositional phrase. (to + Noun)
whereas an infinitive takes the form "to + Verb".

"prohibit" is not used with infinitives.

Prateek176 · Answer

AjiteshArun  ,  KarishmaB  ,  hazelnut

I am still not clear from the above explainations what is wrong with D and E. Can anybody please explain?

AjiteshArun · Answer

There are multiple ways to use  prohibit :

(a)  Prohibit  can be followed  directly  by the thing you want to stop, in either noun or  ing  form. The noun/ ing  choice depends on the word you are looking to use. For example:
 This agreement  prohibits   the disclosure of the company's methods  .
 This agreement  prohibits   disclosing the company's methods .

(b)  Prohibit  can be followed by (the person or thing that you want to stop from doing something) and  from  + the thing that you want stopped ( in  ing  form ). For example:
 This agreement  prohibits   employees   from   disclosing the company's methods .

We cannot, however, complete  prohibit  with a  to  infinitive.
  This agreement  prohibits  employees  to disclose the company's methods .

That's why D and E are out. D uses  prohibit from  followed by a noun not in the  ing  form ( disclosure  instead of  disclosing  after  from ), and E uses  prohibit to .

PrafulKashyap · Answer

daagh  Is the usage of  any company  is right?

isn't it should be  any other company .

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  PrafulKashyap ,

Good question, but no, I don't think that we can go for  any other company .

Any company using an analogous purification process   must be read as one unit. That is,  using an analogous process  already specifies the type of (other) company the sentence is referring to.

If we go with  any other company using an analogous purification process , we'll end up saying that this company is one of the companies that use an analogous purification process. That is not the intended meaning, as  analogous  already means ~similar. The original company is not itself using a similar process. Let's say that it uses process X. Other companies may be using processes similar to X, but the original company is not using a process  similar  to X. It is using X.

In an attempt to guarantee the security of its innovative water purifi

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In an attempt to guarantee the security of its innovative water purifi

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