Option D is absolutely correct.

Options B & D are both correct grammatically, but only option D is correct LOGICALLY. Let's understand WHY..

Major League Baseball policy prohibits use of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, and no illegal drugs.

The Policy prohibits 3 items -
1) Anabolic Steroids
2) Human Growth Hormones
3) Illegal Drugs

Scenario A - If we use AND
Such use would mean that any player would be eliminated only if he uses ALL THE THREE ITEMS. It also means that a player would not be eliminated if he use either only 1 item or a combination of 2 items.
I don't think that's the practice of any league or Sports team.

Scenario B - If we use OR
Such use would mean that any player would be eliminated if he uses ANY of THE THREE ITEMS. It also means that a player would be eliminated if he use either a combination of 2 items or all 3 items.
I believe that's the practice of any league or Sports team.
Hence CORRECT

OE

Split #1: the word “prohibit” is already a negative. Any answer with “no” would be an incorrect double-negative. Choices (A) & (C) are incorrect.

Split #2: as discussed in this post, we want a construction that means none of item #1, none of item #2, and none of item #3. For the construction, we need the word “or.” Choices (A) & (B) are incorrect.

Split #3: Concision. Choice (E) is an wordy monstrosity that should be taken out back and shot. The hypothetical “would be an illegal drug” is totally inappropriate to the context. It’s not that heroin or cocaine “would be” illegal — they are illegal!! Choice (E) is far too wordy as well as illogical, so it is incorrect.

For all these reasons, the only possible answer is (D).
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Major League Baseball policy prohibits use of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, and no illegal drugs.

(B) and any
(D) or any

I disagree with your OA, because "or" should be used to compare 2 items while over here its clearly a list.
Major League Baseball policy prohibits use of A, use of B, and use of C
OR
Major League Baseball policy prohibits use of A, B, and C
Hence B (and any) should be correct

For D (or any) to be correct
Major League Baseball policy prohibits use of A, and B or any C
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The word "and" is the appropriate choice here, if the intended meaning is that all three things are prohibited.

I've read a justification for using "or" in situations like this, and there's a subtle logical error in it. This is not going to be relevant in GMAT SC, but I'll point it out anyway - for interest only!

The justification for using "or" goes like this:

- if we say "X, Y, or Z", we mean one or more of these things
- so if we say "*not* X, Y, or Z" we mean "not one or more of these things", so we mean "none of these things"
- when we list things after a verb like 'prohibit', 'ban', 'forbid', or 'proscribe', a verb where the meaning "not" is implied, we usually mean "none of these things" are allowed, so we should say "or", not "and"

That is logically correct if your sentence reads as follows:

1. "You are allowed to eat things that are not meat, tomatoes, or lemons"

That means meat, tomatoes and lemons are all forbidden. We need to use "or" here to convey that meaning. This sentence has a different meaning:

2. "You are allowed to eat things that are not meat, tomatoes, and lemons"

This only means you'd be allowed to deviate from a diet consisting of meat, tomatoes and lemons.

But that consideration isn't relevant when you consider a sentence like this:

3. "You are not allowed to eat meat, tomatoes and lemons."

This does not mean the same thing as sentence #1 above. We can't just move the word "not" around without changing the meaning of the sentence. When we write a sentence like #3, the word "not" is stuck to the verb. In sentence #3, the verb "not allowed" applies to all three foods in the list. It would mean something different if you used "or":

4. "You are not allowed to eat meat, tomatoes or lemons."

This means something more like "you're not allowed to eat (at least) one of these things, but I'm not telling you which". That's not normally the meaning we'd intend by a sentence like this.

So if we're listing things that are all "prohibited", we need to use "and" in that list.

And just to confirm this accords with general usage, I did do a quick google search to find credible writing which used "prohibited" or "forbidden" followed by a list, and in each example the word "and" was used when the intended meaning was "all of these things are prohibited". So independent of logic, "and" also appears to be the idiomatically correct choice.
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The reason we "or" is because it changes the sentence to mean that any of these three items will result in a MLB player being banned. However, the use of "and" implies that it would have to be conclusively proven that an MLB violate ALL three of these criteria. B is grammatically correct but this isn't the SAT this the GMAT.

D

The meaning of the sentence is to convey that a category of substances is prohibited. That category is of "Illegal drugs".

Hence we require "or" & "any" to signify the exhaustive list of illicit drugs examples of which are anabolic steroids & human growth hormone.

Hence D is correct choice.


Thanks,
GyM
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Major League Baseball policy prohibits the use of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, and no illegal drugs.

A. and no --- 'prohibits' and 'no' are double negatives meaning that encourage illegal drugs.
B. and any -- -'and' is the wrong conjunction; it will mean that the policy prohibits the combination of the three items and not when any of them is individually used.
C. or no -- 'no' is double negative.
D. or any -- correct choice.
E. or anything that would be an -- 'that would be' is wrong.
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B is grammatically correct but not logically.

Correct answer is D

I am still not convinced with the or/and split. I understand the use of both, but shouldn't we be using and in a list like this?

Eg - I enjoy playing football, cricket and basketball. Does that mean that I enjoy playing some weird combination of the 3 sports?
Eg - As I have a low GMAT score, I do not have a shot at Harvard, Wharton and Stanford. Is this really incorrect? Obviously, I do not mean some combination of the 3 schools.

Hi Brian123

Consider this example:

Eg: Next World cup will be won by India, Japan, or Australia.

Understood the difference between 'or' and 'and'?

If not, let's change you first example to this:

Eg: I'll enjoy playing any of football, cricket or basketball. (Here if you replace or by and, the sentence won't make sense)

Similarly, in the given sentence,

"Major League Baseball policy prohibits use of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, or no illegal drugs."

both "anabolic steroids" and "human growth hormone" are illegal drugs, but policy restricts use of any of them or any other illegal drug.

Hope this help.

Hey UdayPratapSingh99

Does the highlighted portion not make the option redundant then?

The examples you mentioned have a clear cut use of "Or" due to their structure. I'd still like to know if the examples that I mentioned are correct. And if not, then why?

Thanks your help!

Your mentioned examples are correct. But that doesn't mean use of and is correct in the question as well. You need to pay attention to meaning.

Posted from my mobile device

Hey UdayPratapSingh99

Does the highlighted portion not make the option redundant then?

The examples you mentioned have a clear cut use of "Or" due to their structure. I'd still like to know if the examples that I mentioned are correct. And if not, then why?

Thanks your help!


Your mentioned examples are correct.

Posted from my mobile device[/quote]

Which brings me back to this question. Why would the use of "and" denote a combination of all the 3 items on the list when it doesn't do so in the examples that I mentioned.

Which brings me back to this question. Why would the use of "and" denote a combination of all the 3 items on the list when it doesn't do so in the examples that I mentioned.[/quote]

Because your examples are assertive and factual, while statement in the question is conditional and make more sense if even one condition makes the difference.

You are right to be unconvinced -- "or" is wrong here, and "and" is correct (despite what the "OE" claims). I replied in this thread years ago, but my post was so long I'm guessing many people didn't read it, which is understandable.

To see why "and" is correct here, compare these two sentences:

The new Water Act bans lead, mercury, and phosphates.

The new Water Act bans lead, mercury, or phosphates.

"And" is clearly correct if the sentence means "all three of these things are banned". "Or" conveys the bizarre meaning "one of these things is banned but I'm not telling you which".

Sometimes when we use "and" we create a single semantic unit, which creates some situations that superficially appear to contradict the above. These two sentences create a different meaning, as the verb conjugation indicates:

Drinking and bowling is prohibited after 8pm. (you can't simultaneously drink and bowl after 8pm; here "drinking and bowling" is a single semantic unit, as the singular verb indicates)

Drinking and bowling are prohibited after 8pm. (you can't drink after 8pm, and you can't bowl after 8pm; here "drinking and bowling" are two separate activities, as the plural verb indicates)

If we reorder the words above, the meaning can become ambiguous: it's not clear what After 8pm, the rules prohibit drinking and bowling means, because without a singular or plural verb, it's no longer clear whether "drinking and bowling" is a list of two unrelated things, or if it's a single semantic unit. In this case, if we want to indicate that it's a list of two unrelated things, we often would use "or" instead of "and" (After 8pm, the rules prohibit drinking or bowling) even though this risks conveying the 'bizarre meaning' I mentioned above.

But that consideration is irrelevant to the problem in this thread, since the list in the original question is clearly not a single semantic unit. There is only one logically correct conjunction here. That said, I can't imagine the GMAT ever testing this issue, so it's probably not important.

I'd add that some of the replies above are incorrectly interpreting the meaning of "illegal drugs" in this sentence. That phrase means something like "narcotics" here. The "steroids" and "growth hormone" earlier in the sentence are not examples of "illegal drugs".
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Yes, you're right. People are not reading it as it's too long and doesn't follow the OA. But it's right. Thanks

This is the only explanation anyone needs. "AND" is clearly correct.

Can the OA be corrected please? Or can the question be removed?

The answer has to be D "AND ANY"

Posted from my mobile device
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