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Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes fro 06 Oct 2019, 21:48
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A is incorrect because "on the ground of violating state laws" implies that the ban was based on the violation of state laws when instead it should communicate that the ban was overturned because the ban violates state laws
B is incorrect for similar reasons - "their violating" also doesn't make sense as the agent is either the judge or the ban (both are singular)
C is incorrect for the verb tense issue - "laws that allowed" - the laws would need to be current if the ban was overturned because of the state laws. You wouldn't overturn a state law if it is superseded.
D is correct - the relative clause correctly communicates the message
E is incorrect for a number of reasons but the most clear reason to me is that E says the violating of the state laws is what allowed the use of personal watercraft.

Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes from the tranquil waters of Puget Sound, a judge overturned the ban on the ground of violating state laws for allowing the use of personal watercraft on common waterways.

Between C and D

If something violates another EXISTING law, then that existing law must still be in force, so we must convey the tense correctly - the state laws "allow" not "allowed" and the ban violated, not violates, since the ban is no longer in effect (non-existent) we must convey that it is a figment of the past with past tense.

(C) that it violates state laws that allowed


(D) that it violated state laws allowing
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Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes fro 30 Jun 2020, 12:00
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For all those who removed D because - "verb+ing" sounds akward"

please note this rule

verb+ING when follows a noun without a comma MUST modify that noun

so basically 'ALLOWING' (verb) is correctly modifying the STATE LAWS (noun)
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Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes fro 03 Aug 2020, 13:07
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Hi, I understand that option C is not correct due to tense error. But in option D, isn't allowing changes the intended meaning?

I would appreciate your reply.
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Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes fro 13 Aug 2021, 23:44
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raaz8522
Hi, I understand that option C is not correct due to tense error. But in option D, isn't allowing changes the intended meaning?

I would appreciate your reply.
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Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes from the tranquil waters of Puget Sound, a judge overturned the ban on the ground of violating state laws for allowing the use of personal watercraft on common waterways.


(A) of violating state laws for allowing

(B) of their violating state laws to allow

(C) that it violates state laws that allowed

(D) that it violated state laws allowing

(E) that state laws were being violated allowing

blue colour is core of the sentence
If you notice difference between A and D , it says:
A says: overturned the ban xxxx for allowing --> one ambigious meaning .here prepsoition description can be connected with verb . overturned the ban for allowing? because of ambigiouity and we have D.
D says: overturned the ban xx state laws <modifier> ; since there is no preposition the modifier is pointing to state laws
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Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes fro 10 Jun 2022, 10:29
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zoom612
Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes from the tranquil waters of Puget Sound, a judge overturned the ban on the ground of violating state laws for allowing the use of personal watercraft on common waterways.

Meaning: judge overturned the ban because the ban violated laws, which were established to allow the use of personal watercraft on common water.

Therefore, "allowing" needs to modify the "laws." That said, eliminate (A) and (B). On to (C) - (E)

(A) of violating state laws for allowing

(B) of their violating state laws to allow

(C) that it violates state laws that allowed

"laws that allowed" - so the laws no longer allow something? Illogical

(D) that it violated state laws allowing

Correct. "violated" makes sense since the ban caused the violation in the past. "Allowing" correctly modifies laws.

(E) that state laws were being violated allowing

"violated allowing" doesn't make sense. They are both modifiers. OUT


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https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/06/us/in-puget-sound-a-county-s-prohibition-on-jet-skis-is-overruled.html

Nine months after San Juan County imposed the nation's first ban on jet skis and other water bikes from its tranquil waters in the upper Puget Sound, a judge has overturned the ban on the ground that it violated state laws allowing the use of the personal watercraft on common waterways.
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Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes fro 22 Aug 2022, 19:57
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GMATNinja Please help us with this question
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Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes fro 23 Jun 2023, 06:37
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The ban was violated. It can't be in the present or continuous since it is already overturned. This eliminates A, B & C.

E is eliminated as the construction is awkward. Also, due to preference of active voice over passive voice,

D is the answer.
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Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes fro 07 Dec 2023, 07:08
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Nine months after the county banned jet skis and other motor bikes from the tranquil waters of Puget Sound, a judge overturned the ban on the ground of violating state laws for allowing the use of personal watercraft on common waterways.

Option Elimination -

(A) of violating state laws for allowing -

A bit of basics first. On GMAT, "grounds for" (not on the grounds for), "on the grounds of," (not on the ground of), and "on the grounds that" are preferred.
"Grounds for" indicates the reason or basis for a particular decision. "grounds for" is more focused on the reason itself. It is typically followed by a noun or a noun phrase. Example: There are grounds for believing the company's profits will increase next quarter,
"on the grounds of" is used to introduce the reason. It is also followed by a noun or a noun phrase. Example: The proposal was rejected on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
"on the grounds that" introduces the subordinate clause explaining the grounds or basis mentioned. Example: The decision was made on the grounds that the project was not financially viable.

Back to our option A. The challenges here are
1. Using the present participle "violating" gives a sense that it's a continuous action against the intended meaning, which is that this happened in the past.
2. "for allowing" is wrong here. "for" is typically used to show the reason or the purpose. Let's look at our sentence - a judge overturned the ban on the grounds of violating state laws "for allowing" the use of personal watercraft on common waterways. ok, so let's evaluate this: "A judge overturned the ban on the ground of violating state laws "with the purpose of allowing" the use of personal watercraft on common waterways." The problem with the meaning of "for allowing" is that now, instead of modifying the "state laws," it becomes adverbial and modifies the main verb "overturned," meaning that "the judge overturned the ban with the purpose of allowing the use of personal watercraft on common waterways," a ridiculous meaning and not the intended meaning. Yes, I agree that in our sentence, we have "for allowing" and not "with the purpose of," but the meaning of "for allowing" is something that doesn't work here. That's why this option is entirely wrong.

Moreover, I am unsure if someone pasted it wrong, but "on the ground (without S) doesn't seem correct.

(B) of their violating state laws to allow - "their" no antecedent.

(C) that it violates state laws that allowed - "violates" is present is not right as this happened in the past. And "allowed" in the past tense is incorrect as those laws still apply

(D) that it violated state laws allowing - ok

(E) that state laws were being violated allowing - one why to convert to passive for no reason. Moreover, what noun is this phrase modifying? " allowing the use of personal watercraft on common waterways"? Nothing? Which is wrong.
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