Opponents of the proposed water desalination plant cite

Question

Opponents of the proposed water desalination plant cite the environmental impact and the tremendous cost  as being reasons not to  approve the plan.

A. as being reasons not to
B. to be reasons not to
C. as if they were reasons not to
D. for reasons that they should not
E. as reasons not to

Abhishek009 · Answer

Consider X as Y is correct idiomatic usage, hence answer must be (E)

Avinash2303 · Answer

I am not able to understand why B is wrong

SonalSinha803 · Answer

B is wrong because it uses "to be". "Cite as" is the correct idiom.

Opponents of the proposed water desalination plant cite **the environmental impact and the tremendous cost** as being reasons not to approve the plan.

Just forget about the starred part for some time. Now see .... Cite as reasons or cite to be reasons, which is correct ??Cite as.

Moreover, to be is often wrong on GMAT. We use it while speaking but is actually not the right way to say.

E is more concise than A, which uses "being". Thus, E is right.

Hope this helps. Regards

Sent from my Lenovo K53a48 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Skyline393 · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The idiom “x is cited as y” can also be phrased “cite x as y,” as in this sentence. However, the original sentence incorrectly introduces the unnecessary verb “being.” (A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.
(B) This choice does not use the correct idiom “cite x as y,” instead introducing the unidiomatic form “cite x to be y.”
(C) This choice does not use the correct idiom “cite x as y,” instead introducing the unidiomatic form “cite x as if they were y.” In addition, the phrase “as if they were” properly refers only to hypothetical situations rather than the concrete example in this sentence.
(D) This choice does not use the correct idiom “cite x as y,” instead introducing
the unidiomatic form “cite x for y.” In addition, the phrasing “that they should not” is unnecessarily more wordy than “not to.”
 (E) CORRECT.  This choice uses the correct idiom “cite x as y.”

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

This question is based on Idiomatic Usage and Construction.

The verb ‘cite’ in the sentence indicates idiomatic usage. The appropriate idiomatic expression is “cite X as Y”. 
In this sentence, the appropriate expression would be -  cite   the environmental impact and the tremendous cost   as   Y  not to approve the plan. ‘Y’ should be replaced by a noun.

On the basis of idiomatic usage, Options B and D can be ruled out as neither option contains the conjunction ‘as’.

Option A contains the redundant participle ‘being’ after the conjunction ‘as’. The appropriate expression is cite X as Y. ‘Y’ should be a noun, not a participle. So, Option A can be eliminated.

Option C has an awkward construction because of the placement of a conditional clause “if they were reasons not to” after the conjunction ‘as’. The phrase “as if” generally indicates an improbable situation. Since there is no such meaning intended, Option C can be eliminated. This option also contains an ambiguous pronoun ‘they’.

Option E contains the appropriate idiomatic usage –  cite…….as reasons .  Therefore, E is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Opponents of the proposed water desalination plant cite

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Opponents of the proposed water desalination plant cite

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