Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot receiving clear

Question

Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot receiving clearance to take off.

A. Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot receiving clearance to take off.
B. Our attending the conference depends on our pilot receiving clearance to take off.
C. We will attend the conference only if our pilot receives clearance of take off.
D. Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot receiving clearance for take off.
E. Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot’s receiving clearance to take off.

Get this question in 3 minutes without looking at the OA and you are a GMAT genius!

sayantanc2k · Accepted Answer

Hi  thangvietnam ,

Why do you feel that the usage is wrong? We know of a gerund rule that if a gerund is preceded by a noun, and the noun is the doer of the action depicted by the gerund, then the noun should be in possessive. e.g.,

Right: I love  Arnold's acting . (gerund as an object).
Wrong: I love Arnold acting.
Arnold's acting is impressive. (gerund as a subject).
Wrong: Arnold acting is impressive.

According to the above rule, why should  our attending the conference   be wrong? The gerund  attending  is the subject of the sentence and since  we  are the doer of the action  attending ,  our attending  also seems to be correct. Could you elaborate your view please?

Note: I do agree that the usage is awkward, but is it grammatically wrong altogether?

Btw, the usage  pilot receiving  is wrong because of the same gerund rule mentioned above.

sytabish · Answer

Hi,

IMO:
In options A, B and D,  'receiving clearance to take off'  acts as a Verb-ing modifier modifying the preceding noun, which is pilot. Now, the sentence just becomes, Our attending the conference depends on the pilot. This is incorrect. Attending the conference doesn't depend on the pilot but the pilot's receiving of clearance to take off.
E conveys the meaning in right way.

Thanks!

Ekland · Answer

You didn't explain why C is not the answer.
In fact C could be the answer.
or why not.
What is wrong with this question.
somebody help

thangvietname · Answer

our attending the conference
is wrong grammatically

saumya12 · Answer

Since "our" is a possessive pronoun, "our attending" does seem to be difficult to understand.

What does it suggest? We possess what?

Devlikes · Answer

Hello Nez, I'm Happy to help !

Actually, This question tests our reasoning skills along with our ability to correct grammatical errors. Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot receiving clearance to take off. Here the bold phrase (beginning with verb-ing modifier) is modifying the noun "pilot". Always keep this in mind: "Verb-ing modifier that precedes a noun without comma, always modifies that noun." Now if you would apply the rule that I mentioned above, you'll notice that in the original sentence, the noun "pilot" is an object of the sentence. Also, if you'd think logically, it will come in your mind that their chances of attending the conference does not depend on the pilot, but the pilot's clearance for a take off(Read the original sentence as "Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot" Logically incorrect. isn't it ?

). This will help us eliminate option A,B and D. Option C completely distorts the intended meaning of the original sentence. For example, In the original sentence, the intended meaning is that their chances of attending the conference depends on the pilot's clearance to take off. Whereas according to option C, it seems that attending the conference is already in their control and they will only attend it if the pilot receives the clearance. That's not what the original sentence wanted to convey. Hope that helps. Kindly do give me kudos if you find this helpful (Badly Need'em

)

tarunk31 · Answer

Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot receiving clearance to take off.

Here from the meaning it is clear that the sentence essentially says that attending the conference is dependent on receiving the clearance. Here attending and receiving are both nouns or gerunds more specifically. Our is a possessive pronoun modifying the noun or is an adjective to the noun attending. More examples: his pen, our shop, her sandal. Here his, our and her are adjective modifying respective nouns. However "pilot receiving" is wrong since Pilot is a noun and not an adjective and therefore cannot modify a gerund. Here receiving is acting as present participle modifying noun Pilot and therefore it conveys wrong meaning that attending the conference is dependent of pilot(who is receiving clearance to take off.). So we should have a possessive Pilot's before receiving to convey the correct meaning.

A. Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot receiving clearance to take off.
Wrong as suggested in above analysis. We need possessive pilot's.

B. Our attending the conference depends on our pilot receiving clearance to take off.
Wrong as suggested above.

C. We will attend the conference only if our pilot receives clearance of take off.
Changes the meaning completely. From a mere dependence to a condition.

D. Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot receiving clearance for take off.
Wrong as suggested above.

E. Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot’s receiving clearance to take off.

Correct as s suggested above.

MissionWin · Answer

This one is…tricky. I think C can be taken out, immediately, because ‘clearance of take off’ is not idiomatic, ‘clearance to take off’ or ‘clearance for take off’ needs to be used. This took a while but I was able to figure out how to eliminate all three of the incorrect options still remaining. In A b and D ‘receiving clearance…’ is used as a modifier for pilot. This alters the meaning of the sentence to just be ‘Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot’ rather than on the pilot’s receiving clearance for take off.

So the correct option is E.

So the correct option is E.

arvind910619 · Answer

A very tough question. Perhaps it will be in everyone's interest, if official explanation is posted for this question.
A big thank you in advance

Ahi · Answer

Hi Guys 
As per the question, it doesn't convey the whole action or you can process/Phenomenon
Here the structure is preposition+noun+ing which does not convey the whole phenomenon there is no conjunction plus no subordinating conjunction
To convey the whole meaning we use apostrophes in the case of the noun and possessive determiners in the case of the pronoun

By this rule, we can eliminate A, B, AND D
on our pilot+receiving-------> This doesn't convey the whole process it conveys till receiving clearance 
We left with C and E 
in C "of" is incorrect. clearance TO should be used.
E is the exact answer to what we want to convey the whole process

Excuse for typo error

Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot receiving clear

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Our attending the conference is dependent on our pilot receiving clear

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards