Despite the political pressure on country clubs to allow

Or is it A?

My first choice was B - but wasn't satisfied - as it's not clear who the "they" refers to - the political parties or the country clubs.

C was not my choice - the phrase "to allow the joining of women .." didn't sound quite right.

A was the best fit - the pronoun "they" clearly reflects "the country club" and the "to allow to join" seems the best usage.

What's the OA?

Despite the political pressure on country clubs to allow women and minorities to join, they have maintained a policy that prevents membership by these groups.


(A) on country clubs to allow women and minorities to join, they have maintained a policy
------> "they" is quite ambiguous
(B) to allow women and minorities to join country clubs, a policy has been maintained
---> pressure should be used with prep "on"
(C) on country clubs to allow the joining of women and minorities, the clubs have maintained a policy
-----> correct prep and eliminate the ambiguous "they" --->fine
(D) to allow women and minorities to join country clubs, they have maintained a policy
----> problem with "they"
(E) on country clubs to allow the joining of women and minorities, they have maintained a policy
----> also problem with "they"

I would go for B

Pressure on is correct idiom. that is why I will choose C over B.

I can't find anything wrong with C.

C looks much better except for the "joining of women and minorities", we are not bringing women and minorities together.

Althought the "they" in A is a bit ambiguous I guess I'll have to take A.

Looks like we need some more discussion about this one....

I would go for B[/quote]

opps, I meant C.[/quote]

Always trust your first instinct.

OA is B.

OE:

Alarm: The pronoun ・i>they・br> Rule(s): Must agree with its object and be unambiguous.

Since this pronoun could refer to ・i>clubs・or ・i>women and minorities・

POE:
Eliminate A and any other choices that contain that error. Choices D and E repeat the error.

Compare the remaining choices to find any other commonly tested errors.

(B) ・a policy has been maintained
(C) ・the clubs have maintained a policy

Choice C illogically suggests that an inanimate object (the clubs) has done something.

B remains.

your set of questions is quite tricky, Matt :wink:
Yes, very first instinct/ intuition is always correct!! Unfortunately, I repeat not listening to it
According to Emotional Intelligence , instinct plays a significant role in the survival of human beings especially in primitive time. Why? In that time, human beings had to cope with natural disasters and fight against carnivorous animals, time-consuming reasoning was not sufficient enough for people to make decision in a very second of the limit between life and death ....prompt instinct/ intuition saved their lives then.Neurologically speaking, the pathway for an instinct in human brain is much shorter than that of a reasoning.

Then, why do i still ignore my intuition? :S