Disappointed by the company’s decision to put itself for sale,

Hi Nirenjan,

it can be inferred that the investors voiced their frustration by selling their shares. E incorrectly seperates these two actions. It sounds like the investors sold their shares and voiced their frustration in any other way. However, this doesn't match the intended meaning. TaN1213 already described very well, why B is correct.

Hope that helps

IMO, option B is correct.

In option E, the two ideas are presented at two independent clauses joined by conjunction 'and', thus altering the original meaning of sentence.

In option B, this meaning issue is rectified by presenting one of the two ideas as verbing modifier.

Posted from my mobile device

Imo c, "it" should be referring back to the company.

Posted from my mobile device

I answered E.

Doubt on D - what does its refer to - isn't the pronoun incorrect.

Shouldn't it be replaced by their

Comma + ing Modifier = Modifies the entire preceding clause.

Correct Answer must be (D)

Disappointed by the company’s decision to put itself for sale, its shares were quickly sold by the investors, voicing their frustration.

A. its shares were quickly sold by the investors, voicing their frustration- Modifier issue
B. investors voiced their frustration, quickly selling the company's shares - Selling is not due to voicing of frustration
C. investors quickly sold its shares and voiced their frustration - frustration was due to quick sell
D. investors quickly sold its shares, voicing their frustration - voicing was a result of quick selling of shares
E. investors quickly sold their shares and voiced their frustration - wrong pronoun - Company's shares should be its

Doubt - I think that "their" in the Option E refers to Investors and not shares - as their is a personal pronoun and can't refer to shares.
I chose E as my answer

The grammar errors are based on the rules of antecedence. The first phrase is antecedent to the subject of the sentence. Thus, the investors were the ones disappointed. This error is so common, it has become almost a cliche in grammar tests. The second rule here is that a pronoun refers to the first noun prior to it. So, its refers to company. In terms of style, it is actually desirable and parsimonious to use the pronoun, and not repeat the noun again. The final error is one of logical antecedence: it must be made clear that the investors voiced their frustration by selling their shares. The shares do belong to the investors, not the company, but that is not contradicted by the use of its shares - these are shares in the company - so its doesn’t imply ownership. D is best. It is logically correct and stylistically better.


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum

And D
Voicing the frustration is result of selling shares and D correctly captures this meaning

Posted from my mobile device

What is wrong with choice C?? I marked C.........The investors could have separately voiced their frustration.....Are we to decipher the meaning from the original sentence??

egmat clarifications please

point to eliminate option C

intended meaning of the original option should be kept.

investors haven't done two things
'voicing their frustration' is modifying the preceding clause.
that makes D correct

Hope it Helps

Thanks = Kudos

cc daagh, AjiteshArun

Could someone please explain why B is wrong? Was stuck between B & D.

quickly selling the company's shares describes how the investors voiced their frustration. verb+ing modifiers can serve as adverbial modifiers by providing more information.
Found it extremely hard to choose between B & D. D also made sense, effectively reading it as ~ investors voiced their frustration by selling the shares. The reason I picked B over D was I thought D had some ambiguity - their could refer to shares as well. Clearly I was wrong.

My 2 cents on this.

Think, What is the mother action here by the investors?? and what is the subordinate action.

The investors sold their shares is the primary action and in result of that 'voicing their frustration' acts as a supporting action.

Ex:- I spent the whole day, watching movies and playing games.

Mother action is spent the whole day.
Subordinate action is covered under mother action (watching movies and playing games)

generis, daagh and AjiteshArun

I also have the same doubt. Here voicing and selling two things are happening. One is the result of another. How to understand this?
Normally investors voice their frustration by selling the shares. I don't think it is another way around. Please explain and provide your suggestion.

Regards,
Arup

arup
One may get frustrated but actually may not sell the shares. Eventually, when you don't sell, nothing serious is going to happen. However, it is not the same when you decisively sell the shares. You feel you have reached the end of the book and therefore you must close it. Therefore selling is more concrete action than a tentative feeling. You must recognize it by giving it a verb status while relegating the frustration to a modifier status with verb+ing.

To explain it better, let us compare it to choosing a government. One may be frustrated with a party, but still may give it another term. On the contrary, if the resentment is deep, and if one decides to vote out that party, then the matter is over. CAn you see why elections are so important?

Now you may recognize why D wins over B.

I'm not sure about this one at all, but that may just be because I'm not familiar with the way this sentence uses voicing. To me, to voice something means to say it ("to speak up"). I'd be happy using it either to connect to the preceding clause or to introduce something happening at the same time.

1. He said that no one appreciated the sacrifices of the sewer workers, voicing the frustrations of a group forced to work in conditions that have, far too often, proved deadly. ← This sentence gives us a really good "connect" with the preceding clause. The voicing... is clearly linked to the saying of something. The act of his saying something can be equated to the voicing of frustrations.

2. He walked into the room, voicing his frustration with the local government officials. ← This shows two things happening at the same or at about the same time. It's like saying that he was expressing his frustration as he was walking into the room. We could flip the sentence and go with (3).

3a. Voicing his frustration with the local government officials, he walked into the room. ← This is pretty much the same as (2). He walked into the room while saying something.
3b. Shaking his head, he sold all the shares he had. ← Another example of the same thing. This one tells us what he was doing as (at the same time) he sold his shares.

This is how I use voice. With this (limited) knowledge, this is how I would interpret option D:

Investors quickly sold its shares, voicing their frustration. ← Because the first clause doesn't have anything to do with saying anything, I am unable to read this as (1).

I'd read this option as (2): investors were saying that they were frustrated as ("at the same time") they were undertaking the action of selling the company's shares. I can see one investor doing this as he or she sold his or her shares, but all of them?

But let me repeat: all of this is based on how I use voice. There may be some other way of using voice that makes this option more reasonable.

I'm also not comfortable with "the company’s decision to put itself for sale". Surely that needs to be "the company’s decision to put itself up for sale"?