On the recommendation of top financial advisors, corporate officials

Option D has 'before' and option E has 'after'. The word 'after' changes the meaning of the sentence.



I eliminated A, B, and C, because 'which' refers to the government lowering the interest rates. The main subject is the corporate advisors sending the money into the bond market. Hence, I think 'which' refers to the wrong action in A,B,C.

I do not understand what is happening with this sentence.
Unless you know that interest rates and the price of bonds are inversely related, you have no way to choose between D and E.
Veritas usually writes better questions than this one.

shridhar786 , are you sure that this is a Veritas question? How old is it? Are you sure that it is authentic?
(It's okay if not. I just need to know because this question is not good.)

If you do not know about the relationship between interest rates and the price of bonds, then the only way to choose D is to believe the urban myth that option A determines original and intended meaning.

Option A does not determine original meaning.
The correct answer to a question should not turn on that non-rule about option A.

• Split #1: which must modify a noun and cannot "stand for" an entire clause

Eliminate A, B, and C because all three incorrectly use which to refer to the idea expressed in the entire previous clause.
The word which can modify only a stated and fairly nearby noun.

We can add a noun (called a summative modifier) and change which to that to fix the error, this way:

Option A, rewritten: On the recommendation of advisors, corporate officials diverted $1 million into the bond market just before the government lowered interest rates, a decision that was very fiscally responsible.
-- "a decision" now correctly summarizes the preceding clause and is followed by a that-clause

Eliminate A, B, and C

• Split #2 - have a degree or experience in business, finance, or economics.
I'm only sort of kidding.

According to the rules of economics, Option D is logical. Option E is not.

The federal interest rate and the price of bonds are inversely related.
When interest rates decrease, the price of bonds increases.
When interest rates increase, the price of bonds decreases.

Option D
If you bought the bonds before the interest rates were lowered, as in option (D), you bought the bonds at a relatively low price and could sell them at a higher price.
In option D, that [choice to buy bonds while they were cheap, that diversion of funds] turned out to be a very fiscally responsible decision.
Logical.

In both (D) and (E), I don't like that as a standalone pronoun.
→ → This construction would be better: . . . top financial advisors told corporate officials to divert one million dollars into the bond market and that decision turned out to be very fiscally responsible.

Option E
If you bought the bonds after the interest rates were lowered, as in option (E), you bought the bonds for a relatively high price and diverted $1 million in assets to do so, money whose ROI would probably be better if the money were invested elsewhere.
Option E claims that the decision to buy at a high price was "very fiscally responsible."
Wrong.

Eliminate E

The best answer is D

Maybe I am missing something, but I think that this question is deeply flawed.

I would not worry about this question.

gvij2017 , you're correct.
The word "that" should not stand for an entire clause. (Nor should "which," but A and B are indistinguishable, so we dump A, B, and C for misuse of "which.")

As far as I know, GMAC has never allowed "that" to modify a complete clause.

But: in OG 2020, for the first time that I know of, the correct answer contained a standalone "this" that referred to an entire clause.
That question is here.

As I mentioned in my post above, here, I would not worry too much about this question.

I don't think any of these options make perfect sense.

In [D], one could assume that the sentence means that the advisors told officials to divert EXACTLY 1 million dollars, which is not the case.

All options seem to be grammatically wrong. Which and that in all the five options are referring to a verb - diverted/divert.

meaning clarity is different in D
because it says that "top financial advisors told corporate officials to divert" vs "On the recommendation of top financial advisors, corporate officials diverted" .....there is a clear difference in whether telling something is responsible or is it the diversion of funds is the responsible one

This doesn't seem like a quality SC question to me.
The original sentence says that the corporate officials actually transferred one million dollars. However, answer choice D says that the top financial advisors told corporate officials to transfer one million dollars. Isn't the intended meaning of the sentence changed in option D?
Furthermore, in option D, what does "that" refer to? "That" here is acting as a demonstrative pronoun and is indicating towards "transfer of one million dollars by corporate officials". This doesn't make whole lot of sense to me!