Unlike psychiatrists, who are trained as medical doctors, psychologist

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Here is a detailed explanation to this question-



Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that psychologists have historically been forbidden to prescribe drugs for their patients, but in 2002 New Mexico began allowing licensed, doctoral-level psychologists who complete an additional training and certification program to prescribe drugs.

Concepts tested here: Meaning +Pronouns + Verb Forms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• For referring to the purpose or intent of an action, the infinitive verb form (“to + base form of verb" – “to + prescribe” in this sentence) is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing" - "prescribing" in this sentence) construction.
• The construction "present participle (“verb+ing” – “prescribing” in this sentence) + privileges" is an idiomatic construction that refers to permission to take the action that the participle refers to.

A: Trap. This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "the privilege of prescribing"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that New Mexico began allowing licensed, doctoral-level psychologists who complete an additional training and certification program to prescribe drugs. Further, Option A uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "prescribing" in this sentence) to refer to the intent of the action "have been forbidden"; remember, for referring to the purpose or intent of an action, the infinitive verb form (“to + base form of verb") is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing" - "prescribing" in this sentence) construction. Additionally, Option A uses the needlessly wordy phrase "began to grant", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B: Correct. This answer choice uses the clause "New Mexico began granting prescribing privileges", conveying the intended meaning - that in 2002 New Mexico, itself, began allowing licensed, doctoral-level psychologists who complete an additional training and certification program to prescribe drugs; remember, the construction "present participle + privileges" is an idiomatic construction that refers to permission to take the action that the participle refers to. Further, Option B avoids the pronoun error seen in Option E, as it employs no pronouns. Additionally, Option B uses the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - " to + prescribe" in this sentence) to refer to the intent of the action "have been forbidden". Besides, Option B is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

C: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "the privilege to prescribe"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that New Mexico began allowing licensed, doctoral-level psychologists who complete an additional training and certification program to prescribe drugs. Further, Option C uses the needlessly wordy and passive phrase "began to be granted", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "the privilege of prescribing"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that New Mexico began allowing licensed, doctoral-level psychologists who complete an additional training and certification program to prescribe drugs. Further, Option D uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "prescribing" in this sentence) to refer to the intent of the action "have been forbidden"; remember, for referring to the purpose or intent of an action, the infinitive verb form (“to + base form of verb") is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing" - "prescribing" in this sentence) construction. Additionally, Option D uses the needlessly wordy phrase "began to grant", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the clause "in New Mexico, they began granting prescribing privileges"; the construction of this clause incorrectly implies that in the state of New Mexico, some unidentified entity began allowing certain psychologists to prescribe drugs; the intended meaning is that the state of New Mexico, itself, began allowing certain psychologists to prescribe drugs. Further, Option E suffers from a pronoun error, as the pronoun "they" lacks a clear, logical referent. Additionally, Option E uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "prescribing" in this sentence) to refer to the intent of the action "have been forbidden"; remember, for referring to the purpose or intent of an action, the infinitive verb form (“to + base form of verb") is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing" - "prescribing" in this sentence) construction.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Present Participle" vs "Infinitive" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



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Experts' Global Team

B

according to MGMAT SC idiom list, "forbid to" is the correct idiom

edit:
actually, "forbidden from" is also correct, according to here https://www.flashcardexchange.com/flashc ... 769?page=2

but the sentence "forbidden from prescribing their patient drugs" is awkward
it sounds better if it was "forbidden from prescribing drugs to their patient"

B for me too...

@gmat blows
B correctly states as "prescribing privileges"

I think, "Began to grant" and "began granting" both are correct. However the rest of the statement - "privileges of prescribing to licensed psychologists" is misleading. It may be read as "privileges of prescribing to licensed pscyhologists".

Thus, stating it as "prescribing privileges" avoids this confusion.

B looks good for me

"forbidden to prescribe drugs for their patients" sounds better

"forbidden from prescribing their patients drugs" vs --- "forbidden from prescribing drugs for their patients"
second one sounds better to me. Can some one throw lights on this

Unlike psychiatrists, who are trained as medical doctors, psychologists have historically been forbidden from prescribing their patient drugs, but in 2002 New Mexico began to grant the privilege of prescribing to licensed, doctoral level psychologists who complete an additional training and certification program.

A. psychologists have historically been forbidden from prescribing their patient drugs, but in 2002 New Mexico began to grant the privilege of prescribing
B. psychologists have historically been forbidden to prescribe drugs for their patients, but in 2002 New Mexico began granting prescribing privileges
C. psychologists have historically been forbidden to prescribe their patients drugs, but in 2002 in New Mexico, the privilege to prescribe began to be granted
: who started granting is not clear. " but in 2002 in New Mexico" as a modifier distort the intended meaning that is "New Mexico began to grant "

Unlike psychiatrists, who are trained as medical doctors, psychologists have historically been forbidden from prescribing their patient drugs, but in 2002 New Mexico began to grant the privilege of prescribing to licensed, doctoral level psychologists who complete an additional training and certification program.

A. psychologists have historically been forbidden from prescribing their patient drugs, but in 2002 New Mexico began to grant the privilege of prescribing

B. psychologists have historically been forbidden to prescribe drugs for their patients, but in 2002 New Mexico began granting prescribing privileges

C. psychologists have historically been forbidden to prescribe their patients drugs, but in 2002 in New Mexico, the privilege to prescribe began to be granted
change to passive tense not needed and is wrong
D. historically psychologists have been forbidden from prescribing their patients drugs, but in 2002 New Mexico began to grant the privilege of prescribing incorrect comparison.

E. historically psychologists have been forbidden from prescribing drugs for their patients, but in 2002 in New Mexico, they began granting prescribing privileges incorrect comparison

Unlike psychiatrists, who are trained as medical doctors, psychologists have historically been forbidden from prescribing their patient drugs, but in 2002 New Mexico began to grant the privilege of prescribing to licensed, doctoral level psychologists who complete an additional training and certification program.

A. psychologists have historically been forbidden from prescribing their patient drugs, but in 2002 New Mexico began to grant the privilege of prescribing

-- Should be 'forbidden to'

B. psychologists have historically been forbidden to prescribe drugs for their patients, but in 2002 New Mexico began granting prescribing privileges

-- Correct. Keep.

C. psychologists have historically been forbidden to prescribe their patients drugs, but in 2002 in New Mexico, the privilege to prescribe began to be granted

-- 'patients drugs' should be 'drugs for their patients'

D. historically psychologists have been forbidden from prescribing their patients drugs, but in 2002 New Mexico began to grant the privilege of prescribing

-- 'patients drugs' should be 'drugs for their patients'

E. historically psychologists have been forbidden from prescribing drugs for their patients, but in 2002 in New Mexico, they began granting prescribing privileges

-- 'they' has no clear antecedent

Answer is B.

Unlike psychiatrists, who are trained as medical doctors, psychologists have historically been forbidden from prescribing their patient drugs, but in 2002 New Mexico began to grant the privilege of prescribing to licensed, doctoral level psychologists who complete an additional training and certification program.


Correct comparison, psychiatrists and psychologists.
"patients drugs" seems a bit odd, it should be drugs for patients or something similar. Hold till find a better option.


Perfect! B overcomes the awkward point of A.


Same as A, reject C.


Incorrect comparison.
D and E are out

B is clear win

GMATNinja ExpertsGlobal / any expert, please help with a solution.

Vinit800HBS apart from the idiom error is there any deterministic error in choice (A)? Moreover, in the correct choice (B) we have "forbidden to prescribe drugs for their patients," shouldn't it be forbidden to prescribe drugs to their patients"

Hello Hoozan,

We hope this finds you well.

As we mentioned in the above post, Option A alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "the privilege of prescribing"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that New Mexico began allowing licensed, doctoral-level psychologists who complete an additional training and certification program to prescribe drugs.

Further, both "prescribe...to" and "prescribe...for" are acceptable constructions.

We hope this helps.
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Experts' Global Team

KarishmaB , please help with option C. Why is it wrong?

(C) uses the phrase "their patients drugs" which makes it inferior to (B) which uses "drugs to their patients" (which is the intended meaning).
"drugs to their patients" is a lot clearer in explaining what is given and to whom.

Also, option (B) uses clean active voice "New Mexico began granting PP..."
But option (C) uses the passive "the P to P began to be granted ..."

So (B) is better on both counts.

Hello aditijain1507,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option C answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "the privilege to prescribe"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that New Mexico began allowing licensed, doctoral-level psychologists who complete an additional training and certification program to prescribe drugs. Further, Option C uses the needlessly wordy and passive phrase "began to be granted", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

The construction "present participle + privilleges" means permission to do something, typically the action that the present participle refers to; "privilege to do something" means "the honor/good fortune of performing an action"; thus, the use of "privilege to do something" makes no sense here.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

in B] New Mexico began granting prescribing privileges to doctors etc

''granting prescrbing' we have double -ing verbals there. How should I interpret noun form here?

moreover, when we say- 'prescribing PRIVILEGES' does not that sound off ?

The function of the two ing forms is different.
'prescribing,' a present participle, modifies privileges. What kind of privileges? 'prescribing privileges'.
It is like 'red cars' in 'they began distributing red cars.'

Also, 'granting' is a gerund. Began what? began granting privileges...

Is it correct to state that in option A ( Though I marked it as my choice ) is wrong because if I look it from meaning standpoint "New Mexico began to grant". So how can something be started and then we show an intent and that too in past tense ( or a direction in which they wanted to move). It has to be " New Mexico began granting...…".