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555-605 Level|   Modifiers|   Parallelism|   Pronouns|      
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department Updated on: 16 Oct 2018, 04:09
Originally posted by souvik101990 on 24 May 2017, 07:36.
Last edited by Bunuel on 16 Oct 2018, 04:09, edited 1 time in total.
Renamed the topic and edited the question.
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62% (01:15) correct 38% (01:21) wrong based on 2829 sessions

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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.


(A) Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.

(B) Because diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff had been instructed to store all files on secure servers.

(C) Whereas diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff was instructed to store their files on secure servers.

(D) Because of the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.

(E) The State Department’s staff had been instructed to store their files on secure servers, since their work was highly sensitive.


Verbal Question of The Day: Day 18: Sentence Correction


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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 24 May 2017, 07:38
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This looks like a nice, clear, straightforward, mechanical question, with lots of nice pronoun and verb tense and modifier issues. I like it.

Quote:
(A) Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
Show more
Whenever you see "due to", you'll want to ask: what does the phrase "due to _______" modify? In this sentence, "due to the highly sensitive nature of their work" is trying to describe "were instructed" -- but that doesn't work, since "due to _____" can only modify a noun. And it definitely doesn't make sense to say that "all State Department staff members... were due to the highly sensitive nature of their work." Eliminate (A).

Quote:
(B) Because diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff had been instructed to store all files on secure servers.
Show more
The verb tenses don't make any sense in (B). Whenever you see "had + verb" (past perfect tense, if you like jargon), the action has to occur before some other time marker in the past (usually, another action in simple past tense). In this case, the sentence seems to be saying that the staff had been instructed to use secure servers first, and then the diplomatic work became highly sensitive later. That doesn't make sense, so we can get rid of (B).

Quote:
(C) Whereas diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff was instructed to store their files on secure servers.
Show more
"Staff" is singular, but "their" is plural, so (C) can be eliminated easily enough.

Quote:
(D) Because of the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
Show more
This looks fine to me. Pronoun agreement is fine, and we don't have any issues with "due to" or verb tenses. We'll keep this one.

Quote:
(E) The State Department’s staff had been instructed to store their files on secure servers, since their work was highly sensitive.
Show more
(E) gives us nicer-sounding versions of the errors in (B) and (C). (D) is the winner.
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 02 Jun 2017, 07:00
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saarthak299

can anyone differentiate between due to and because of?
I'm really confused between the two.
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Go here
https://gmatclub.com/forum/due-to-vs-be ... l#p1129882
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 24 May 2017, 23:33
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I chose D. The following is my reasoning:

Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.

(A) Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
=> Wrong. "highly sensitive nature of their work" explains why "all State Department staff members were instructed..." But when we use "due to", it turns out that "highly sensitive nature of their work" explains "all State Department staff members". Illogical meaning!
(B) Because diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff had been instructed to store all files on secure servers.
=> Wrong. Usage of past perfect "had been" is wrong. Past perfect is used only when an action happened before another action occurring in the past. In this question, the action "be instructed" does not happen before any other past action. That "diplomatic work was highly sensitive" must happen before or during the main action.
(C) Whereas diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff was instructed to store their files on secure servers.
=> Wrong. Intended meaning expresses a causal relationship (Because of A, B happened). But in this option, as indicated by "whereas", A is contrasted by B. Intended meaning is changed!
(D) Because of the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
=> CORRECT!
(E) The State Department’s staff had been instructed to store their files on secure servers, since their work was highly sensitive.
=> Wrong. This option is eliminated for the same reason as in option (B)
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 27 May 2017, 22:07
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GMATNinja
This looks like a nice, clear, straightforward, mechanical question, with lots of nice pronoun and verb tense and modifier issues. I like it.

Quote:
(A) Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
Whenever you see "due to", you'll want to ask: what does the phrase "due to _______" modify? In this sentence, "due to the highly sensitive nature of their work" is trying to describe "were instructed" -- but that doesn't work, since "due to _____" can only modify a noun. And it definitely doesn't make sense to say that "all State Department staff members... were due to the highly sensitive nature of their work." Eliminate (A).

Quote:
(B) Because diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff had been instructed to store all files on secure servers.
The verb tenses don't make any sense in (B). Whenever you see "had + verb" (past perfect tense, if you like jargon), the action has to occur before some other time marker in the past (usually, another action in simple past tense). In this case, the sentence seems to be saying that the staff had been instructed to use secure servers first, and then the diplomatic work became highly sensitive later. That doesn't make sense, so we can get rid of (B).

Quote:
(C) Whereas diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff was instructed to store their files on secure servers.
"Staff" is singular, but "their" is plural, so (C) can be eliminated easily enough.

Quote:
(D) Because of the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
This looks fine to me. Pronoun agreement is fine, and we don't have any issues with "due to" or verb tenses. We'll keep this one.

Quote:
(E) The State Department’s staff had been instructed to store their files on secure servers, since their work was highly sensitive.
(E) gives us nicer-sounding versions of the errors in (B) and (C). (D) is the winner.
Show more


=============================================

Very nice Explanation but I have 1 doubt.

In option D-) and also in most of the options, we have "nature of there work" in the 1st clause. but its antecedent is afterwords, Is it fine for Sentence structure???
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 28 May 2017, 12:46
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kawaljeet
Very nice Explanation but I have 1 doubt.

In option D-) and also in most of the options, we have "nature of there work" in the 1st clause. but its antecedent is afterwords, Is it fine for Sentence structure???
Show more

Thank you, kawaljeet! And yes, it can be OK to have a pronoun come before its antecedent on the GMAT, as long as the two are close enough to each other to avoid ambiguity. So something like this is generally acceptable: "Because of their frustration with the president's policies, leftists protested in the streets for four years."

And here's an official example: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-first-de ... 77464.html
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 02 Jun 2017, 04:12
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GMATNinja
This looks like a nice, clear, straightforward, mechanical question, with lots of nice pronoun and verb tense and modifier issues. I like it.

Quote:
(A) Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
Whenever you see "due to", you'll want to ask: what does the phrase "due to _______" modify? In this sentence, "due to the highly sensitive nature of their work" is trying to describe "were instructed" -- but that doesn't work, since "due to _____" can only modify a noun. And it definitely doesn't make sense to say that "all State Department staff members... were due to the highly sensitive nature of their work." Eliminate (A).

Quote:
(B) Because diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff had been instructed to store all files on secure servers.
The verb tenses don't make any sense in (B). Whenever you see "had + verb" (past perfect tense, if you like jargon), the action has to occur before some other time marker in the past (usually, another action in simple past tense). In this case, the sentence seems to be saying that the staff had been instructed to use secure servers first, and then the diplomatic work became highly sensitive later. That doesn't make sense, so we can get rid of (B).

Quote:
(C) Whereas diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff was instructed to store their files on secure servers.
"Staff" is singular, but "their" is plural, so (C) can be eliminated easily enough.

Quote:
(D) Because of the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
This looks fine to me. Pronoun agreement is fine, and we don't have any issues with "due to" or verb tenses. We'll keep this one.

Quote:
(E) The State Department’s staff had been instructed to store their files on secure servers, since their work was highly sensitive.
(E) gives us nicer-sounding versions of the errors in (B) and (C). (D) is the winner.
Show more


can anyone differentiate between due to and because of?
I'm really confused between the two.
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 22 Jun 2018, 06:40
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GMATNinja
This looks like a nice, clear, straightforward, mechanical question, with lots of nice pronoun and verb tense and modifier issues. I like it.

Quote:
(A) Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
Whenever you see "due to", you'll want to ask: what does the phrase "due to _______" modify? In this sentence, "due to the highly sensitive nature of their work" is trying to describe "were instructed" -- but that doesn't work, since "due to _____" can only modify a noun. And it definitely doesn't make sense to say that "all State Department staff members... were due to the highly sensitive nature of their work." Eliminate (A).

Quote:
(B) Because diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff had been instructed to store all files on secure servers.
The verb tenses don't make any sense in (B). Whenever you see "had + verb" (past perfect tense, if you like jargon), the action has to occur before some other time marker in the past (usually, another action in simple past tense). In this case, the sentence seems to be saying that the staff had been instructed to use secure servers first, and then the diplomatic work became highly sensitive later. That doesn't make sense, so we can get rid of (B).

Quote:
(C) Whereas diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff was instructed to store their files on secure servers.
"Staff" is singular, but "their" is plural, so (C) can be eliminated easily enough.

Quote:
(D) Because of the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
This looks fine to me. Pronoun agreement is fine, and we don't have any issues with "due to" or verb tenses. We'll keep this one.

Quote:
(E) The State Department’s staff had been instructed to store their files on secure servers, since their work was highly sensitive.
(E) gives us nicer-sounding versions of the errors in (B) and (C). (D) is the winner.
Show more

Hello GMATNinja
I may be naive to this explanation, but please help me here:-
In this sentence, "due to the highly sensitive nature of their work" is trying to describe "were instructed" -- but that doesn't work, since "due to _____" can only modify a noun
Here how "due to" is modifying "were instructed". Please enlighten me.
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 01 Jul 2018, 11:49
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chandra004

Hello GMATNinja
I may be naive to this explanation, but please help me here:-
In this sentence, "due to the highly sensitive nature of their work" is trying to describe "were instructed" -- but that doesn't work, since "due to _____" can only modify a noun
Here how "due to" is modifying "were instructed". Please enlighten me
Show more
The key is to think about what the phrase "due to _________" is trying to tell us. In this case, you want to ask yourself what, exactly happens "due to the highly sensitive nature of their work." Logically, the consequence of "the highly sensitive nature of their work" is that the staff members "were instructed" (to store their files on a secure server). And since that's a verb phrase -- and not a noun -- "due to" is inappropriate here.

I hope this helps!
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 10 Mar 2019, 06:01
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generis & GMATNinja

SHouldn't the word ''because'' be followed by a clause with a subject and a verb.?

In option-D, which is the correct option, ''Because'' is not followed by a clause.

is there any gap in my understanding.

pl. suggest

Thanks
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 10 Mar 2019, 09:27
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Ashokshiva
generis & GMATNinja

SHouldn't the word ''because'' be followed by a clause with a subject and a verb.?

In option-D, which is the correct option, ''Because'' is not followed by a clause.

is there any gap in my understanding.

pl. suggest

Thanks
Show more
Ashokshiva , in this case, there is a little gap in your understanding,
but that "gap" is very common.
because OF is different from because.

That is, in addition to due to, because, whereas, and since,
in this question we have yet another construction
with which to contend: "because of."

• because vs. because OF

because and because of are not the same.

Because
-- As you note, because should be followed by a clause.
-- Jargon: because is a subordinating conjunction that forms a
subordinate clause, also known as dependent clause — and a clause must have a subject and a verb.

Because OF
-- because of is a compound preposition, and prepositions should be followed by
nouns or noun phrases (each is an object of the preposition because of).

-- at the same time, because of modifies whole clauses.
We have to consider the logical relationship between the "because of" phrase and the clause that it modifies.

So we have to check two details when we see because of:
(1) is because of followed by a noun or a noun phrase?
(2) does because of modify a whole clause?
(Almost always, because of gives the reason for the event in the clause.)

• Correct answer D: analysis

(D) Because of the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.

Preposition: Because of

Object of preposition (a noun phrase, correct):
the highly sensitive nature of their work

Clause that because of modifies:
all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.

Logical relationship between because of and the clause?
-- WHY were staff members instructed to store files on secure servers?
-- BECAUSE OF the highly sensitive nature of the staff members' work.

That logical relationship is correct.
The because of phrase tells us why
the staff members were given the instruction to store their files on secure servers.
The nature of their work is highly sensitive = needs to be kept secret.

Jargon: In correct answer D,
because of + noun phrase is an adverbial modifier of the whole clause that follows.

Here is an article that discusses the difference between
because and because of.

I hope that analysis helps.
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 11 Mar 2019, 09:34
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generis
Ashokshiva
generis & GMATNinja

SHouldn't the word ''because'' be followed by a clause with a subject and a verb.?

In option-D, which is the correct option, ''Because'' is not followed by a clause.

is there any gap in my understanding.

pl. suggest

Thanks
Ashokshiva , in this case, there is a little gap in your understanding,
but that "gap" is very common.
because OF is different from because.

That is, in addition to due to, because, whereas, and since,
in this question we have yet another construction
with which to contend: "because of."

• because vs. because OF

because and because of are not the same.

Because
-- As you note, because should be followed by a clause.
-- Jargon: because is a subordinating conjunction that forms a
subordinate clause, also known as dependent clause — and a clause must have a subject and a verb.

Because OF
-- because of is a compound preposition, and prepositions should be followed by
nouns or noun phrases (each is an object of the preposition because of).

-- at the same time, because of modifies whole clauses.
We have to consider the logical relationship between the "because of" phrase and the clause that it modifies.

So we have to check two details when we see because of:
(1) is because of followed by a noun or a noun phrase?
(2) does because of modify a whole clause?
(Almost always, because of gives the reason for the event in the clause.)

• Correct answer D: analysis

(D) Because of the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.

Preposition: Because of

Object of preposition (a noun phrase, correct):
the highly sensitive nature of their work

Clause that because of modifies:
all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.

Logical relationship between because of and the clause?
-- WHY were staff members instructed to store files on secure servers?
-- BECAUSE OF the highly sensitive nature of the staff members' work.

That logical relationship is correct.
The because of phrase tells us why
the staff members were given the instruction to store their files on secure servers.
The nature of their work is highly sensitive = needs to be kept secret.

Jargon: In correct answer D,
because of + noun phrase is an adverbial modifier of the whole clause that follows.

Here is an article that discusses the difference between
because and because of.

I hope that analysis helps.
Show more

Thank you so much !!!
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 11 Apr 2020, 20:09
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Why the "(E) The State Department’s staff had been instructed to store their files on secure servers, since their work was highly sensitive" is not the correct answer?
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 12 Apr 2020, 08:31
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chickenhead1
Why the "(E) The State Department’s staff had been instructed to store their files on secure servers, since their work was highly sensitive" is not the correct answer?
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"Staff" is a singular noun (specifically a collective noun, if you like jargon), so "their files" and "their work" are both incorrect. More on that here.

I hope that helps a bit!
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 10 Jan 2021, 11:34
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GMATNinja
This looks like a nice, clear, straightforward, mechanical question, with lots of nice pronoun and verb tense and modifier issues. I like it.

Quote:
(A) Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
Whenever you see "due to", you'll want to ask: what does the phrase "due to _______" modify? In this sentence, "due to the highly sensitive nature of their work" is trying to describe "were instructed" -- but that doesn't work, since "due to _____" can only modify a noun. And it definitely doesn't make sense to say that "all State Department staff members... were due to the highly sensitive nature of their work." Eliminate (A).

Quote:
(B) Because diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff had been instructed to store all files on secure servers.
The verb tenses don't make any sense in (B). Whenever you see "had + verb" (past perfect tense, if you like jargon), the action has to occur before some other time marker in the past (usually, another action in simple past tense). In this case, the sentence seems to be saying that the staff had been instructed to use secure servers first, and then the diplomatic work became highly sensitive later. That doesn't make sense, so we can get rid of (B).

Quote:
(C) Whereas diplomatic work was highly sensitive, the State Department’s staff was instructed to store their files on secure servers.
"Staff" is singular, but "their" is plural, so (C) can be eliminated easily enough.

Quote:
(D) Because of the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department staff members were instructed to store their files on secure servers.
This looks fine to me. Pronoun agreement is fine, and we don't have any issues with "due to" or verb tenses. We'll keep this one.

Quote:
(E) The State Department’s staff had been instructed to store their files on secure servers, since their work was highly sensitive.
(E) gives us nicer-sounding versions of the errors in (B) and (C). (D) is the winner.
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Due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, all State Department 13 Jul 2023, 10:40
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