It is not madatory that the correct answer has the same meaning as that of the original sentence. It may so be the case that the intended meaning is different from that of the original sentence or option A. When two gramatically correct sentences differ in meaning, only then eliminate one on the basis that it does not match with the meaning of the original.

The problem in option C is the usage of "as". This conjunction "as" does not fit here in any of its three possible meanings (duration, causation or comparison - examples from Manhattan SC guide):

Duration As: AS I strolled to the store, I smelled the air. (= while, during)
Causation As: I will not tell you, AS you already know. (= since, because)
Comparison As: You should walk AS she wants you to. (= in the same way)

(A) Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles which was once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, are

(B) Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles,a practice that Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited, is

(C) Organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles,as once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, is

> "Organizing is beginning" is awkward

(D) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but they are >> They is referred to..?

(E) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but such principles are

hi iamdp

though E is correct, isn't E changing the meaning of sentence. I rejected i.

Option C : how is the structure Organizing Rallies is beginning to take shape awkward. Can you please clarify..

Took 2 mins...fight was between C and E.
Meaning : Organizing rallies are prohibited by CL and such rallies are again beginning to take a shape.

A)Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles which was once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, are - there should be comma before which and if we have so which is modifying principles.
B)Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, a practice that Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited, is - need to have plural.
C)Organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, as once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, is - There is no comparison needed here or the function to describe, here we have meaning error.
D) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but they are - no proper antecedent.
E)Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but such principles are - Correct...

Great Question!!

At first after reading the sentence I thought that rallies are beginning to take shape (They were probably not organized before) and started searching for the answer choice. Realize later that it is a convoluted question

(A) Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles which was once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, are. If 'which' refers to 'democratic principles', it must be followed by a plural verb 'were'

(B)Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, a practice that Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited, is. 'is' is a verb for 'rallies' and hence must be plural.

(C) Organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, as once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, is. No comparison is stated in the sentence.

(D) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but they are. What is 'they refering to? Chinese leaders?

(E) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but such principles are. Correct choice.
Complete sentence is followed after 'but'
usage of 'such principles' makes the intended meaning clear
Correct contrast is present.
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I believe that all answers are wrong. You are right when you eliminate options A, B, C, and D.

While choice E is grammatically correct and its meaning is clear, it changes the meaning of the original sentence.

If we skip the modifier of rallies - “Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles which was once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, are beginning to take shape at a grass roots level permitted by the new Chinese leadership”- we get - “Rallies are beginning to take shape …”, not –“such principles are beginning to take shape …”

This change in meaning makes answer E incorrect.
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My issue with this question is that A to me isn't ungrammatical enough to rule out. "Which" can refer to the "dissemination of democratic principles".

Can someone please help me understand how this is a pronoun reference error? Because to me its antecedent is literally right before it. On top of the fact it is logically sound.

Furthermore, answer choice E which is the OA, mentions principles as taking shape at a grassroots level. I would argue this word is more vague than the word rallies. In the context of this sentence, principles is vague. What does it mean for principles to take shape at a grass roots level? Rallies forming at a grassroots level makes significantly more sense to me.

Which without a comma preceding it is always incorrect in GMAT land....


Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but such principles ( of organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles ) are beginning to take shape at a grass roots level permitted by the new Chinese leadership.

Does this help a bit...
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Thanks for the response. I didn't know which without comma is immediately wrong on the GMAT. In common literature I don't know if that rule exists (doesn't sound logical either). As for your explanation, I can see now what principles refers to, but simplifying "organizing rallies of x" to principles is still illogical to me and not a sound result. Organizing is an action, not a principle.

Overall I'm hoping someone can sell the OA as standing out as a correct sentence, and I just don't feel that way.

Other than the above problems, there is another big problem in C

as is a conjunction

So we are placing a clause in between whereas it would be much clear with an apposition

organizing rallies, apposition , is...

= organizing rallies is...

without as, C would have been a perfect answer. C needlessly changes an adjective phrase to a clause

Came back to this question after some time. I conclude it's not a very good one.

A is grammatically correct (despite what the above post mentioned about which being plural - the which is referring to dissemination). Though the meaning it conveys is a bit different; it states the rallies are beginning to take shape at a grassroots level.

Option E states that the principles are beginning to take shape at grassroot levels.

I would prefer option A's meaning as that makes more sense, but option E does not have the passive construction A has. Ultimately I don't think these are black and white decision points a test-taker can clearly identify on a test.

Hi r0ckst4r and cledgard,

I too was looking for something which would suggest "Rallies are beginning to take shape". But the OA seems to be suggesting that it was principles that were taking shape. The entire meaning of the sentence would be altered in this case. Is'nt it?

Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles which was once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, are beginning to take shape at a grass roots level permitted by the new Chinese leadership.

(A) Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles which was once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, are
--> lack of comma (,) before which.

(B) Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, a practice that Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited, is

(C) Organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, as once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, is

(D) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but they are

(E) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but such principles are
--> clear and concise.
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(A) Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles which was once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, are -- Incorrect usage of which, missing punctuation

(B)Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, a practice that Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited, is – SV agreement error

(C) Organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, as once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, is –- Incorrect usage of ‘as’ – as is used to denote – comparison, function, reason, simultaneous action – None fits here.

(D) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but they are – pronoun in subject position refers to Chinese leaders leading to nonsensical meaning.

(E) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but such principles are -- Correct

Yes, It does change the complete meaning but we need to make sure that the intended meaning is maintained only when we have an option, which is perfect.

For this particular question, none of the options that are providing the actual meaning is correct. Hence, We need to select the one that changes the meaning.

That's the reason E is correct.
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Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles which was once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, are beginning to take shape at a grass roots level permitted by the new Chinese leadership.

(A) Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles which was once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, are
COMMA has no reason to be there. No continuity in sentence

(B) Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, a practice that Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited, is
rallies don't match with VERB is

(C) Organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, as once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, is
Awkward construction

(D) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but they are
ambiguous THEY

(E) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but such principles are
correct, although a bit change in meaning

Actually similarity in D and E with just the difference of one pronoun should catch our eyes.

E
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Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles which was once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, are beginning to take shape at a grass roots level permitted by the new Chinese leadership.

(A) Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles which was once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, are - comma should be placed before "which" or if which modifies "principles" so we need plural

(B) Rallies organized in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, a practice that Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited, is - require plural

(C) Organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, as once prohibited by Communist Chinese leaders, is - conjunction "as" does not fit here since it cannot prove its function. Meaning error.

(D) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but they are - pronoun "they" cannot refer to proper antecedent

(E) Communist Chinese leaders once prohibited organizing rallies in conjunction with the dissemination of democratic principles, but such principles are - Correct

A."which" indicates a restrictive clause but must be preceded by a comma. The comma is absent here hence incorrect.

(B) Here "rallies" (plural) is the subject but the main verb "is" singular. Thus this option has SV error.

(C) Verb + ing can start a sentence but here the intended meaning is wrong. It means organazing rallies is taking shape at ground level instead of principles. Plus no contrast is shown

(D) here "they" is ambiguous.it can refer to leaders which makes the sentence non sensical

(E)Here contrast is shown. According to me it's correct.

MANHATTAN REVIEW OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

Option A is incorrect as it is unclear to what “which” is referring. It should refer to organizing rallies but the placement means it is referring to the democratic principles. B is incorrect as the subject “Rallies” does not agree with the verb “is”. Option C states that organizing rallies is beginning to take shape. The democratic principles are beginning to take shape. Choice D has an ambiguity resulting from the pronoun ‘they’. It is unclear to whom ‘they’ is referring. Choice E is the correct answer.
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