A representative of the Women’s Bureau of the United States Department

Question

A representative of the Women’s Bureau of the United States Department of Labor contends that employers who offer benefits  which permit that employees can balance home and work responsibilities better, realizing  gains in attendance, recruiting, and retention.

(A) which permit that employees can balance home and work responsibilities better, realizing

(B) which permit employees balancing home and work responsibilities better will realize

(C) that permit employees to balance the responsibilities of home and work better will realize

(D) that permit employees a better balance between the responsibilities of home and work, thus realizing

(E) such that employees are permitted a balance between home and work responsibilities, and they will realize

daagh · Accepted Answer

Let it be remembered at this point that, there are no questions in GMAT that will be decided between the use of which and that. According to GMAT, this is a controversial issue and we must rather look to other errors than which or that. Here, therefore, let’s delve.

This is a question of structure. The subject of the subordinate clause starting with is ‘employers’. A verb is required for the employers to for the meaningfully complete the sentence.

(A) which permit that employees can balance home and work responsibilities better, realizing ---  No verb for the employers; all verbs belong to the relative pronouns. Realizing is not a verb. Hence, this is a fragment.

(B) which permit employees balancing home and work responsibilities better will realize ---   employees balancing is unidiomatic. If balancing is meant to be a gerund, then there should be an apostrophe after employees.

(C) that permit employees to balance the responsibilities of home and work better will realize---- T he infinitive 'to balance' sets the tone appropriately to indicate the purpose of the permission. Correct choice.

(D) that permit employees a better balance between the responsibilities of home and work, thus realizing --  No verb, a fragment.

(E) such that employees are permitted a balance between home and work responsibilities, and they will realize ---  no verb for the employers – a fragment. In addition, ‘they’ is ambiguous, it can refer to employers or employees

flyto · Answer

I will go with C.
Permit ...to should be a right idiom.
"employers...will realize" makes a complete sentence.

ConkergMat · Answer

A representative of the Women’s Bureau of the United States Department of Labor contends that employers who offer benefits which permit that employees can balance home and work responsibilities better, realizing gains in attendance, recruiting, and retention.
( A) which permit that employees can balance home and work responsibilities better, realizing
(B) which permit employees balancing home and work responsibilities better will realize 
(C) that permit employees to balance the responsibilities of home and work better will realize
(D)  that permit employees a better balance between the responsibilities of home and work, thus realizing 
(E) such that employees are permitted a balance between home and work responsibilities,  and they will realize

Pick C.
Here the part "permit employees to balance the responsibilities of home and work better" is a restrictive clause. So you need to use that. Since its the benefits that permitted the employees to do X which helped in Y.

Which is used in non-restrictive clauses, tells something incidental but does not define the subject of the sentence.

daagh · Answer

If you do care for which or that, then be sure about these simple rules. 1. Which can never be used without a comma before it and that is never used with a comma before it. Thus A and B are out. D is a fragment without a working verb for the sub-clause. E is also a fragment in this portion - employers who offer benefits such that employees are permitted a balance between home and work responsibilities – There is no verb to represent the action of the employers who offer benefits.

C, therefore, is the choice.

However, it is worthwhile to note GMAT’s thinking on this issue from the following topic.- (OG 12 SC Q 10)

Carnivorous mammals can endure what would
otherwise be lethal levels of body heat because they
have a heat-exchange network which kept the brain
from getting too hot.
(A) which kept
(B) that keeps
(C) which has kept
(D) that has been keeping
(E) having kept

Official explanation 
Verb form; Rhetorical construction
Th e use of the past tense (kept) is incorrect
because a current situation is discussed; the
present tense (keeps) is consistent with the other
verbs in the sentence. In (A) and (C), which
introduces a restrictive clause. Some writers
follow the convention that which can only be used
for nonrestrictive clauses, but insistence on this
rule is controversial, and both (A) and (C) can be
rejected on other grounds

I do not think GMAT is fussy about the use of which or that and therefore look for other grounds in the sentences than getting stuck.

kraizada84 · Answer

I second your opinion daagh but would like to make a point:

X accused Y over deals in  which  A profited.

i think this construction is correct hence "which " may have this usage also.

any thoughts..??

daagh · Answer

My observations were limited to the use of relative pronouns  which and that.  I n which  is rather different construction though.

Vips0000 · Answer

A)  which  permit that employees can balance home and work responsibilities better, realizing
B)  which  permit employees balancing home and work responsibilities better will realize
C) that permit employees to balance the responsibilities of home and work better will realize
D) that permit employees a better balance between the responsibilities of home and work , thus realizing 
E) such that employees are permitted a balance between home and work responsibilities , and they will realize

Ans C.

WaterFlowsUp · Answer

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ydmuley · Answer

A can be eliminated because of use of ‘contend’ as well as ‘can’.

B is awkward because of “employee balancing”.

D can be eliminated because of “thus realizing”.

E can be eliminated because of “and they will realize”.

Hence - Answer is C

VerbalBot · Answer

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A representative of the Women’s Bureau of the United States Department

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