The 151 member governments of the World Bank are expected to increase

I was confused between C and D and picked D which is wrong.

D uses a modifier - an obstacle to congressional passage within commas. This means that it is functioning as a non-essential modifier - the removal of which does not affect the meaning of the sentence.
But in this case 'this modifier' is clearly essential to the meaning of the sentence and hence will change the meaning of the sentence if removed.
Hence D is poor construction

C wins. It uses the idiomatic form 'cite as Y X'

Hope that does it

(A) an obstacle to congressional passage “being” the concern--->"being" as a modifier is wrong
(B)” a concern” as an obstacle to congressional passage----->here we are citing a specific concern so we need "the concern"
(C) as an obstacle to congressional passage the concern---->correct. “you can cite X as Y OR u can also cite AS X Y”
(D) the concern, “an obstacle to congressional passage”,--->here "an obstacle to congressional passage" is acting as an appositive giving a non-nonsensical meaning implying that "the concern" is "an obstacle to congressional passage"
(E) as an obstacle for Congress to pass “it” the concern ---->"it" does not seems to refer to anything !!

Another approach: consider the idiom "cite X as Y." In this case we (essentially) have "legislators cite the concern as an obstacle." What makes C tricky is that the structure is written "cite as Y X": "legislators cite as an obstacle the concern." It's a weird inversion, but it works. If you go with D, the core of that clause becomes "legislators cite the concern" and we lose the important "as an obstacle" piece.

Dear Friends,

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 meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that some United States legislators cite the concern that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses, as an obstacle to Congressional Passage.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Pronouns + Grammatical Construction + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• Information vital to the core meaning of the sentence must not be placed between commas.
• “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.

A: The sentence formed by this answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "cite an obstacle to Congressional passage"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that some United States legislators cite an obstacle to Congressional passage, which is the concern that that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses; the intended meaning is that some United States legislators cite the concern that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses, as an obstacle to Congressional Passage. Further, Option A incorrectly uses the word "being", leading to awkwardness and redundancy; “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.

B: The sentence formed by this answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "cite a concern as an obstacle"; the construction of this phrase incoherently implies that some United States legislators cite a general concern as an obstacle to Congressional passage; the intended meaning is that some United States legislators cite the concern that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses, as an obstacle to Congressional Passage.

C: Correct. The sentence formed by this answer choice uses the phrases "as an obstacle" and "concern that", conveying the intended meaning - that some United States legislators cite the concern that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses, as an obstacle to Congressional Passage. Further, Option C avoids the pronoun error seen in Option E, as it uses no pronouns. Additionally, Option C avoids the grammatical construction error seen in Option D, as it places no information between commas. Besides, Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D: This answer choice incorrectly places information that is vital to the core meaning of the sentence - the fact that the concern cited is an obstacle to Congressional passage - between commas; remember, information vital to the core meaning of the sentence must not be placed between commas.

E: This answer choice suffers from a pronoun error, as the pronoun "it" lacks a clear and logical referent. Further, Option E uses the needlessly wordy phrase "for Congress to pass", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the use of "Being" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the use of a pair of commas on GMAT you may want to watch the following video (~4 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

So "C" for me. I have doubts so need some other views as well.

OK, with this one, let's just look only at the important part of the sentence. So we can jump straight to this part:

"legislators cite an obstacle to congressional passage being the concern that"

Ask yourself: What is being cited?

Well, what the legislators are citing is "the concern that blah blah blah"

Legislators are citing some kind of concern.

The phrase "an obstacle to congressional passage" is just a description of that concern.

They are afraid the concern about "blah blah blah" is acting as "an obstacle to congressional passage"---meaning this concern is preventing the legislation/act/funding from passing through congress easily.

Now you chose (A)--which would be correct if it looked more like this:
"legislators cite an obstacle to congressional passage AS the concern that..."
But instead (A) reads:
"legislators cite an obstacle to congressional passage being the concern that..."---no no no no....

The phrase "being the concern" is not right.

With answer choice (C), it reads:
"legislators cite as an obstacle to congressional passage the concern that..."

Notice the "fluff" words are "as an obstacle to congressional passage"---these are just descriptive words that make sense.

Now take out the fluff and read it:

"legislators cite.....the concern that..."---sounds fine.

So (C) correctly captures the meaning of what we are trying to say in a structural manner that is accurate and error-free so (C) is the answer.

Can someone please explain the difference between C and D?

Lets look at choice D. It says: “…. cite the concern, an obstacle to congressional passage that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses”. What does ‘that’ modify in this choice? ‘that’ modifies obstacle.

However, the according to the original sentence that should modify concern (and not obstacle).

Another way to look at it is that bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses is actually a concern (as suggested in the original sentence) and not an obstacle (as suggested by D). Hence, D is wrong.

A. Awkward and incorrect use of 'being'
B. The idiom is cite X as Y. The legislators are citing as obstacle the concern that...B uses the idiom wrongly and invertedly. B seems to imply that the legislators are citing concern not obstacle. also, wrong use of a with concern instead of 'the'
D. Putting 'an obstacle to congressional passage' between commas makes it a non-essential modifier and is a grave error in terms of implication of sentence. the whole point of the sentence is to emphasize congressional passage and govt increasing the funding etc., and highlighting how it is uncertain because of a concern. The fact that the concern is an obstacle is the core of the sentence, integral to its meaning and cannot be put between commas
E. What is 'it' in the sentence referring to? There is no noun preceding it! Obstacle for is also unidiomatic.

C remains as the correctly inverted version of idiom 'cite x as y'-- "cite as y the x"

grammatically D parses out fine in that it modifies "the concern" with the appositive "an obstacle to congressional passage." But there's a change in meaning by setting "an obstacle to congressional passage" off in commas. It makes it a nonessential modifier, but this fact is necessary to the meaning of the sentence.

Another approach: consider the idiom "cite X as Y." In this case we (essentially) have "legislators cite the concern as an obstacle." What makes C tricky is that the structure is written "cite as Y X": "legislators cite as an obstacle the concern." It's a weird inversion, but it works. If you go with D, the core of that clause becomes "legislators cite the concern" and we lose the important "as an obstacle" piece.



rfernandez

Hey GMATNinja

Can you share your thoughts on this question?

Acc. to all the explanations above, the idiom used is "cite as X Y". But in the question the idiom is in the form "cite as Y X". I don't want to be too rigid over here but I'm a little confused with the convoluted form of this question.

58 Thursdays with Ron April 26, 2012 SC Modifiers Workshop

From 8:18

Hi GMATNinja!

I did read the explanations above. However, I still can't understand why answer choice D is wrong. I mean C sure sounds and looks better than D, but that's just not the right way.

Can THAT clause modify nouns within an appositive modifier? In option D, can THAT modify passage/obstacle? Also, considering that 'THAT clause' always modifies a noun, and hence it should always be placed closer to the noun it modifies. So, can the 'THAT clause' jump over the appositive modifier to modify 'concern' in option D?

Can you please share your thoughts on why C wins over D?

Thanks!

Remember, our goal is not to demonstrate that (D) is WRONG. The goal is to demonstrate that (C) is the BEST choice out of the five. With that in mind, let's think about the meaning.

Stripping out some modifiers, the first part of the sentence becomes:

"...the 151 member governments are expected to increase the bank’s funding by $175 billion, though..."

The word "though" implies that what follows will be something at odds with the first part: for example, something indicating that the expected increase might not actually happen.

Choice (C) gives us just that:

"... though some United States legislators cite as an obstacle to Congressional passage the concern that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses."

The 151 member governments are EXPECTED to increase the bank's funding... BUT there is an obstacle to Congressional passage in the US. That obstacle ("the concern that the bank's loans will help....") might prevent the expected thing from happening.

Compare that to choice (D):

"... though some United States legislators cite the concern, an obstacle to Congressional passage, that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses."

This changes the meaning a little bit. Before we essentially had "...though there is an obstacle," but now we have, "... though there is a concern." The concern is that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses. But does the fact that this concern exists give us any reason to believe that the funding might not be increased as expected? Sure, there's some concern about the consequences, but that concern, by itself, doesn't suggest that the funding won't be increased.

The thing that might get in the way of the increase in funding is not the concern itself, but the fact that this concern might be an OBSTACLE to Congressional passage in the US. The structure of choice (D) illogically suggests that the CONCERN is the thing that might get in the way of the increase. The structure of choice (C), however, logically suggests that the OBSTACLE is the thing that might get in the way of the increase.

Also, putting the "that" clause ("that the bank’s loans will help...") right next to "the concern" (as in choice C) is less confusing than putting "an obstacle to Congressional passage" in the middle (as in choice D). Is (D) breaking any grammar rules? Maybe not, but the correct meaning is clearer in choice (C).


The word "the" isn't really the issue (notice that the correct choice also has a "the" before "concern"). Hopefully the explanation above clarifies why (D) is wrong!

I'm still confused.

So it's agreed that the obstacle = the concern that the loans will help foreign producers to compete with American businesses.

Then why not D?
if the concern = the obstacle, and the obstacle = the concern
what's wrong with saying "the concern, an obstacle......, that...." ?

The author is trying to say that the concern was cited as the obstacle. Cite is used to refer to something "x" as "Y". D fails to do so.

Is option (C) a run on sentence? Do we need a conjunction joining "concern"?

If you (temporarily) remove the modifier "as an obstacle to Congressional passage" from (C), you'll get:

"... though some United States legislators cite the concern that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses."

The "concern" is simply the thing that is cited. The removed modifier just tells us what this "concern" was cited as -- so there's no need for a conjunction.


Yes, the "that" clause still technically modifies "concern." But, as explained in this post, the meaning is clearer in (C).

I hope that helps!