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

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...." ?

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

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But "an obstacle to congressional passage" is in a comma pair. "That" is more flexible as a relative pronoun so can't it appear to modify "the concern" and not the closest entity "an obstacle"?

Hi EducationAisle , Thanks for the explanation just wanted to clarify one thing, "that" as a modifier can also modify "concern" if it is logical, so shall i assume that its more like pronoun ambiguity than misplaced modifier?

Thanks in advance.

The 151 member governments of the World Bank are expected to increase the bank’s funding by $175 billion, though some United States legislators cite an obstacle to Congressional passage being the concern that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses.

(B) a concern as an obstacle to Congressional passage
CITE X as Y

(C) as an obstacle to Congressional passage the concern
Cite As Y X
As in above posts, it is mentioned Cite as Y X is not wrong. But what's wrong with B.
I find B more clear and without changing meaning ( cite a concern that there would be an instance to congressional passage). What's wrong with that?


AndrewN VeritasKarishma AjiteshArun. Please suggest .

MartyTargetTestPrep can you disect the meaning of each answer choice? struggling to find a solid reason to eliminate A-D. appreciate the help!

One of the key usages and meanings in this sentence is the verb “-to cite”.

In this context, one “cites” an example as proof for a theory or as a reason why something has happened.

The “concern that the funds will be used by foreign producers” IS the evidence for the theory that congressional passage might be an “obstacle”. As such, the legislators cite “the CONCERN.”

Therefore, it does not make sense to say that the legislators “cited an obstacle” in the context of this sentence. For this reason (among others) A is wrong.

The issue in B is the remote relative pronoun “that.”

“as an obstacle….” is an adverbial modifier describing the reason WHY the legislators cite the concern.

It is troublesome to expect the relative clause beginning with “that” to modify the referent noun “concern” by jumping OVER this adverbial modifier.

For this reason, the structure of the sentence in C is superior to B’s structure.

D changes the prep. phrase - adverbial modifier to a parenthetical describing the noun “concern.”

The sentence loses its intended meaning. The legislators are no longer citing the “concern AS evidence.”

By placing the information in a nonessential appositive noun modifier, the sentence has a similar meaning to answer A, with the only difference being that they are citing “the concern” for no apparent reason as opposed to citing the “obstacle” for no apparent reason.

E has an orphan pronoun. The pronoun “it” can not refer to the action of “to increase the banks’s funding by $175 billion.” No mention is made of a noun fulfilling the logically intended antecedent: the measure, the bill, etc.

C is the best answer.

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The 151 member governments of the World Bank are expected to increase the bank’s funding by $175 billion, though some United States legislators cite an obstacle to Congressional passage being the concern that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses.


(A) an obstacle to Congressional passage being the concern

being the concern - always wrong in gmat

(B) a concern as an obstacle to Congressional passage

Here, logical meaning is very important to eliminate this option . The concern is that bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses.Its not the passage that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses. That modifies passage here and that's wrong . So, B is out.

(C) as an obstacle to Congressional passage the concern

Its difficult to imagine that C is a right choice. We need to remember Idiom - Cite as YX . not Cite X as Y. Also, the concern that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses, conveys the right meaning .
Keep C

(D) the concern, an obstacle to Congressional passage,
A very good option to confuse us. How to eliminate D.
passage , that . Here, that acts as non-vital modifier. As per the general rule , non-vital modifier should touch the nearest noun. So, that modifies passage . Then the same error explained in B will appear here. So, d is out.
(E) as an obstacle for Congress to pass it the concern
to pass it the concern. I don't know what to pass . It - ambiguous . Eliminate E.

So, C is our winner.

Like if you learn something from my post

There are some sequences of steps to follow :

Option Elimination -

(A) an obstacle to Congressional passage being the concern - "being the concern" usage as a modifier - avoid it.

(B) a concern as an obstacle to Congressional passage - we need "the concern."

(C) as an obstacle to Congressional passage the concern - structure Cite as XY. Correct. Moreover, "that" is closer to "the concern" - better

(D) the concern, an obstacle to Congressional passage, - the concern as an obstacle, so we can't add the important part in the commas.

(E) as an obstacle for Congress to pass it the concern - "it" for what?