The head of human resources, having attended the long vacation policy

Question

The head of human resources, having attended the long vacation policy development meeting, was amazed by the range of the opinions presented.

A. The head of human resources, having attended the long vacation policy development meeting, was amazed by the range of the opinions presented.

B. Amazed by the range of opinions presented at the long meeting that the human resources director attended on developing a vacation policy.

C. Having attended the meeting on developing a long vacation policy, the head of human resources was amazed by the range of opinions presented.

D. The head of human resources was amazed by the range of opinions presented at the long vacation policy development meeting he attended.

E. Having attended the long meeting on development of vacation policy, the range of the opinions presented amazed the head of human resources

aash932 · Answer

GMATNinja   generis   VeritasKarishma  
Can anyone please tell that why option D is wrong ?

tanya0630 · Answer

Can anyone please specify why option D is incorrect?

ah1028 · Answer

I think D is wrong because "he" is ambiguous.

Who is this "he"? Is it the Head of HR itself or is it someone that the Head of HR spoke to? In my opinion, it's not clear from the sentence in option D.

ah1028 · Answer

Would someone be able to point out why A is incorrect? The difference between A and C seems very subtle...

A "Long vacation policy development meeting"
C "meeting on developing a long vacation policy"

ShreyasJavahar · Answer

This isn't why D is wrong. "He" refers back to a noun in any sentence, in this case the only noun available is the "head of human resources", no ambiguity here. D is wrong because of the phrase "long vacation policy development meeting". One could assume that this meant the vacation policy development meeting itself was long, there is no clear indicator as to whether long modifies vacation or meeting.

Abhishek009 · Answer

Must be (C) for the highlighted errors in other options....

Having attended the meeting on developing a long vacation policy,  the head of human resources was amazed by the range of opinions presented.

massan · Answer

Hi. Both A and D seem to be ambiguous on 'long' word, since reader may or may not know the meeting itself was long, or meeting was about long vacations.

C clears this up and let the reader know the meeting is about long vacation.

However, since A should have the original meaning, isn't C changing the meaning of original sentence?

Are we suppose to guess the original meaning when the reference isn't concise and find out the details that wasn't present at the original sentence?

ShreyasJavahar · Answer

There is no rule that says A must have the original meaning, using this idea on the exam will surely hinder performance.
The SC questions require you to assess the grammar of a sentence and the logic conveyed through it. The right grammar and logic could manifest in any of the options and one must determine whether the logic presented makes sense in a real world scenario or not.

Sayantan1604 · Answer

He is ambiguous and to a certain extent a misplaced modifier

elavendan1 · Answer

Doesn't C sound illogical? The head of HR was amazed, because he attended the meeting?

Having paid his dues, his connection was not interrupted. 
I presume this is the correct usage of having.(His connection was not interrupted for the reason that he paid his dues).
I have rejected the option C on that basis.
Besides, the sentence sounds incomplete. Okay, he was amazed by the opinions. But where were they presented? Why was the head of HR amazed by the range of opinions presented at some random meeting? Because he has attended long vacation policy meeting?

Can someone clear up my views on option C?

None of these issues are present in D. Placement of 'long' is ambiguous, but that is far inferior than issue than one in option C.

Posted from my mobile device

ShreyasJavahar · Answer

C takes on the very commonly used "having + past participle" structure.
For example, Having completed all his assignments, Steve retired to bed.
In other words, Steve retired to bed as he had finished all his assignments.

Having completed an action, (noun) does, says, felt, was, is... something.

The issue with the example you've provided -> Having paid his dues, his connection was not interrupted.
What follows the comma is not a noun, your sentence is sort of implying that the connection paid the dues.
An analogy -> Having won the battle, his highness ordered a banquet. So the connection itself paid some chap's dues and therefore was not interrupted.

To reiterate, having + past participle followed by some experience-followed by comma-followed by noun-followed by noun's inference or feeling or whatever about aforementioned experience. That's the right structure.
So here, the head of human resources attended a meeting and was consequently amazed by the range of opinions presented. His amazement was a result of him having attended the meeting.
Additionally, you may find this helpful.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD6k6NzUOCo

ShreyaKohli · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja , 
Please help in understanding this question. I got confused between C&D and marked D. Could you explain the reasons for which C is right and D is wrong?
Thanks,

The head of human resources, having attended the long vacation policy

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