The NASA mathematician Mary Jackson when offered an opportunity to

Question

The NASA mathematician Mary Jackson, when offered an opportunity to train as an engineer, had to petition the city of Langley to get permission to attend courses at nearby racially segregated Hampton High School,  which only after a special court hearing, they allowed her to attend .

A) which only after a special court hearing, they allowed her to attend

B) allowing her to attend only after a special court hearing

C) which she attended only after a special court hearing that they allowed

D) allowing her only to attend after a special court hearing

E) which she was allowed to attend only after a special court hearing

shivendrasi · Answer

A) 'They' Not Ambiguous - wrong.

B) Court hearing should precede attending school - Wrong

C) 'They' Not Ambiguous - wrong.

D) Correct sequence / No Ambiguity

E) Meaning Change - We know she attended school already after she got permission from court. Here a condition is mentioned through which she can attend.

Correct is D IMO.

Shikhar22 · Answer

B is correct.

D suggests that she can only attend once, which is obviously wrong.

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Crytiocanalyst · Answer

The NASA mathematician Mary Jackson, when offered an opportunity to train as an engineer, had to petition the city of Langley to get permission to attend courses at nearby racially segregated Hampton High School,  which only after a special court hearing, they allowed her to attend .

A) which only after a special court hearing, they allowed her to attend
This gives us the meaning as though the Hampton high school were the one hearing the case which is not the case hence out

B) allowing her to attend only after a special court hearing
it's conscice and no obvious meaning error is found

C) which she attended only after a special court hearing that they allowed
We are not able to pin down who allowed the mathematician was it the court or the school

D) allowing her only to attend after a special court hearing
only to attend is not conveying the right meaning since it conveys she has to hear the meeting

E) which she was allowed to attend only after a special court hearing
Here which is correctly pointing back to the school and the meaning is perfect

However i chose it over E since B conveyef the meaning in a conscice manner and which usually means trouble

Therefore IMO B

aarkay87 · Answer

My process of elimination – Tough choice between B and E

Option-A: 
1) Fragment as there is no working verb for the pronoun “WHICH”
2) Plural pronoun “THEY” appears to be orphan as both logical antecedents – “the city of Langley” AND “Hampton High school” – are singular

Option-B: Correct

Option-C: 
1) Same pronoun issue as discussed in B
2) If we go literal about the meaning, the phrase “court hearing that they allowed” illogically means that THEY allowed the court hearing but not the permission to attend

Option-D: The placement of limiting modifier “ONLY” illogically means that she was allowed one action, that is to attend, but so was not allowed to other actions such as “to take notes” or “to perform experiments” and so on.

Option-E: Grammatically correct and a possible contender – In this option, the pronoun WHICH can logically refer to either courses or HHS, so open to multiple interpretations. In Option-B, the present participle (adverbial modifier) is direct AND sets the context correct, even though in Option-B, the main subject “The NASA mathematician MJ” doesn’t act as a DOER.

Gknight5603 · Answer

answer E... which refers to courses 
in B ", allowing" is ambiguous. There is no clear subject for it

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hbkharsh · Answer

IMO E- which she was allowed to attend only after a special court hearing

Reasoning:- 
1. in A- who does "they" refer to- ambiguity
2. in B- very close with E, but "allowing her to...." can modify the High school
3. in C- the meaning seems to have changed. She was allowed a special court hearing?
4. in D- same issue as with B- "allowing her..."
also placement of only is wrong.
E has nothing wrong.

zhanbo · Answer

My answer is  (E) . It took me 46 seconds.

(A) "which" refers to "Hampton High School" and should function as the subject in the relative clause. However, another subject "they" also appears in the clause. (We also do not know what the pronoun “they" refers to").

(B) Who is ”allowing her to attend"? The structure of the sentence suggest "The NASA mathematician Mary Jackson", which does not make logical sense. (On top of that, "her" should be "herself".)

(C) "a special court hearing that they allowed": What does "they" refer to? The meaning is also rather distorted: "They" allowed a special court, rather than her attendance into the High School.

(E) See (B).

rohanpatil453 · Answer

The NASA mathematician Mary Jackson, when offered an opportunity to train as an engineer, had to petition the city of Langley to get permission to attend courses at nearby racially segregated Hampton High School,  which only after a special court hearing, they allowed her to attend .

A) which only after a special court hearing, they allowed her to attend
"They" - what does they refer to here ? Ambiguity. Eliminate A.

B) allowing her to attend only after a special court hearing
"Allowing" modifies High school, Highschool is not what's allowing her, it's the court. Eliminate B.

C) which she attended only after a special court hearing that they allowed
"They" - same error as Option A, Eliminate C.

D) allowing her only to attend after a special court hearing
"Allowing" - same error as Option B. And "only to attend" doesn't sound good either. Eliminate D.

E) which she was allowed to attend only after a special court hearing
"Which" correctly modifies High school. Looks to be good.
Correct answer.

IMO Option E is correct.

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ketanbhardwaj131 · Answer

The NASA mathematician Mary Jackson, when offered an opportunity to train as an engineer, had to petition the city of Langley to get permission to attend courses at nearby racially segregated Hampton High School, which only after a special court hearing, they allowed her to attend.

A)  which  only after a special court hearing, they allowed her to attend
which is referring back to Hampton High School...Hampton School only after a special court hearing..doesn't make sense.

B)  allowing  her to attend  only  after a special court hearing
doer of this action? The NASA mathematician Mary Jackson...illogical.

C) which she attended only after a special court hearing that  they  allowed
The antecedent of they?

D)  allowing  her only to attend after a special court hearing
doer of this action? The NASA mathematician Mary Jackson...illogical.

E) which she was allowed to attend only after a special court hearing
 Correct

winterschool · Answer

The NASA mathematician Mary Jackson, when offered an opportunity to train as an engineer, had to petition the city of Langley to get permission to attend courses at nearby racially segregated Hampton High School, which only after a special court hearing, they allowed her to attend.

A) which only after a special court hearing , they allowed her to attend   Incorrect

two independent clause cant be separate by only ','

B)  allowing her to attend  only after a special court hearing  Incorrect

this is not court that allowed her to attend

C) which she attended only after a special court hearing  that they allowed   Incorrect

they refers to who?

D)  allowing her only to attend  after a special court hearing  Incorrect

this is not court that allowed her to attend
misplaced only

E)  which she was allowed to attend only after a special court hearing   Correct

Victor19 · Answer

Answer E is the correct answer as it is free from the errors listed above. "Which" correctly modifies the school and the meaning is clear.

Option A : "They" is misleading. We do not know who it is referring to.
Option B : "allowing her to attend" is ambiguous. We do not know who is allowing. The right sentence should convey that the school allowed her to attend after the special court hearing.
Option C : Same pronoun error as A.
Option D : Same error as B. Also the placement of "only" distorts the intended meaning.

VISHWARATH · Answer

No referent for 'they' ; Incorrect

A is out

Mary J (subject 1),..., had to petition  city of Langley   (subject) to get permission to attend courses at some school, allowing her...
This is structured as though there is a cause and effect relationship; the city of Langley needs to be petitioned for permission to be given to Mary.J. to attend school. This is illogical

incorrect use of pronoun 'they'

same structure as B, the sentence is structured to imply a cause and effect relation. Incorrect

which --> refers to the school
she ---> refers to Mary
was allowed...Correct tense and subject-verb agreement. Thus it is the correct choice.

albsilvag · Answer

A) which only after a special court hearing, they allowed her to attend --> "they" has no clear antecedent, given that "city of Langley" is a collective noun and thus singular -->  INCORRECT 
B) allowing her to attend only after a special court hearing --> allowing her to attend WHAT? WHO allowed her to attend? -->  INCORRECT 
C) which she attended only after a special court hearing that they allowed --> "they" has no clear antecedent, given that "city of Langley" is a collective noun and thus singular -->  INCORRECT 
D) allowing her only to attend after a special court hearing --> allowing her to attend WHAT? WHO allowed her to attend? how the "only" is placed seems that she was not allowed to allowed to attend every day after the court hearing. In B, she was allowed to attend every day, but once the court hearing took place. -->  INCORRECT 
E) which she was allowed to attend only after a special court hearing -->  CORRECT

Rasalghul853 · Answer

Can someone please explain why B is wrong?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Rasalghul853 ,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe that we can help resolve your doubt.

The issue with Option B is of meaning. The intended meaning is that Mary Jackson had to petition the city of Langley to get permission to attend Hampton High School, and  as a separate action , the  school  only allowed her to attend after a special court hearing. Option B uses the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "allowing" in this sentence), incorrectly implying that Mary Jackson had to petition the city of Langley to get permission to attend Hampton High School, and  as a result , she allowed  herself  to attend only after a special court hearing; please remember, the introduction of present participle after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

To understand the concept of "Comma plus Present Participle for Cause Effect relationship" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~3 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVLneikI70Q

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

The NASA mathematician Mary Jackson when offered an opportunity to

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