The President of Japan's Nissan Motor Company, Carlos Ghosn, is a glob

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION


• HIGHLIGHTS

• We have a long sentence and options in which the phrases and clauses have been rearranged. Cue: start looking for modifier issues, especially because this entire sentence is about one person.

• Try to "clump" information. What do we know about Carlos Ghosn?
-- he is the President of Nissan
-- he is a globalist with an interesting background (French education, Brazilian passport, Lebanese heritage)
-- he proved himself in the auto industry by turning Michelin and Renault around

• If you cannot decide whether an answer is correct within seconds, keep it and move on.
The other options will suggest things you haven't thought about.

• "earned his spurs" means that he proved his skill in a particular area

THE PROMPT


THE OPTIONS

• relative pronouns such as who and which should be as close as possible to their antecedent noun
-- what is WHO doing placed after a linking verb, a subject complement (globalist), and some modifiers (with Lebanese heritage . . . )?
-- Answer: I have no idea. Relative clauses (who-clauses, which-clauses) should be close to what they modify
• the modifier is too far from the noun
Eliminate A

• having his spurs earned??

-- NO. Try to remember to pay attention to word order.
The correct construction is having earned his spurs.
-- at best the construction in (B) implies that he directed someone else to earn his spurs (at worst it is nonsensical)
Similar:
Correct: having failed the test
Wrong and nonsensical: having the test failed
Similar:
Correct: having worn his glasses
Wrong: having his glasses worn

Correct: Having eaten his dinner
Wrong: Having his dinner eaten.

Having the spurs earned is fatal.

• Analysis of the participial phrase (the verbING modifier) is very good. That is:
• the participial (verbING) modifier is having earned his spurs. Comma + __ING typically modifies the preceding clause, but having earned his spurs in the auto industryhas nothing to do with his being a globalist.
-- eakabuah , your analysis is correct. Having earned would fit with his being President of Nissan, and simple past tense would indeed be better.
Eliminate B

• this sentence looks good
• structure? appositive, subject, verb + verb phrase
KEEP

• As a globalist is incorrect. In this case, as means "in the role of." As could also mean "at that stage."
-- As can be a conjunction or a preposition. When as is a conjunction it must be followed by a subject and verb. (conjunction as can be 1) comparison - in the same way, 2) causation (because), or 3) duration (while).
-- When as is a preposition, it is followed by a noun, as is the case here.
-- As a globalist . . . he earned his spurs? No. Too much emphasis on globalist.
-- In the role of globalist, he earned his spurs? Only during the stage in which he was a globalist? Too restrictive.

• As is typically followed by a clause, but when we describe someone in a role, we do not need a subject and verb

• Compare to (C). C wins largely because we don't have to worry about "as."

• Being of . . .French education?
• Being of . . . Brazilian passport?
Those phrases make no sense.
Eliminate E.

The answer is C

-- (C) puts the adjectives first, a placement that allows the subject and verb to be close to one another:
A globalist with Lebanese heritage, French education, and Brazilian passport, the President of Japan's Nissan Motor Company,
-- the rest is subject + verb + verb phrase
-- Much easier. No weird modifier issues.
-- All the "with" answers lack articles before the words French and Brazilian.
" . . . with Lebanese heritage, French education, and Brazilian passport . . ."

-- I would insert the article "A," as above. The articles would not ruin parallelism. Some nouns don't need an article (heritage, maybe education) and some do (a passport). They're all noun phrases.
The issue is not a decision point. I'm just preempting.
Option C is the best.

COMMENTS

Wow. Everyone who explained had at least one stellar comment or insight this time.
You won't hear "stellar" from me often.

Questions of this kind are difficult not only because the grammatical error is hard to pin down, but also because their errors are hard to describe.

When I analyzed option B, for example, I thought about describing how earned changed from being the second half of a verb to being an adjective, but saying those words wouldn't have helped much.
So I had to think of parallel examples. I thought of 35-40 and picked three.

I am pleased to see confidence developing, as well it should—critical thinking skills are on display in every explanatory post.

I see reliance on good balance of rules, reasoning, and comparison of options.

Answer (C) is good.
Eliminating Answers D and E should take you less time than eliminating answers A and B because after (C) you have a yardstick.

Everyone who explains gets kudos. Really well done.