applebear wrote:
Hi experts,
Request you to please help me understand why D is wrong. I managed to narrow down between D and E but ended up choosing D. Please help.
Thanks in advance!
Hello,
applebear. I would not let this question weigh too heavily on your mind, for reasons outlined by
EducationAisle above. Still, I was reminded of
a post I wrote fairly recently on the very matter that separates (D) from (E). In that post, I discuss how some grammarians take the stance that a possessive pronoun, rather than an object pronoun, should precede a gerund. It seems that the creator of this question wrote it with that concept in mind. To illustrate:
(D) deny us continuing
[verb] + [object pronoun] + [gerund]
(E) deny our continuing
[verb] + [possessive pronoun] + [gerund]
Although the professor is referred to by
he in the embedded clause at the end of the sentence, the sex of the professor would not even enter the picture between (A) and (C), grammatically speaking, since the possessive pronoun in (A) would be
his, but both the possessive and object pronouns in (C) would be
her. In short, if we are to adhere to the preference for the possessive pronoun, we can only consider (C) and (E)—and is there really a clearcut difference between
deny and
forbid in (A) and (B) anyway?—and since the sex of the professor is identified as male, we can eliminate (C).
I reiterate that I would not worry too much about this one. Focus on official questions instead.
- Andrew
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