The U.S. government has given six UAV manufacturers permission to sell

Question

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The U.S. government has given  six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies from buying  foreign-manufactured UAVs.

A) six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies from buying

B) permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies to six UAV manufacturers, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies from buying

C) six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies to buy

D) permission to sell, to six UAV manufacturers, and to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order forbidding these agencies to buy

E) six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order forbidding them from buying

generis · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)

THE PROMPT  
 
• Meaning?
I have no idea what a UAV is. Does this issue matter? No. 
(Okay, I just Googled it. A UAV is an unmanned aerial device—a drone.)

Partly because U.S. military and federal agencies were ordered not to buy foreign-made UAVs last year, the U.S. government has given six UAV manufacturers permission to sell UAVs to those U.S. agencies.

THE OPTIONS  
 
→ I do not see any errors
→ Prohibit From is the correct idiom
KEEP

• The phrase beginning with  permission to  is awkward and confusing because of the way that the direct object and the indirect object are written.

→ The verb  give  is called "ditransitive." Don't worry about its name.
Do understand how  gave  works.
 Gave  takes two objects.
One is a direct object. ( What  did the government give? Permission to sell UAVs.)
The other is an indirect object. ( To whom  did the government give the permission? Who received the direct object? U.S. UAV manufacturers.)

→ Often, it is better to place the indirect object (the receiver of the something given) before the direct object.
Correct: Elle gave Susanna   a ride to the airport  .

→ In this option, the phrasing uses two instances of the word "to," a situation that is confusing.
The government gave     {to six UAV manufacturers} {indirect object}
When I bracket the objects, seeing how they work is not all that difficult, but the sentence is by no means clear.
At the least, option B is a confusing mess compared to option A.
ELIMINATE B 
 
• idiom
GMAC's testing of  prohibit from  is fairly regular; I am not a fan of idiom-mongering, but this one you should know.
GMAC also pits  prohibit from  against  forbid to. 
  Errors   typically include the unidiomatic  prohibit to  and  forbid from .
The correct idioms are
Prohibit FROM
Forbid TO (native speakers, commit this one to memory. Many native speakers do not know that  forbid  takes the preposition  to .
ELIMINATE C
 
→ The two phrases beginning with  to  result in an illogical sentence by suggesting that the US military and federal agencies were also given the permission to sell.
ELIMINATE D
 
→ Incorrect idiom. The correct idiom is  Forbid To .

→ Arguably,  them  is a bit ambiguous. 
After we read the sentence a couple of times, we realize that logically,  them  must refer logically to the military and federal agencies, but we must work pretty hard to sort out that pronoun.
I would not eliminate on this basis alone.
ELIMINATE E

The best answer is A.

COMMENTS

Arjnath  and  Amandhanani2627  , welcome to SC Butler.

saarthakkhanna04  , good to "see" you again.

agarwal1993  , I am bumping you to Best Community Reply.

Most of these answers are very good.
Nicely done.
Keep up the good work!

agarwal1993 · Answer

IMO, A is the correct answer.

This sentence is a little dense. Read properly, the first time, and you will be able to solve the question easily.

Let's break down the sentence-
The U.S. government has given six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies from buying foreign-manufactured UAVs.

1- US govt gave permission to UAV manufactures.
2- Permission for what? UAV allowed to sell to US military and federal agencies.
3- The last bit. Why govt gave the permission. Because the last year's order prohibited the military and federal agencies from buying foreign UAV.
Note that, here, 'as' is used as a reason connector, not as a 'comparator'.

Now, if an answer choice communicates the above three points, clearly and succinctly (and without any grammatical error), then that choice is the correct answer.

A- no error jumps out. Though the sentence is very dense. Let's look at other options.
B- position of 'to six UAV manuf' is far from the verb. This movement makes this choice a little less understandable. Reject.
C- 'prohibiting these agencies to buy'- this use is incorrect. One prohibits someone form doing something (prohibit...from). And one allows someone to do something (allow...to). Reject.
D- Meaning change. Seems like the permission to sell is given to three entities now- six UAV manuf, military, agencies. Reject.
E- "forbidding them from buying"- ambiguous pronoun. them can refer to agencies (as in the original sentence) or to six UAV manuf (not the intended meaning). Reject.

We are left with A.

saarthakkhanna04 · Answer

A is the correct answer. Other sentences dont even make sense. Especially look at point B.

Arjnath · Answer

The U.S. government has given six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies from buying foreign-manufactured UAVs.

A) six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies from buying

B) permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies to six UAV manufacturers, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies from buying -  Manufacturers are selling to agency rather than other way round. 
 
C) six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies to buy  prohibit to buy   - Prohibit from buying more idiomatic

D) permission to sell, to six UAV manufacturers, and to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order forbidding these agencies to buy -  Noun Six UAV far from the modifier

E) six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order forbidding them from buying -  prohibiting vs forbidding

PyjamaScientist · Answer

The U.S. government has given six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies from buying foreign-manufactured UAVs.

A) six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies from buying  Idiom Correct: Prohit X from Y. Correct usage of "these agencies".

B) permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies to six UAV manufacturers, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies from buying  Meaning error. Permission to sell to US military to six UAV. A total mess

C) six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order prohibiting these agencies to buy  Idiom error: Prohit X from Y is correct idiom.

D) permission to sell, to six UAV manufacturers, and to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order forbidding these agencies to buy  Meaning error similar to B. Idiom Error: Forbid X to Y.

E) six UAV manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, partly as a consequence of last year’s order forbidding them from buying Uses correct idiom Forbid friom. But, now distorts the meaning by using  forbidding them from  them here is ambugious now. It can refer to manufacturers or agencies.

kantapong · Answer

Looking at answer choices
1) If the government prohibits "these agencies" from buying, then they should allow these agencies to buy from UAV (= UAV sell) (eliminate B, D)
2) If the gov prohibit "to" buy weapons from foreign, then they have no reasons to allow UAV to sell (eliminate C)
3) A and E are very close except them in E. Them could refer to agencies or UAV companies; however, using these agencies in A is clearer.

A. UAV sell, prohibit from, these agencies
B. sell to UAV (incorrect due to 1)
C. UAV sell, prohibit to (incorrect due to 2)
D. sell to UAV (incorrect due to 1)
E. UAV sell, forbidding from, them (inferior to A based on 3)
My answer is A.

Amandhanani2627 · Answer

Decision point is correct idiom "probihiting X from buying Y" so correct answer IMO is A

Posted from my mobile device

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here .

The U.S. government has given six UAV manufacturers permission to sell

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The U.S. government has given six UAV manufacturers permission to sell

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