Having been forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual for

Question

Having been forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

(A) Having been forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

(B) Forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

(C) Although they were forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

(D) Although a priest was forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual for him during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

(E) Although they were forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual during the Middle Ages for priests to sire families.

milanrajb · Answer

I think its D

I would request an expert to validate if D option is the answer.

Kritika09 · Answer

Can someone please explain the flaw in A,B and D.

C is clearly wrong -

(C) Although' they' were forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual for 'a priest' during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

(E ) looks perfect , but I wanted to clearly understand the flaw in a,b and d.

(A) Having been forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family. - Might be wrong because 'having' here is not clearly modifying the subject of the sentence.

(D) Although a priest was forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual for 'him' during the Middle Ages to sire a family. -- Placement of him looks awkward to me.

VelvetThunder · Answer

Bunuel   GMATNinja  can we have the OE please?

hitarthbharmani · Answer

In option (E) can there not be a pronoun ambiguity?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  hitarthbharmani ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, there is no pronoun ambiguity in Option E, as "priests" is the only noun in this sentence that can logically replace "they" in the clause "they were forbidden by Church law to marry": remember, pronoun ambiguity does not apply, if there is only on noun that the pronoun can logically refer to.

To understand the concept of "Exception to Pronoun Ambiguity" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkYO2EmB7Vo

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Kritika09 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Options A and B fail to convey the needed sense of contrast; the constructions "Having been forbidden by Church law to marry" and "Forbidden by Church law to marry" incorrectly convey that   because   priests were not allowed to marry, it was not unusual for them to have families; the intended meaning is that   despite the fact that   priests were not allowed to marry, it was not unusual for them to have families.

In Option D, the use of "a priest" and "him" illogically implies that a   single   priest was forbidden by Church law to marry, but it was not unusual for this   one priest   to have a family' the intended meaning is that   all priests   were forbidden by Church law to marry, but it was not unusual for priests   in general   to have families.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Ag03 · Answer

The construction:  not unusual for him during the Middle Ages  vs  not unusual during the Middle Ages

Not unusual here means that it was not uncommon in the given period, to which construction E is better suited.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Ag03 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To provide a bit more detail, Option D also has a much clearer meaning error - the use of "a priest" and "him" illogically implies that   a single priest   was forbidden by Church law to marry, but it was not unusual for   this one priest   to have a family' the intended meaning is that   all priests   were forbidden by Church law to marry, but it was not unusual for priests   in general   to have families.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

VerbalBot · Answer

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Having been forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual for

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Having been forbidden by Church law to marry, it was not unusual for

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