Realizing that its best hope of defense against an invasion from

Question

Realizing that  its best hope of defense against an invasion from Persia would be  a strong navy, the assembly of all Athenian citizens voted to allow Themistocles to use the surplus silver from the public mines to build 100 ships.

A. its best hope of defense against an invasion from Persia would be
B. its best hope of defense against an invasion from Persia will be
C. its best hope of defense against a Persian invasion would have been
D. their best hope of defense against a Persian invasion would have been
E. their best hope of defense against an invasion from Persia would be

aditya8062 · Answer

A seems best :  its best hope of defense against an invasion from Persia would be

while "Athenian citizens" CAN do the REALISATION, the "ASSEMBLY" can also do the "REALISATION". ALSO note that in the above sentence the context of VOTING is not an independent voting of Athenian citizens BUT the COLLECTIVE "VOTING" of the "ASSEMBLY"

ALSO "WOULD" is required as we are talking about FUTURE IN THE PAST event

hwgmat2015 · Answer

IMO: A

B : "will" - tense is wrong
C: "have been" - tense problem
D: "their" - wrong
E: "their" - wrong.

Can some please underline the question correctly.

sairam595 · Answer

IMO A

D & E are incorrect for using their to refer singular Assembly

C- Incorrect for the usage of would have been

B- Incorrect for the usage of will be, will shows certainity

A- correct, usage of would be is correct as we use would for expectations of the future

prateek25 · Answer

HI Experts,
In this question, shouldn't "Assembly of Citizens" be plural just like "Majority of Citizens"? 
I understand that Majority and Assembly are singular, but when you add a plural subject, they should be plural according to the Sentence Correction Grail 2018.

CJWORK · Answer

Can someone please give a detailed explanation on E?

Akash720 · Answer

gzsakuraz

The right pronoun for 'Assembly' is 'it.
In E, we have a pronoun error because the sentence uses 'their' rather than 'it'. Apart from that E is grammatically correct.

CJWORK · Answer

What if "their" refers to citizens?

Akash720 · Answer

Here, we have one assembly of all citizens. Citizens and assembly are not different entities, they are the same. Hence, the pronoun can refer to only one collective noun i.e.,"Assembly".

apovit · Answer

The sentence is correct as it is:

A) its-assembly which is singular, would be is correct- as it tells about the possibility from the past (conditional verb)
B) will be future wrong as if the event is yet to happen.
c) Would have been -- should be used with past perfect "if cluase"
D) their-plural for assembly is wrong
E) same as D

globaldesi · Answer

Kaplan official explanation:
There do not appear to be any errors in this sentence. The subject, "assembly," is singular, and the possessive pronoun at the beginning of the underlined portion, "its," is also singular. Remember that on the GMAT, collective nouns such as "assembly" are almost always considered singular entities. Additionally, "would be" is properly used to express a possibility. (A) is likely correct, but check the other choices to see if any improve stylistically upon the original.

A vertical scan shows that (A), (B), and (C) keep the correct pronoun, while (D) and (E) change it to the plural "their." (D) and (E) can thus be eliminated.

Since the sentence's time frame is governed by the verb "voted," a past tense verb, choice (B) with its future tense "will be" can be eliminated. Also, because the invasion has not taken place yet, the completed implication of "would have been" is incorrect here; eliminate (C). The sentence is fine as written; (A) is correct.

TAKEAWAY: Don't be tempted to overcorrect; the sentence is often correct as written.

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

I was confused: the opening modifier should modify the subject “assembly”, but how does “assembly” do the action “realize”? I think only “citizens” can do the action, anybody can help? Thanks

Realizing that its best hope of defense against an invasion from

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Realizing that its best hope of defense against an invasion from

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