There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplan

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 190: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
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There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause.

A) will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause

B) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the strike marks on the engine and their cause

C) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the cause for the strike marks and the engine

D) have withheld judgment while there was a further examination of the strike marks on the engine and its cause

E) have withheld judgment until further examination of engine, the strike marks, and the cause

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Day 190: Sentence Correction (SC1)

• HIGHLIGHTS

Meaning?

In this case, a general understanding is enough: a plane crashed, some people are speculating about the cause of the crash, but investigators will not make a judgment right now. (Investigators "will withhold judgment.")
Investigators will withhold judgment until they have examined certain items more thoroughly.

[My decision: this crash happened on the runway so everyone is safe.]

Issues tested: verb tense, meaning and logic, pronoun/noun agreement, and rhetorical construction

THE PROMPT

Quote:

There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause.

THE OPTIONS

Quote:

A) There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until they [have] examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause.

• pronoun/noun disagreement
-- The marks on the engine are plural. Option A should say "their cause," not "its cause."
• Wrong verb. Examined is simple past tense. We need have examined. (present perfect = has/have + examined).
-- Until is a time frame "signal" or "code" word in English. When you see the word until, be prepared to check verbs.
-- in general, until refers to a span of time before a specified point in time or target date
Until means in the future or forward in time.
-- we use present perfect when we want to talk about an action performed during a time period that has not yet finished.
The time period in this sentence has not yet finished. The investigators must examine further.
-- have examined goes along with will withhold judgment.
-- Correct: Until they have further examined P and Q further, they will withhold judgment.
-- Correct: They will withhold judgment until they have further examined P and Q
-- Wrong: Until they examined P and Q more thoroughly, they will withhold judgment. You cannot "examined" in the future.
The pronoun and verb errors are fatal. Eliminate A

Quote:

B) There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until they have further examined the strike marks on the engine and their cause.

• I do not see any errors
• have examined corrects the error in (A)
• the plural possessive pronoun their correctly refers to the plural marks [on the engine].
• will withhold corrects verb error in (D) and (E) (see below)
KEEP

Quote:

C) There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until they have further examined the cause for the strike marks and the engine.

• WTH? Nonsensical meaning. The investigators are not looking for the "cause" of the engine.
There is no such thing as a "cause" for (or of) an engine.
• When a causal relationship is involved, use cause OF, not cause for.
-- Correct: Viruses are the cause OF many illnesses.
-- Wrong: Viruses are the cause for many illnesses.
"Cause for" sort of means "having a valid reason for."
Correct but rarely seen on the GMAT: The widening split between rich and poor is cause for alarm. (I have a good reason to be alarmed.)
There is no such thing as a cause for (or of) an engine. Eliminate C

Quote:

D) There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators have withheld judgment while there was a further examination of the strike marks on the engine and its cause.

• Wrong verb. Have withheld should be will withhold.
-- the investigators will continue one action (withholding judgment) until after another action is finished (examining P and Q).
-- the investigators will [continue to] withhold judgment until they have further examined P and Q
-- "investigators have withheld judgment" cannot be paired with "until they have further examined P and Q."
"have withheld" means "up to this point in time."
But the further examination comes in the future.
The investigators WILL withhold judgment until after the further examination is finished.
• same pronoun errors as that in (A): marks, plural, cannot be paired with its, singular
• rhetorical construction: there was is often unnecessary.
-- GMAC is not fond of "there was" unless good reason exists to use it.
We use there was when we want to de-emphasize the doer, do not know the doer, want to set a background.
In this sentence, there was is rhetorically unnecessary and makes the sentence less effective.
All the other options are not awkward without "there was"—we should be wary.
Eliminate D

Quote:

E) There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators have withheld judgment until further examination of [the] engine, the strike marks, and the cause.

• verb error is similar to that in (D). We need will withhold
• further examination of "the cause"? Of what? The strike marks? The fact that the engine might have struck the tail? The accident generally?
• THE engine is correct. (I copied the question exactly as I found it. I suspect a transcription error. We need "the" engine in order to keep the list parallel but also because idiomatically, that noun takes an article.
Eliminate E

The answer is B

• NOTES

Pronoun ambiguity in (B)? Nope.
-- The pronoun must have only one logical antecedent.
It does not matter that other plural nouns exist.
Yes, the antecedent must agree in number and gender, but the mere fact of more than one noun in agreement does not equal ambiguity.
Ambiguity happens when there is more than one logical antecedent for a pronoun.
The investigators are not examining themselves. ("Investigators" is the only other plural noun.)

COMMENTS

arvind910619 and pandajee , welcome to SC Butler.

I am glad to see a few people whose posts I haven't seen in awhile.

And of course I am glad to see posts from the core group of Butler participants whose good posts make these threads eminently readable.

In fact, note to people who have not read the thread: you should do so. These answers are excellent. A few are outstanding. You will find many different approaches, layers of analysis, ways of writing posts, and insights.

Nice work. Kudos to all.

I am glad to see a few people whose posts I haven't seen in awhile. And of course I am glad to see posts from the core group of Butler participants whose good posts make these threads eminently readable. In fact, note to people who have not read the thread: you should do so. These answers are excellent. A few are outstanding. You will find many different approaches, layers of analysis, ways of writing posts, and insights. Nice work. Kudos to all.

chaitralirr · Answer

There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause.

A) will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause

B) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the strike marks on the engine and their cause

C) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the cause for the strike marks and the engine

D) have withheld judgment while there was a further examination of the strike marks on the engine and its cause

E) have withheld judgment until further examination of engine, the strike marks, and the cause

Meaning: 
There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators  will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause . An airplane has been stuck and there are some speculations around it but investigators have withhold their judgement until they examine the engine strike marks or what caused it.

withhold vs withheld

will withhold: correct denotes future tense
have withheld: withheld refers to past tense hence is incorrect. Eliminated D and E

In A, B and C option A doesnot have a verb in the underlined portion hence is a run on sentence. Eliminate option A
Option C: changes the original meaning and states that the examine the cause for strike marks and engine. eliminated C
IMO B: the option corrects all errors and gives clear meaning

sampriya · Answer

There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators  will with hold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause.
 
A) will with hold judgment until they  examined  further the engine's strike marks and its cause
the past tense use of examined is wrong since they are examining it further!! and the examination os the engine is not over yet!

B) will with hold judgment until they have further examined the strike marks on the engine and  their  cause- their illogically refers to the an engine

C) will with hold judgment until they have further examined the cause for the strike marks and the engine-  CORRECT!

D) have  with held  judgment  while  there was a further examination of the strike marks on the engine and its cause- past tense for something(investigation) thats about to be revealed is wrong!!!

E) have  with held  judgment until further examination of engine, the strike marks, and  the cause - 
1)past tense for something(investigation) thats about to be revealed is wrong!!! 
2)the cause cannot be further examined - meaning error! ( an object can be examined)

ankaua · Answer

D) have withheld judgment while there was a further examination of the strike marks on the engine and its cause

E) have withheld judgment until further examination of engine, the strike marks, and the cause

First split: examined vs examination: stylistically, a verb is better than a noun, so we can cross out, almost safely, D and E.
It is better to say "We improved the engine" rather than "We made an improvement in engine". The latter is still correct but wordy.

Then, let's examine the remaining A-B-C:

A) will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause - certainly wrong because "its" refers to "engine's", leading to illogical meaning that investigators will further investigate engine's cause

B) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the strike marks on the engine and their cause - correct (IMHO); meaning is clear here

C) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the cause for the strike marks and the engine - "cause for" does not look correct + shift in meaning as per choice A the investigators will not investigate the engine rather its strike marks and their cause

B) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the strike marks on the engine and their cause - correct (IMHO); meaning is clear here

C) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the cause for the strike marks and the engine - "cause for" does not look correct + shift in meaning as per choice A the investigators will not investigate the engine rather its strike marks and their cause

exc4libur · Answer

MEANING
Investigators will withhold judgment until they have examined the marks   and their   cause.

A) "examined further" misplaced; "the marks   and its  " sva;
C) "the cause for the marks and   the engine" unintended - the original states that investigators are examining the marks and their cause, not the cause for the engine (this is too vague);
D) "have withheld… while there was a further examination" imps there is another investigation going on, unintended; "marks  … its  " sva;
E) "have…examination of engine… and the cause" not parallel and unintended;

Ans (B)

Raxit85 · Answer

Imo. B.

There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause.

A) will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and  its  cause - pronoun agreement error, its logically refers to strike marks (not the engine). The sentence changes the meaning ....until further they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause. Can cause be examined? No. Problem can be examined to find the cause. Cause is the outcome of the examination.

B) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the strike marks on the engine and their cause - Seems no error as their correctly refers to strike marks, It correctly expresses the meaning that investigators will withheld judgement until they further examined the SM and cause of SM. Hold it.

C) will withhold judgment until they have further examined  the cause for the strike marks and the engine  - Distorts the meaning, ...they have further examined the cause of the strike marks and cause of the engine. Nonsensical meaning.

D)  have withheld judgment while there was a further examination of the strike marks on the engine and its cause  - Pronoun agreement error, same as A. Usage of have withheld changes the tense of the event mentioned in the original sentence. Usage of while is inappropriate.

E)  have withheld  judgment until further examination of engine,  the strike marks,  and the cause - Important information mentioned as non essential modifier. If we strikes off the non essential information, then there will be change the meaning, same as option A.

Shishou · Answer

There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause.

A) will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause
  Two errors : there is also a pronoun error here. The strikes is a plural noun and needs a plural pronoun.the right verb tense is not used.Instead of the simple past, we need the present perfect have examined

B) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the strike marks on the engine and their cause
  This one clears up the pronoun error while keeping the meaning clear

C) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the cause for the strike marks and the engine
  This one distorts meaning. The investigators will look at the Engine's strike marks and their cause not the engine itself 
D) have withheld judgment while there was a further examination of the strike marks on the engine and its cause
  pronoun errror. The right pronoun should be their and not its

E) have withheld judgment until further examination of engine, the strike marks, and the cause
  i could say there is a parallelism error here because each part of the parallel structure starts with an article "the" but engine does not. The more concrete error is one of meaning. The strike marks are those of the engine and not a separate thing that is to be examined.

Doer01 · Answer

Hi,
IMO B.
Use of simple future tense seemed unnecessary at the first sight but after reading all the answer choices, it seemed best among 5.

Basic structure of the sentence: IC1, FANBOYS IC2.
Meaning: There is a theory that the engine might have hit the tail of the airplane but the investigators will only say something after they have examined everything.

Error analysis:
A) will withhold judgment until they  examined  further the engine's strike marks and  its  cause: needs plural pronoun to refer to strike marks. Second there is no helping verb for examined.
B) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the strike marks on the engine and their cause: corrects the errors present in original sentence.
C) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the cause for the strike marks and the engine: changes the meaning, Incorrect.
D) have withheld judgment while there was a further examination of the strike marks on the engine and  its  cause: This sounds like someone is reporting the ongoing investigation, which is not a problem. The error is the use of singular pronoun. Incorrect.
E) have withheld judgment until further examination of engine, the strike marks, and the cause: Same as D. examination of "the cause" is illogical. Incorrect.

pandajee · Answer

IMO- In option B - "their" is used for Marks. Pronoun "their"
represents the noun "Marks". Since"Engine" is inside a prepositional phrase, it cannot be the subject.
Option C seeks for examination of Engine also. But the question mandates examination of strike marks & their cause.

minustark · Answer

There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators  will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause.
 
A) will withhold judgment until they  examined further   the engine's strike marks  and its cause >>> it should be a present perfect tense, not a past tense. Moreover, the adverb further will precede the verb. Also, "the strike marks of/ on the engine" is more acceptable than "the engine's strike marks".

B) will withhold judgment until they have further examined the strike marks on the engine and their cause>>> it seems correct.

C) will withhold judgment until they have further examined  the cause for the strike marks and the engine >>> distorts the original meaning

D) have withheld judgment  while there was  a further examination of the strike marks on the engine and  its  cause>>> wrong use of verb. its has no clear antecedent.

E) have withheld judgment until further examination of engine, the strike marks, and the cause>>>same as C.

TheNightKing · Answer

This one is a bit tricky. So Let's see how we can deal with each option.

Primary reason to eliminate: Tense Error. "Until they examined" is Incorrect. its cause? cause of what?

Tense Error is solved. We have "until they have". This they refers back to investigators and "their cause" refers back to the marks. So hang on to this one

So what this is saying is : "cause for the engine"? That doesn't make sense.

Well then who is doing the examination? Also the its remain an issue.

I don't know how to use this word but non-sensical? Just changes the meaning and creates fictional Parallelism. Also, The cause of what?

warrior1991 · Answer

Until they examined  is an awkward and incomplete construct. It should be  until they have examined . Eliminate.

Clear meaning. They will examine 2 things : The strike marks on the engine and the cause of strike marks. Parallelism maintained. Keep.

Meaning issue. The cause for strike marks is fine but the cause for the engine doesn't make sense at all. Eliminate.

'Strike marks'  and  'its'  are not in Pronoun Agreement. Eliminate.

First of all, it is not mentioned, as compared to B , that who is going to do the examination. 
Secondly, the cause in the last is left unattended.  The cause of what ???

IMO B.

eakabuah · Answer

There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's strike marks and its cause.

Meaning: There has been some speculation. This speculation was on the severed engine of an airplane. The speculation is that the severed engine of the airplane probably struck the tail. Investigations are underway and not yet concluded. As a result, Investigators will withhold their judgment on whether the severed engine struck the tail or not. The investigators' judgment will come after they have examined: 1) the engine and 2)the cause of the strike marks.

With this meaning in mind, let's examine the answer choices.

Option A: There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until they     examined   further the engine's  strike   marks  and  its  cause.
Logically, what does the singular possessive pronoun  its  refer to? It does not have a logical singular antecedent. One would expect that it refers to strike marks, but  strike   marks  is plural.  Strike  is an appositive modifying marks. Second, option A misses the modal verb  have  expected to precede  examined . Without the modal verb, option A suggests that the investigators have already concluded their examinations, and this is wrong from the perspectives of the meaning of the sentence. Based on these errors, we can eliminate option A.

Option B: There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until   they   have further examined the strike marks on the engine and  their  cause.
Option B is very tempting because it sounds very nice to the ear. But logically what does  their  refer to? One would expect  their  to refer to strike marks, especially if you are depending on your ear, but  their  cannot refer to strike marks. We already know that   they   refers to investigators, so their must also refer to same antecedent. There is, therefore, a pronoun error in option B as well. Let's eliminate option B.

Option C: There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators will withhold judgment until they have further examined the cause for the strike marks and the engine.
This the correct answer. The parallelism is between X: the cause of the strike marks and Y: the engine, two noun phrases. it makes sense to say that the investigators will withhold judgment until they have further examined(the parallel marker): X: the cause of the strike marks and Y: the engine. Therefore, let's keep option C.

Option D: There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators  have withheld  judgment while there  was a further examination  of the strike marks on the engine and  its  cause.
The same pronoun error in option A is present in option D.   its   does not have a logical antecedent. In addition, had there been no pronoun error in option D, option C is superior because it is more concise. As far as concision is concerned,  they have further examined  is more concise than  there was a further examination . I stand to be corrected on my judgment on concision. Let's eliminate option D.

Option E: There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplane might have struck the tail, but investigators have withheld judgment until further examination of  the ] engine, the strike marks, and the cause( of what?).
Until further examination of the cause of what? There is ambiguity in meaning. Of course, we know that it is the cause of the strike marks that has to be examined. Option E does not convey the meaning clearly. Secondly, let's look at the elements of the parallelism in option E. Why are we decoupling the strike marks from the causes of the strike marks? The parallelism is illogical. Let's eliminate option E.

Option C is the best answer.

arvind910619 · Answer

This question tests the ability to correctly decipher meaning and parallelism using "and".

Let us check each option

A It has pronoun mistake. Its should refer to strike mark but in the sentence as written strike marks is plural so we need a plural pronoun.  They examined  is in wrong tense
B Looks good. Pronoun is proper as their refers to strikes
C This choice looks doubtful. will withhold judgment until they have further examined  the cause for the strike marks and the engine . Highlighted test is not parallel cause for the engine does not make sense.
D Proper tense is not used we have a present perfect tense but this action is differed to future. Usage of "while" is not proper as the two action are not happening simultaneously. Out 
E Same tense error as D. Bad parallelism and improper list with meaning error

mykrasovski · Answer

Quick read-through shows that the sentence tests meaning, structure, and tenses. Before jumping into answer choices, it is a good idea to boil down the sentence into simple form that can be explained to a 10 year old. That way, the reader can understand the meaning, find the core structure, and potentially spot errors.

We have an interesting (probably fatal) situation that likely involves the plain crash. The non-underlined part of the sentence says that the engine of the plane might have struck the tail. Then the sentence proceeds by saying that investigators have a position. Simplified, something happened in the past, and some people want to do more research about the cause and effect before reaching any conclusions. Let's review the options.

A)  will withhold judgment until they examined further the engine's  strike  marks and  its  cause
One can argue that  its  correctly refers to  strike , but this does not make much sense. We have  strike marks , which is a noun phrase, and somethings caused them. So, we would need a plural pronoun to refer to  strike marks .

B)  will withhold judgment until they have further examined  the strike marks  on the engine and  their  cause
This option looks promising. The investigator will withhold judgement until they do more research. The pronoun error is resolved, i.e.  their  correctly refers to  the strike marks .

C)  will withhold judgment until they have further examined  the cause  for the strike marks and  the engine 
There can be the cause for the strike marks, but there cannot be the cause for the engine. Fatal meaning error.

D)  have withheld judgment while there was a further examination of the strike marks on the engine and  its  cause
There are several issues with this option. First, we may not want to use Present Perfect tense (have withheld). Second, there is a big problem with a pronoun  its . What does it refer to? Engine? Strike?

E)  have withheld judgment until further examination of engine, the strike marks, and  the cause 
Grammatically this option can probably live. Assuming one can keep the Present Perfect tense. But the biggest problem comes at the very end. The sentence says "until further examination of A, B, and C". Okay, what is C here? It is  the cause . Until further examination of the cause of what? The sentence is not complete. Also, one may want to use {the} before engine (not sure whether "the" is 100% necessary, though).

generis · Answer

I have posted the official explanation  here .

VerbalBot · Answer

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There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplan

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

There has been some speculation that the severed engine of the airplan

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