In an attempt to guarantee the security of its innovative

Question

In an attempt to guarantee the security of its innovative water purification method, the company required each employee to sign a confidentiality agreement  prohibiting that its water purification methods be disclosed to companies using an analogous purification process .

A. prohibiting that its water purification methods be disclosed to companies
B. prohibiting them from the disclosing of its water purification methods to any company
C. prohibiting disclosure of its water purification methods to any company
D. that would prohibit them from disclosure of its water purification methods to companies
E. that would prohibit its water purification methods to be disclosed to a company

Please explain.

MA · Answer

I prefer C over E becasue to any company sounds better than to a company.

ywilfred · Answer

A. prohibiting that its water purification methods be disclosed to companies 
- 'be disclosed' is awkward sounding.

B. prohibiting them from the disclosing of its water purification methods to any company 
- 'them' is plural and does not have a clear referent. It's meant to modify employee which is singular.

C. prohibiting disclosure of its water purification methods to any company 
- I like this choice. Possesive pronoun its is correctly used here to refer to company's methods

D. that would prohibit them from disclosure of its water purification methods to companies 
- subject-verb does not agree (plural them --> singular employee)

E. that would prohibit its water purification methods to be disclosed to a company 
- 'to be disclosed' is awkward.

C it is.

ywilfred · Answer

Apart from being a less clumsy construction, C is also more concise.

banerjeea_98 · Answer

Bet C and E, I see the diff of meaning also, In C it seems to be saying that the company is prohibiting employees to do something, while in E seems like that the confidentiality agreement prohibits employees from doing something. Which one is correct ? Altho I picked "C".

jpv · Answer

it has to be (C)..
Point to note that this is not subjunctive mood question.

(B) and (D): them --> each employee
(A):
1. Not subjunctive mood.
2. .. each employee to sign a confidentiality agreement  prohibiting that .... AWKWARD CONSTRUCTION

(E):... to a compnay... (should be any company)
also, it is passive construction.

Please feel free to correct me...

chunjuwu · Answer

go with C. Agree with the above opinions. 

OA, please

Vithal · Answer

not sure if prohibiting is used in the correct idiom here...but will go with C

nocilis · Answer

OA is C

dipaksingh · Answer

tough C is my natural choice as other choices are not so attractive, 

but i dont understand why it is not a case of subjunctive mood.

tough A" uses a subjunctive mood, but some how the affirmitive statement (prohibiting---purification methods be disclosed----) seems awkard.

A. prohibiting that its water purification methods be disclosed to companies 

i would have selectedany other choice having a subjuctive mood used correctly.

JPV can you please explain why it does not require a subjunctive mood.

In an attempt to guarantee the security of its innovative

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