With American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese I

Question

With American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet losing the strategic element of surprise at Midway, which allowed  the American Fleet to ambush the Japanese and win a decisive victory.

A. With American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet losing the strategic element of surprise at Midway, which allowed

B. With American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet strategically lost the element of surprise at Midway, and this allowed

C. Because of the American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet strategically lost the element of surprise at Midway, to allow

D. Because American cryptanalysts had broken the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet lost the strategic element of surprise at Midway, allowing

E. Since American cryptanalysts broke the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet strategically lost the element of surprise at Midway, and this allowed

anox · Accepted Answer

With American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet losing the strategic element of surprise at Midway, which allowed  the American Fleet to ambush the Japanese and win a decisive victory.

Issues:   Modifier | Verb Tense

Analysis:
 1) Sequence of events in sentence:  code had been broken => Japanese lost element of surprise => allowing American to ambush Japanese 
2) Hence, the correct verb for "Americans break code" should be "past perfect" since that event happen before "Japanese lost element of surprise" and is also the the cause of it.
3) "which allowed" as used in original sentence is incorrect as "which" is never used to refer to the whole clause. ", verb-ing" is a form we need to use here to refer to the whole clause.

I have highlighted the issues in options below:

A.  With American cryptanalysts  breaking  the Japanese code , the  Japanese Imperial Fleet  losing  the strategic element of surprise at Midway,  which allowed 
 - "which" used incorrectly
- "breaking" and "loosing" seems to indicate that those things were happening simultaneously which has meaning issue
- ", the Japanese Imperial Feet..." is a run on clause without any conjunction 
(Any of the above error alone is enough to eliminate this option)

B.  With American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet strategically lost the element of surprise at Midway, and  this  allowed
 - Pronoun ambiguity  
(Also less favorable option than  (D) )

C.  Because of the American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet strategically lost the element of surprise at Midway , to allow 
 - Modifier error (leading to sentence fragment)

D.   Because  American cryptanalysts  had broken  the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet  lost  the strategic element of surprise at Midway,  allowing

E.  Since American cryptanalysts  broke  the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet strategically lost the element of surprise at Midway, and  this  allowed
 
- Verb tense issue
- Pronoun ambiguity

Answer:   (D)

Kurtosis · Answer

A. With American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet losing the strategic element of surprise at Midway, which allowed - Incorrect. Missing verb error.

B. With American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet strategically lost the element of surprise at Midway, and this allowed - Incorrect. Illogical and usage of 'this' is incorrect in the given context.

C. Because of the American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet strategically lost the element of surprise at Midway, to allow - Incorrect. Illogical.

D. Because American cryptanalysts had broken the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet lost the strategic element of surprise at Midway, allowing - Correct.

E. Since American cryptanalysts broke the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet strategically lost the element of surprise at Midway, and this allowed - Incorrect. Tense error and usage of 'this' is incorrect.

Answer: D

IanStewart · Answer

If you look at how "strategic" and "strategically" are used in the various answer choices, you can pick the correct answer here. If you say someone "strategically lost", that means losing was a strategy that person was using. So you might say a pool hustler "strategically lost her first game to make other players think she was worse at pool than she truly was". That's something someone might do as a strategy to gain a larger advantage later on. But here, Japan did not "strategically lose the element of surprise"; that wasn't a tactical choice on their part. Instead they lost the "strategic element of surprise". This correctly conveys the meaning that the "element of surprise" is what is strategic in this sentence.

Answers A and D are the only answers that use "strategic" correctly, but answer A is not a sentence (there is no main clause), so D must be right.

And the question should say 'cryptanalyst', not 'cryptanalysist' (that's not a word!).

Answers A and D are the only answers that use "strategic" correctly, but answer A is not a sentence (there is no main clause), so D must be right.

And the question should say 'cryptanalyst', not 'cryptanalysist' (that's not a word!).

chesstitans · Answer

"lost strategically" and strategic element have 2 different meanings.

aaduthoma · Answer

Based on the post by e-gmat on  VERB-ING MODIFIERS :

From what I understand, this means that in option D,  the Japanese Imperial Fleet  should be the doer of the action  allowing . However, it is the loosing of the surprise that "allowed"  American Fleet to ambush . Am I missing something here?

Thanks in advance.

daagh · Answer

@Thoma

The critical point is that of the Japanese army's losing the element of surprise that allowed the US to outsmart the Japanese. The citing of the Japanese is meant to clarify whose loss it was. When it is somebody's loss, it is not logical to conclude the loser himself caused his loss deliberately. In a do or die war, why would the Japanese army
want to lose its secrecy code and pave the way for a US victory?

GKomoku · Answer

with +   +   on GMAT Sentence Correction

Helium · Answer

Magoosh OE :

https://magoosh.com/gmat/2015/with-noun-participle-on-gmat-sentence-correction/

Gokul20 · Answer

Although I am convinced that there should be a past perfect tense, can someone explain as to what is 'allowing' modifying here ? Is it modifying the act of Japan loosing the strategic element ? And is used to express the 'Effect' of that action ?

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  Gokul20 ,

I think you're right: the  allowing  seems to be for the entire clause before it.

...  the Japanese Imperial Fleet lost the strategic element of surprise at Midway  , allowing ...

PyjamaScientist · Answer

AjiteshArun 
Don't you think, although  "allowing"  does show results of the previous clause it does not make sense with the doer of the modified clause, which is a necessary condition for the correct usage of verb-ing modifiers? Japanese army did not do the act of allowing the attack. So, is the usage of verb-ing correct here?

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  nikhilongc ,

I believe that the rule you're trying to apply holds  normally . That is, in many cases where participles are used. I wouldn't, however, call it a  necessary  condition. It does make sense to say that the loss of the element of surprise by the JIF was what allowed something, so I don't see any problems in this construction.

That said, it'd be great to see other opinions on this, because it seems that your sources(s) may have presented this as an absolute rule.

punith0894 · Answer

Is the usage "Because of the American cryptanalysts" correct? Is there any sentence in which the usage of "because of" correct?

KarishmaB · Answer

We can use 'because of' as a two word preposition and hence, it requires a noun after it.

I like him because of his sincerity. (Works. The reason for my liking is his sincerity)
'because of' typically means 'as a result of'
We rescheduled the match because of rain. (Works)

'Because' needs a clause. 
I like him because he is sincere. (Works)
We rescheduled the match because it started raining. (Works)

Because of the American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code ...
The reason is not 'American cryptanalysts.' The reason is that 'American cryptanalysts broke the Japanese code'. Hence, it is better to use a clause here 'because American cryptanalysts broke the Japanese code...'

VerbalBot · Answer

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With American cryptanalysts breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese I

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