On account of a law passed in 1993, making it a crime punish

[soul-seeking-truth]

I have a question regarding the construction

making it a crime for blabla to hold ....

In this sentence, "it" has no referent so it is basically acting as a placeholder "it".

I learned from somewhere that placeholder it is sometimes used to delay infinitives.

For instance, it is preferable to say following sentence:

It is good for the health to wake early.

than to say the following sentence.

To wake up early is good for the health.

or following sentence is also better:

Waking up early is good for the health.

Can we apply the same concept in this question?

Option D says:

Because of a law passed in 1933 making it a crime punishable by imprisonment for a United States citizen to hold gold in the form of bullion or coins, immigrants found that...

Now there is no clear way to write the above sentence, if we try to remove placeholder "it".

Because of a law passed in 1933 making for a United States citizen to hold gold in the form of bullion or coins a crime punishable by imprisonment,

Because of a law passed in 1933 making for a United States citizen holding gold in the form of bullion or coins a crime punishable by imprisonment for a United States citizen,

Because both of the above two modifications are awkward, it is best to use the placeholder "it" as it used in option D

can I use this knowledge to eliminate option C(I understand that C has other bigger problems) which introduced placeholder "it" without using an infinitive?

[RonPurewal]

there are a lot of words in that post, but, ultimately, the only relevant ideas are these:
• "placeholder it" can occur only in a few VERY specific structures.
• choice C isn't one of them.

done.

[DiJ92]

Dear Ron,

In chioce E, is being passed correct, and more generally, when could we use "being" as a component of a modifier ? thanks in advance.

[RonPurewal]

Dear Ron,

In chioce E, is being passed correct, and more generally, when could we use "being" as a component of a modifier ? thanks in advance.

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... tml#p91486

[DiJ92]

Dear Ron,

In chioce E, is being passed correct, and more generally, when could we use "being" as a component of a modifier ? thanks in advance.

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... tml#p91486

thanks a lot

[sahilk47]

Copied from correct answer D
"Because of a law passed in 1933 making"

I'm confused about what are the rules for whether "making" in above sentence is a verb or participle.
While attempting this problem, I thought it's participle and eliminated it

ah yes, the dreaded "because of X VERBing..." construction.

this construction is incorrect if the causal agent (i.e., the thing that the "because" is attributed to) is the VERB.

for instance,

* we laughed all day because of tony walking into the girls' bathroom --> incorrect, because the verb (walking into the bathroom) is the reason why we were laughing all day.
the correct version of this sentence would read we laughed all day because of tony's walking into the girls' bathroom. in other words, if the causal agent is the action (which appears in -ing form), then it must be preceded by a possessive.

* estelle was afraid to move because of a spider sitting on the wall --> correct, because estelle is afraid because of the spider itself, not because of the spider's sitting on the wall.

this sentence should be read as an instance of the latter: it's the law itself that caused the immigrants' problems.

there you go.

Ron

With reference to the first example you gave above "we laughed all day because of tony walking into the girls' bathroom", is the following construction incorrect on grammar rules as well apart from a wordy construction?
"we laughed all day because of the walking of tony into the girls' bathroom"

Thank you

[RonPurewal]

that's a bad construction, but the reasons are largely irrelevant to this exam.

the only thing that might be relevant is 'the walking of Tony'.
this sort of construction DOES NOT refer to an action performed BY tony. rather, this is something done TO tony (tony is the object).

if someone walks a dog, then that's the walking of the dog. (if a dog is walking around of its own accord, that is NOT 'the walking of the dog'.)

similarly,
• the defeat of Team X means that team X LOST the game. (team X did not defeat another team.)
• the shooting of Person Y means that someone shot person Y.
etc.

again, this is unlikely to be tested on this exam—and, even if you see it, you're probably overlooking some other decision point that's easier, more fundamental, and/or more objectively logical.

[sahilk47]

that's a bad construction, but the reasons are largely irrelevant to this exam.

the only thing that might be relevant is 'the walking of Tony'.
this sort of construction DOES NOT refer to an action performed BY tony. rather, this is something done TO tony (tony is the object).

if someone walks a dog, then that's the walking of the dog. (if a dog is walking around of its own accord, that is NOT 'the walking of the dog'.)

similarly,
• the defeat of Team X means that team X LOST the game. (team X did not defeat another team.)
• the shooting of Person Y means that someone shot person Y.
etc.

again, this is unlikely to be tested on this exam—and, even if you see it, you're probably overlooking some other decision point that's easier, more fundamental, and/or more objectively logical.

Thank you!

[tim]

[RonPurewal]

Thank you!

you're welcome.

[CrystalSpringston]

Can we also eliminate "C" because the first part of the sentence is a fragment that has a subject ("law") followed by two modifiers?

not a grammar issue, but it's a modifier that doesn't make sense.

if you have that kind of modifier ("A law..."), then it should provide a description of the noun that follows it.
e.g.,
A famous and influential boxer, Manny Pacquiao has plans for a career in Philippine politics after he retires from boxing.
here, the modifier "a famous and influential boxer" modifies "manny pacquiao", so it's fine.

here, though, that usage would suggest that immigrants themselves (= the subject following the comma) are "a law". that is nonsense and thus incorrect.

--

one other thing:
you referred to part of a sentence as a "fragment".
this description doesn't make sense -- "fragment" is only used for something that's supposed to be a whole sentence but is, in fact, only part of one.

HI RON,
Why cannot we take " A law...." as absolute phrases that can indicate cause when placed at the beginning?
Eg:
An important lecture to be given tomorrow (=As an important lecture will be given tomorrow), the professor has to stay up late into the night.

Thank you.

[RonPurewal]

HI RON,
Why cannot we take " A law...." as absolute phrases that can indicate cause when placed at the beginning?

i don't know this terminology, so i'll have to ignore it.
(if this terminology is essential to your question, then i am probably going to answer the wrong question.)

[RonPurewal]

An important lecture to be given tomorrow (=As an important lecture will be given tomorrow), the professor has to stay up late into the night.

Thank you.

whoa, no, this is not how these things work. if the intended meaning is 'because', then you need a word that means 'because'.

so, all of these would work:
Because she must give an important lecture tomorrow, the professor will stay up late tonight to prepare.
As she must give an important lecture tomorrow, the professor will stay up late tonight to prepare.
Since she must give an important lecture tomorrow, the professor will stay up late tonight to prepare.

on the other hand, if the modifier is just a NOUN, then that noun must BE A DESCRIPTION OF the following subject.

e.g.,
A speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream" is perhaps the most famous piece of oratory in American history.
--> "i have a dream" IS a speech.

The most famous boxer in the history of the Philippines, Manny Pacquiao is now a politician.
--> manny pacquiao IS 'the most famous boxer...'

so, your sentence doesn't work here, because it implies that the professor IS 'a lecture'. this is... not true. (:

[CrystalSpringston]

An important lecture to be given tomorrow (=As an important lecture will be given tomorrow), the professor has to stay up late into the night.

Thank you.

whoa, no, this is not how these things work. if the intended meaning is 'because', then you need a word that means 'because'.

so, all of these would work:
Because she must give an important lecture tomorrow, the professor will stay up late tonight to prepare.
As she must give an important lecture tomorrow, the professor will stay up late tonight to prepare.
Since she must give an important lecture tomorrow, the professor will stay up late tonight to prepare.

on the other hand, if the modifier is just a NOUN, then that noun must BE A DESCRIPTION OF the following subject.

e.g.,
A speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream" is perhaps the most famous piece of oratory in American history.
--> "i have a dream" IS a speech.

The most famous boxer in the history of the Philippines, Manny Pacquiao is now a politician.
--> manny pacquiao IS 'the most famous boxer...'

so, your sentence doesn't work here, because it implies that the professor IS 'a lecture'. this is... not true. (:

Thank you Ron.
This illustrates again that many English study materials from non-English speaking countries contain tons of errors. The sentence I cited comes this way.

[RonPurewal]

writing a good language textbook is not easy.