The 151 member governments of the World Bank

[eczozgeuyanik]

The 151 member governments of the World Bank are expected to increase the bank’s funding by $175 billion, though some United States legislators cite an obstacle to congressional passage being the concern that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses.
A. an obstacle to congressional passage being the concern
B. a concern as an obstacle to congressional passage
C. as an obstacle to congressional passage the concern
D. the concern, an obstacle to congressional passage [editor: other posters have pointed out that this answer choice should also be followed by a comma]
E. as an obstacle for Congress to pass it the concern

[Aragorn]

What is OA, I may be fooling myself here...
I pick D...
What I would like here is a choice with that as a first word. But we don't have it! I am looking for that because of although. On further reading I do find that. But we will leave it there for now.
To make it easy, replace cite by it easier meaning..."make reference to"

Now if I read all choice, only D seems sight.

we can cite a noun or a pronoun only. We can't cite anything else in Gmat.

So we can do
A, B, D

Now think of the meaning, what are we citing...is it an obstacle or a concern? definitely a concern..
so we can do
B,D

a means not a particular concern, just a random concern. The means specific concern. So I stick with D.

[Aragorn]

I am busted!
http://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-sentenc ... rprep.html

[eczozgeuyanik]

OA-C Thanks for the link...

[rfernandez]

Good to see you guys helping each other out.

Rey

[Sputnik]

Whats wrong with D ??

D. the concern, an obstacle to congressional passage, that

the concern that ??

[rfernandez]

Sputnik, grammatically D parses out fine in that it modifies "the concern" with the appositive "an obstacle to congressional passage." But there's a change in meaning by setting "an obstacle to congressional passage" off in commas. It makes it a nonessential modifier, but this fact is necessary to the meaning of the sentence.

Another approach: consider the idiom "cite X as Y." In this case we (essentially) have "legislators cite the concern as an obstacle." What makes C tricky is that the structure is written "cite as Y X": "legislators cite as an obstacle the concern." It's a weird inversion, but it works. If you go with D, the core of that clause becomes "legislators cite the concern" and we lose the important "as an obstacle" piece.

[shobujgmat]

wHAT IS THE WRONG WITH "B"- IT SEEMS THAT IT USES THE CORRECT VERSION OF THE IDOM

[devinderpsingh]

"that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses. " is a concern. So 'concern' should be before 'that'

[JonathanSchneider]

B says "cite a concern as an obstacle." This is backwards. They are not citing a concern. They are citing the obstacle. That obstacle IS a concern. The concern is not an obstacle.

[goelmohit2002]

Can someone please tell what is the problem with E ? Is it because of ambigious "it". Also can someone please tell what is the problem with A....i..e is there any reason except for kicking out based on being...

[RonPurewal]

Can someone please tell what is the problem with E ? Is it because of ambigious "it". Also can someone please tell what is the problem with A....i..e is there any reason except for kicking out based on being...

yes, the problem with (e) is "it". it's not ambiguous, though; it actually doesn't refer to anything at all. there's no noun in there, anywhere, to which "it" can refer.
("Ambiguous", in reference to pronouns, is used to refer to a pronoun that has 2 or more possible antecedents, not to refer to a noun that has no possible antecedent.)

--

"being" in (A) is not only unnecessary, but also not used idiomatically.

in general, "being" can be used in some instances where you're talking about X (specific) being a Y (general).
for instance, jake did not enjoy being a graduate student.
notice that the GENERAL category - graduate student - follows "being". the SPECIFIC (jake) doesn't.
you can't do this in reverse.
this choice tries to use the specific (the particular concern) after "being", rather than the general category (an obstacle to congressional passage). regardless of whether the usage of "being" is appropriate otherwise (which, here, it isn't anyway), you can't do that.

[devneeetbajaj]

B. a concern as an obstacle to congressional passage
C. as an obstacle to congressional passage the concern

I think I udnerstand Jonathan's point, but I am still seeing in both cases that a concern is cited as an obstacle. Pls explain again what is wrong w B?

[RonPurewal]

B. a concern as an obstacle to congressional passage
C. as an obstacle to congressional passage the concern

I think I udnerstand Jonathan's point, but I am still seeing in both cases that a concern is cited as an obstacle. Pls explain again what is wrong w B?

(b) breaks up "a concern" from "that the bank’s loans will help...". once that modifier is divorced from "a concern", it is no longer clear exactly what is the concern.
also, "a concern" is problematic. since the sentence cites one very specific concern, it should say "the concern".

[tankobe]

B. a concern as an obstacle to congressional passage
C. as an obstacle to congressional passage the concern

I think I udnerstand Jonathan's point, but I am still seeing in both cases that a concern is cited as an obstacle. Pls explain again what is wrong w B?

(b) breaks up "a concern" from "that the bank’s loans will help...". once that modifier is divorced from "a concern", it is no longer clear exactly what is the concern.
also, "a concern" is problematic. since the sentence cites one very specific concern, it should say "the concern".

very very great!!!!