Discussion
Had the President’s Administration not lost the vote on the budget reduction package, his first year in office would have been rated an A.
| (A) | NO CHANGE |
| (B) | ... |
| (C) | ... |
| (D) | ... |
| (E) | ... |
| (F) | ... |
The solution is
Posted: 12/21/2012 20:03
But wasn't the sentence trying to say that the Administration was the one who lost the vote, and the President's first year would have been rated an A- not the other way around?
Posted: 09/19/2013 16:11
Liz, if the sentence was trying to convey that, the pronoun "his" made it ambiguous. Whereas choice E removes the pronouns and solves the ambiguity between the main clause and the subordinate clause.
Posted: 10/05/2014 17:51
Reply: We must assume a likely context for the sentence. Rarely would a columnist be grading an Administration; the custom is always to grade the President. Thus the "flaw" cited is nothing within the column: "his" will be the President, throughout. The "D" choice makes this clear with use of the pronoun "its", which means the Administration failed the President, by not whipping enough votes to pass his budget.