State lawmakers are considering

[bharathholla]

State lawmakers are considering a law allowing children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent with whom they will live, which will likely dissuade those parents from disciplining or punishing their children.

A. allowing children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent with whom they will live, which will likely dissuade those parents

B. that would allow children as young as seven whose parents are divorced to choose the parent with whom they will live, a policy that would likely dissuade those parents

C. that would allow children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent that they will live with, a policy that will likely dissuade their parents

D. allowing children as young as seven whose parents are divorced to choose the parent who they will live with, likely dissuading those parents

E. that will allow children as young as seven with divorced parents to choose which parent with whom to live, a policy likely dissuading their parents

The right answer is B, but I need come clarification to the explanation given for the wrong choice E
Exp for E: The future tense will allow suggests that the law is certain to go into effect, contradicting the sentence’s description of the law as under consideration. Since the law is still under consideration, the conditional (would allow) is more appropriate.

The study guide 8 on page 111 says "avoid mixing present tense with conditional tense"
Since the sentence says that "State lawmakers ARE considering.." one would apply the usual sequence present + future hence "that will allow" instead of "that would allow".

I agree with the rest of the explanation for the wrong answer such as pronoun mismatch etc., But can you please shed some light on why "Present + Conditional" is used/preferred here?

Cheers!
-B

[jnelson0612]

Hi there, great question! Please go back and look at page 111 again in the strategy guide. Notice that this stipulation is for "reporting sentences", and this is not a reporting sentence.

Thanks!

[varun.pendharkar]

State lawmakers are considering a law allowing children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent with whom they will live, which will likely dissuade those parents from disciplining or punishing their children.

allowing children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent with whom they will live, which will likely dissuade those parents

that would allow children as young as seven whose parents are divorced to choose the parent with whom they will live, a policy that would likely dissuade those parents

that would allow children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent that they will live with, a policy that will likely dissuade their parents

allowing children as young as seven whose parents are divorced to choose the parent who they will live with, likely dissuading those parents

that will allow children as young as seven with divorced parents to choose which parent with whom to live, a policy likely dissuading their parents


In regards to this question isn't considering that unidiomatic.. the correct idiom is consider x y

Please explain

[jnelson0612]

State lawmakers are considering a law allowing children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent with whom they will live, which will likely dissuade those parents from disciplining or punishing their children.

allowing children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent with whom they will live, which will likely dissuade those parents

that would allow children as young as seven whose parents are divorced to choose the parent with whom they will live, a policy that would likely dissuade those parents

that would allow children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent that they will live with, a policy that will likely dissuade their parents

allowing children as young as seven whose parents are divorced to choose the parent who they will live with, likely dissuading those parents

that will allow children as young as seven with divorced parents to choose which parent with whom to live, a policy likely dissuading their parents


In regards to this question isn't considering that unidiomatic.. the correct idiom is consider x y

Please explain

Varun, "are considering" is a different construction from "consider". The idiom rules for "consider" do not necessarily apply to "are considering". For more information on "consider", please check out this thread: idiom-consider-t2758.html

[tushaw]

I do not understand the explanation given for modifier given in choice (C).

"The modifier as young as seven is illogically placed after divorced parents, suggesting that the children’s parents are as young as seven."

Wouldn't the modifer "as young as seven" serve as mission critical modifer for children?

[tim]

what are the rules for mission critical modifiers? i think you may have gotten something backwards here..

[nanobotz45]

Hi,

What does 'their parents' refer to in choice E? and What does 'those parents' refer to in choice B?

Does using 'those' change the intended meaning of the given example when compared to using 'their'?

Thanks

[jnelson0612]

Hi,

What does 'their parents' refer to in choice E? and What does 'those parents' refer to in choice B?

Does using 'those' change the intended meaning of the given example when compared to using 'their'?

Thanks

Both "their parents" and "those parents" appear to refer to the divorced parents of the children. I don't really see a meaning change here. In both cases we are referring to the same group of parents.

[vikram4689]

usage of "would" in correct option B) conforms to which of the usage in post45300.html#p45300
If above usage is 2nd in the link then that would imply law is extremely unlikely to do its intended function.

Did i misunderstand something ?? if yes, please help me understand meaning of correct sentence

[tim]

please re-read Ron's post, and pay particular attention to his use of the word "or" in his explanation. you have made the mistake of assuming "A or B" means "definitely B"..

[vikram4689]

ok, so does the usage of *would* implies that lawmakers are considering a law that, if implemented, will do something that is NOT TRUE at present i.e. at present, children are *not* allowed to chose the present with whom they want to live but if law if implemented then children will be allowed to chose the parent with which they want to live

is my interpretation correct ? if not, please correct me

[tim]

that's right..

[Khush]

Hi Ron,

I have a doubt regarding the placement of the to+verb "...children.............to choose the parent......." in this question.

Isn't the to+verb written too far from children?

Is it always acceptable?

Please confirm.

[RonPurewal]

Isn't the to+verb written too far from children?

1/
That's the correct answer.
So, no.

2/
"Children as young as seven whose parents are divorced" must stay in one piece, since those are the only children we're talking about.

Is it always acceptable?

I don't know what you are asking about here.

[Khush]

Hi RON,

I wanted to know whether "to+verb" separated by an essential modifier and written this far from the subject is always acceptable .

I would like to know more such usage of "to+verb"...

Thank you...