water purification methods

[HuyP400]

Hi everyone, I am a new member. Sorry for digging up the question but I am baffled. Pls help.

I learnt from Ron that in this construction: S + main V + O + V-ing (modify the O) the V-ing must happen at the same timeframe as the main V. If we apply the above understanding to the answer C, we have:

the company + required (main V) + each employee...an agreement + prohibiting ....
I dont think the Prohibiting happens at the same time frame as the Required because the agreement is yet to be effective, it is just at the stage in which employee was signing on it => the prohibiting must come after the signing part => How come the use of prohibiting in C is correct?

I think the construction in this question is similar to another GMAT prep question which is about a city that has proposed a plant at a cost raising.. The answer containing raising was eliminated by the reason that the raising was not in the same timeframe as the main V. Why the same analyzing can not be applied in this question?

Ron, pls. Thank you.

[RonPurewal]

nah. it's still 'an agreement prohibiting xxxx'. it's not legally enforceable until it's signed, but that doesn't change the kind of agreement it is.

[RonPurewal]

e.g.
you're a freelance writer. you're thinking about taking a certain assignment.
you meet with a representative of the publisher.
the representative shows you a contract prohibiting you from writing articles about the same topic for any other publication.
you decide not to sign the contract.

later, you're talking to a friend.
friend: did you take that assignment?
you: no, they wanted me to sign an agreement prohibiting me from writing about the same stuff for anyone else.
friend: oh, okay.

[RonPurewal]

i do see what you're saying here... but that kind of reasoning would cause other problems, too.

i.e.,
you're objecting to 'prohibiting' on the grounds that nothing is prohibited until the paper is signed.
here's the problem: if you're going to object to 'prohibiting' on those grounds, then, for exactly the same reason, you'll have to object to the word 'agreement', too!
...after all, by the same logic, it's not really an agreement until someone actually agrees (with a signature).

you see where i'm going with this.

in any case, at least you can learn a lesson about how contracts, agreements, etc. can properly be described in formal writing.

[HuyP400]

Thank you very much for your time and input.
But Ron, what is the takeaway after this question and the one that I cited above?
if I face the same construction (S + main V + O + V-ing or S + main V + O + that + V) in the future, what is the best way to know which one is the best? I initially thought the "similar timeframe of both Verb" analyzing is the universal key element to differentiate these two but I was wrong.

[aflaamM589]

great insights instructors.

As the discussion goes back to 2009 and we are still discussing it in 2015, i would like to ask instructors

a) this question makes it really easy if one has the requisite knowledge of idioms

b) but some time back(probably in 2011) GMAC announced it is demphasizing idioms

c) Idioms are really really really hard for a non native speakers like me

d) any advice for those taking GMAT in 2016 what to do vis-a-vis prepositional idioms like the one in this SC question?

Many thx

[RonPurewal]

there should be ways around having to know the idioms.

regarding choice E here, read this post:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... ml#p119685

the same thing is an issue in choice E.
the agreement isn't stopping the methods from doing anything. rather, it's stopping the disclosure of those methods (or, alternatively, stopping the employees from disclosing the methods).
so, quite apart from the idiom issue, that choice is nonsense.

[RonPurewal]

by the way, i don't know what you mean by 'prepositional' idioms. so, if that is an important feature of your question, then i probably don't understand the question.