<p>The opponents of the bill were few but influential enough to prevent its being passed in the House.</p>
<p>It's no error. But shouldn't it say 'to prevent its passage'? Couldn't you say that it's a borderline idiomatic error?</p>
<p>I swear, the SAT needs to get its s*** together on the writing sections. Waaaay too often there are ambiguous questions on this section, especially when they test stuff like gerunds.</p>
<p>Yeah I got an 80 MC subscore on the May test, but I would be tempted to put “being passed” on this question because “passage” or “passing” are both less wordy. I guess the argument could be that “being passed” is still correct and does not make it significantly less succinct, but… it’s arbitrary.</p>
<p>It works both ways. If this problem were on the Improving Sentences section, then I would advise “to prevent its passage” to “to prevent its being passed”. However, this is in the Identifying Sentence Error section. Since the sentence contains no real grammatical error, the appropriate answer choice would be E.</p>
<p>You can’t always trust your ears on the Writing section. My bet is that this problem was probably near the end of the section.</p>
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<p>Just remember - you need a possessive with a gerund. Silverturtle’s guide covers this. There is no idiom error. This question is not ambiguous either. </p>
<p>Example: </p>
<p>I appreciate your standing by me.</p>
<p>It’s more that “being passed” and “passing” could both work as gerunds in that spot, and “being passed” is passive.</p>
<p>JeffryJung’s way to look at it is good. The issue with passivity would more pop up with Improving Sentences than Identifying Sentence Errors.</p>
<p>One thing I’ve learned throughout my SAT preparation over the past three months, is that in Spot the Error MC questions, you should never be looking for clarity. If the sentence works grammatically, then mark off E for no error.</p>
<p>In this case, it seems perfectly fine. This is what I call over-analyzing, which will often bring in more wrong answers than right ones.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with that sentence as it currently is.</p>
<p>Chacha.</p>
<p>“Being” and “passed” are separate answer options, so you can’t replace them both with “passage” or “passing”. You have to pick the answer that can make the sentence grammatically correct. Gerunds require genitive pronouns.</p>
<p>^ ‘Being passed’ is actually one choice, the formatting of the post just made it look separate.</p>
<p>Lol 2007 PSAT question, what you get for that section? I received a lousy 66.</p>