SC-Forbidden City

[King Kong]

C is clear.

[vik_gmat]

B it is. B has the correct meaning.

[gmattrap]

the original sentence seems weired to me: ...a commoner or foreigner cannot enter without a permission, [except] on pain of death.

It tries to say, in a fragile grammatical structure, that: no commoner or foreigner is allowed into the city, except on pain of death.

B:says, a commoner or foreigner could enter without any permission only on pain of death.

C: says, no commoner or foreginer could enter without permission on pain of death.

I think B clearly restates the original sentence.

[chatru]

The ans must be "B"

[harkawal]

I think the orignal sentence meant it place is prohibited, so how is it justified to use "a X or a Y".. i.e taling about single X or Y

C is my answer.. since it has correct usage "no X or Y" ..

If the 1000 SC answers are correct, then the answer mentioned there as well is "C"

[kannn]

I picked B initially. But C is the correct answer.

B doesn't really stress required meaning.B says earthlings can enter only on the pain of the death.
However the original sentence stresses that earthlings can not enter at all and if they enter they will get the pain of the death. So C is better. Also it stresses the negative aspect of the message properly.

[kannn]

Another way of understanding it is:

"A commoner or foreigner couldn't enter" Vs "None of these guys couldn't enter".

1st means one C or F couldn't enter.
2nd means both of them are prohibited