A proposal has been made to trim the horns from rhinoceroses

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 423
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 1:29 am
Location: Hyderabad, India
Thanked: 36 times
Followed by:2 members
GMAT Score:770
A proposal has been made to trim the horns from rhinoceroses to discourage poachers; the question is whether tourists will continue to visit game parks and see rhinoceroses after their horns are trimmed.

A) whether tourists will continue to visit game parks and see rhinoceroses after their horns are
B) whether tourists will continue to visit game parks to see one once their horns are
C) whether tourists will continue to visit game parks to see rhinoceroses once the animals' horns have been
D) if tourists will continue to visit game parks and see rhinoceroses once the animals' horns are
E) if tourists will continue to visit game parks to see one after the animals' horns have been

OA C

My question is what is wrong with the original sentence?
simplyjat

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:49 am

by barron » Thu May 08, 2008 6:15 am
visiting game parks and seeing rhinoceros are viewed as unrelated events in A

User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 50
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:38 am
Thanked: 1 times

by tar.goyal » Thu May 08, 2008 11:53 pm
Simpltjat, in the original sentence, the use of their is ambiguous.

That is why A is wrong.
I have started to realize that I am the one!!!

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:46 pm
Location: st petersburg fl
Followed by:1 members

whether...after...have been...

by gabriela13 » Fri May 09, 2008 12:19 pm
I will go with C on this one;

The answers with If are out.

C--uses whether....after...have been. I usually look at words such as before, after, next year...in order to understand better the time line.

BTW,
Your questions/topics are great. :)
Good luck to you all (now working on the gmat) and thank you all (who took it).

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 5:38 pm

by Buzz » Thu Sep 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Can someone please explain why "if"is out here?

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 198
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:40 pm
Thanked: 7 times

by kris610 » Sat Sep 27, 2008 5:21 pm
Buzz wrote:Can someone please explain why "if"is out here?
'if' is used as a conditional expression. For example, If peter goes to the party, John will not.

When deciding between two options, whether is always used on the GMAT. Here the question is 'will the tourists visit or won't visit'. That is there is no condition here based on which something will happen.

Hope this clarifies.

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 157
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:05 am
Thanked: 9 times
GMAT Score:680
Authors Intention is to questions if " after cutting the rhinoceroses horns would the tourists continue to visit parks to see the rhinoceroses"

However the option C is "if tourists will continue to visit game parks and see rhinoceroses once the animals' horns are cut" . My understanding from this statement is "after cutting the animals' horns would the tourists continue to visit parks to see the rhinoceroses" .

I think that this fall under Altered intent category !! Would some one explain if i am missing something from this point of view !!
GMAT First take :- 680
Getting the guns ready for second shot !!!
https://beatenbygmat.blocked

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 78
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2008 8:44 am
Thanked: 3 times
GMAT Score:690

by Arsene Lupin » Sun May 24, 2009 2:49 am
Wouldn't "their" be understood to refer to rhinoceroses since they are the only ones with horns? :lol:

it is very frustrating sometimes when you are stuck between two options: One seems to suffer from ambiguity (A), and the other seems to suffer from wordiness (C).

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 122
Joined: Fri May 22, 2009 10:38 pm
Thanked: 8 times
GMAT Score:700

by rah_pandey » Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:52 am
With If which is a conditional statement, use of would is required in place of will. Can somebody clarify on this? experts

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 385
Joined: Sun May 24, 2009 3:55 pm
Thanked: 11 times
GMAT Score:740

by Domnu » Sun Jun 14, 2009 5:36 pm
Another reason is that "have been" has to be used instead of "are."
Have you wondered how you could have found such a treasure? -T

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 157
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:05 am
Thanked: 9 times
GMAT Score:680

by hemanth28 » Sun Jun 14, 2009 7:38 pm
Domnu wrote:Another reason is that "have been" has to be used instead of "are."
I guess this is the reason why C can be eliminated for sure...
GMAT First take :- 680
Getting the guns ready for second shot !!!
https://beatenbygmat.blocked

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 447
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:08 pm
Location: Kolkata,India
Thanked: 7 times
GMAT Score:670

by uptowngirl92 » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:41 am
OA is C

D and E are eliminated straightaway.
Between A,B,C..

By what i understand,C wind because of tense.Have been is to be used here because the rhino had his horns trimmed and the horns are still trimed in the present.Right??

Keeping the tense issue aside..the Og says that the use of "their" in A is ambigious.How is that so?
whether tourists will continue to visit game parks and see rhinoceroses after their horns are
How can their refer to the people?Its already mentioned that the rhinos are getting their horns trimmed!Pls explain

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:36 am

by bluecollarhero » Thu Oct 01, 2009 6:24 am
uptowngirl92 wrote:OA is C

D and E are eliminated straightaway.
Between A,B,C..

By what i understand,C wind because of tense.Have been is to be used here because the rhino had his horns trimmed and the horns are still trimed in the present.Right??

Keeping the tense issue aside..the Og says that the use of "their" in A is ambigious.How is that so?
whether tourists will continue to visit game parks and see rhinoceroses after their horns are
How can their refer to the people?Its already mentioned that the rhinos are getting their horns trimmed!Pls explain
their could refer to parks

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:41 am
Thanked: 2 times

by hypermeganet » Thu Oct 01, 2009 1:26 pm
The use of "their" is the key here.

Since we have a noun (visitors to the park), the possessive pronoun (their) in the second part of the sentence will refer to the noun. The second noun (rhinos) will need to have the possessive pronoun/noun ascribed to it. So we know that one of the ones with "animals'" is correct.

C, D, E.

D, E use "if" to start the sentence. If is used only for conditional statements (if X, then Y). You can see that this sentence is not conditional. C is correct.

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2008 2:06 am
simplyjat wrote:A proposal has been made to trim the horns from rhinoceroses to discourage poachers; the question is whether tourists will continue to visit game parks and see rhinoceroses after their horns are trimmed.

A) whether tourists will continue to visit game parks and see rhinoceroses after their horns are
B) whether tourists will continue to visit game parks to see one once their horns are
C) whether tourists will continue to visit game parks to see rhinoceroses once the animals' horns have been
D) if tourists will continue to visit game parks and see rhinoceroses once the animals' horns are
E) if tourists will continue to visit game parks to see one after the animals' horns have been

OA C

My question is what is wrong with the original sentence?
"A" has ambiguity because of the presence of "their".

If there is an answer choice with "whether" and "if". GMAT prefers "whether".