Sentence Correction

I am slightly doubtful regarding certain advanced uses of pronoun ambiguity and reference- To illustrate my concerns I have cited three examples from the O.G
The first Two are regarding pronoun reference and ambiguity
The last concerns pronoun reference to a possessive noun.

Your reply will make the greatest difference. Thanks.


O.G 10
Q.67 Congress is debating a bill requiring certain employers provide workers with unpaid leave so as to care forsick or newbom children.
(A) provide workers with unpaid leave so as to
(B) to provide workers with unpaid leave so as to
(C) provide workers with unpaid leave in order that they
(D) to provide workers with unpaid leave so that they can
(E) provide workers with unpaid leave and

D is the OA..

-It is indeed the best option, however i have doubt whether "they" can illogically refer to employers. Because of this, B - also seems a contender.
-Is the "so as to" construction faulty primarily because it portends the wrong meaning -that employers provide unpaid leave in kind consideration of new born children- or it is a faulty grammatical construction so it is wrong?

Take question 51 in the Og 10.
-In Choice A "it" can correctly refer to vision or illogically refer to baby. There are other errors in the sentence but this is one of them.
So, clearly logic is NOT a basis for excluding pronoun ambiguity, rather it is the basis from which it stems. So many times OG has eliminated options citing pronoun ambiguity as an error( in which one of the referrant are indeed illogical)


As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated
about 20/500. or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.
(A) As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be
rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.
(B) A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated
about 20/500, or legally blind as an adult
(C) As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision would be rated
about 20/500; qualifying it to be legally blind if an adult
(D) A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated
about 20/500; an adult with such vision would be deemed legally blind.
(E) As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision, which would
deemed legally blind for an adult, would be rated about 20/500.



Possessive pronoun
Manhattan Sc guide says that only possessive pronouns can refer back to possessive nouns. However in the following example an objective pronoun refers back to a possessive noun( godess bona dea's)

Among the objects found in the excavated temple were small terra-cotta effigies left by supplicants who were either asking the goddess Bona Dea's aid in healing physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help.

(A) in healing physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help (correct answer)

(B) in healing physical and mental ills and to thank her for helping
(C) in healing physical and mental ills, and thanking her for helping
(D) to heal physical and mental ills or to thank her for such help
(E) to heal physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help

Congress is debating a bill requiring certain employers provide workers with unpaid leave so as to care for sick or new born children.

(A) provide workers with unpaid leave so as to
(B) to provide workers with unpaid leave so as to
(C) provide workers with unpaid leave in order that they
(D) to provide workers with unpaid leave so that they can
(E) provide workers with unpaid leave and

The issues:

"Require X to do Y"---We are between B and D.

So as to in B is not idiomatic. Answer is D.

The issue about "Pronoun"

A pronoun will meet the following conditions:

1. It will have an antecedent that will match with the pronoun in number --singular/Plural.
2. The intended referent makes much more logical, and other referent does not make sense.

In the option D, "they" meets both of these two criteria. "The" refers to plural NOUN "workers", the 'workers' as an antecedent of they is more logical because "employers" will not take care the new born baby of the workers.

Think in this was in case of pronoun ambiguity.

Thanks.

thanks ron!

you do indeed have the lunar power!

lunarpower wrote:Re: this

magnus opus wrote:Possessive pronoun
Manhattan Sc guide says that only possessive pronouns can refer back to possessive nouns. However in the following example an objective pronoun refers back to a possessive noun( godess bona dea's)

Among the objects found in the excavated temple were small terra-cotta effigies left by supplicants who were either asking the goddess Bona Dea's aid in healing physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help.

(A) in healing physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help (correct answer)

(B) in healing physical and mental ills and to thank her for helping
(C) in healing physical and mental ills, and thanking her for helping
(D) to heal physical and mental ills or to thank her for such help
(E) to heal physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help

this "rule" is absolutely not worth worrying about -- the trouble outweighs the benefit by a factor of about 1,000,000,000 (or i guess 1,00,00,00,000 if you write numbers the indian way).

i ranted about it here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/thermometer- ... tml#260416

if you have both editions (1st and 2nd) of the verbal supplement, you'll notice exactly what i'm talking about -- they've mysteriously removed all references to this "rule". so, basically, just don't worry about it.

(by the way, the bona dea problem isn't necessarily an exception -- you could assign the pronoun "her" to the non-possessive noun "goddess".)

Ron can you help us ewith the following SC
O.G 10
Q.67 Congress is debating a bill requiring certain employers provide workers with unpaid leave so as to care forsick or newbom children.
(A) provide workers with unpaid leave so as to
(B) to provide workers with unpaid leave so as to
(C) provide workers with unpaid leave in order that they
(D) to provide workers with unpaid leave so that they can
(E) provide workers with unpaid leave and

D is the OA..

Although various eighteenth and nineteenth-century American poets had professed an interest in Native American poetry and had pretended to imitate Native American forms in their own works, until almost 1900,scholars and critics did not begin seriously to study traditional Native American poetry in native languages.

A)until almost 1900,scholars and critics did not begin seriously to study
B)until almost 1900 scholars and critics had not begun seriously studying
C)not until almost 1900 were scholars and critics to begin seriously to study
D)it was not almost until 1900 when scholars and critics began to seriously study
E)it was not until almost 1900 that scholars and critics seriously began studying


Ron, in the above example could you explain the function of 'it' in the correct choice E. This is an o.g question.

When 'it' has no referent, how and when is the usage of such a pronoun permitted.

a few other examples from the o.g


a few other examples from the o.g.

-Long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Josephine Baker made Paris her home

-It can hardly be said that educators are at fault for not anticipating the impact of microcomputer technology

Dear Ron,
can you pls share some gyan on the structure that is followed in option D...

A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500; an adult with such vision would be deemed legally blind.

in my opinion, there should be comma after WOMB, so that it correctly modifies BABY.

Thank you (:

lunarpower wrote:Re: this

magnus opus wrote:Possessive pronoun
Manhattan Sc guide says that only possessive pronouns can refer back to possessive nouns. However in the following example an objective pronoun refers back to a possessive noun( godess bona dea's)

Among the objects found in the excavated temple were small terra-cotta effigies left by supplicants who were either asking the goddess Bona Dea's aid in healing physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help.

(A) in healing physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help (correct answer)

(B) in healing physical and mental ills and to thank her for helping
(C) in healing physical and mental ills, and thanking her for helping
(D) to heal physical and mental ills or to thank her for such help
(E) to heal physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help

this "rule" is absolutely not worth worrying about -- the trouble outweighs the benefit by a factor of about 1,000,000,000 (or i guess 1,00,00,00,000 if you write numbers the indian way).

i ranted about it here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/thermometer- ... tml#260416

if you have both editions (1st and 2nd) of the verbal supplement, you'll notice exactly what i'm talking about -- they've mysteriously removed all references to this "rule". so, basically, just don't worry about it.

(by the way, the bona dea problem isn't necessarily an exception -- you could assign the pronoun "her" to the non-possessive noun "goddess".)

Hi Ron , I am quoting your reply on the thread that you have given us.

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Thu Oct 14, 2010 7:24 pm

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ramprakaashk wrote:
Hi Ron and Stacey,

Your explanation is very useful. Can you please give some example for all of the 4 negative and positive scenarios and we can understan still better and clearer..

the "rule" is:
* POSSESSIVE NOUN with NON-POSSESSIVE PRONOUN is NOT OK.
BUT
ALL OTHER COMBINATIONS are ok.
i.e.
possessive noun with possessive pronoun is ok.
non-possessive noun with non-possessive pronoun is ok.
non-possessive noun with possessive pronoun is ok.
ok, but, first, i'm going to reiterate my warning above:

Quote:
This is one of the least important rules in all of SC.

ONLY use this "rule" if you understand it 100.0000%. if there is absolutely any confusion at all, just ignore this rule and pretend that you have never seen it.
i figure the warning is worth repeating, since the fact that you're asking this question implies that you don't understand the rule 100.000000%. just remember -- this "rule" is about a thousand times more likely to cause confusion than it is to actually help you solve a problem. but, ok, now that you've seen this disclaimer -- if you want to jump into this particular snake pit, here you go:
possessive
non-possessive

The President's advisors told him to avoid discussing the topic.
--> NOT OK according to this rule

The President was told by his advisors to avoid discussing the topic.
--> OK

The President, whose advisors had told him not to discuss the topic, kept silent.
--> OK

The President's advisors told his staff not to discuss the topic.
--> OK

_________________
ron purewal

instructor, mgmat

First You wrote
The President's advisors told him to avoid discussing the topic.
--> NOT OK according to this rule
&
Then The President's advisors told his staff not to discuss the topic
OK
Why did u say the first Sent is not ok and the second is OK

Thanks a Lot Ron .
You are correct because this is exactly how i was preparing . I was , indeed, trying to cram every rule that i came across.but dont the tougher questions involve multiple rules including not only the more important rules such as "pronouns,subject-verb agreemnt,parallelism " but also "idioms, appositives etc.
Thanks for pointing this out.