Sentence Correction

４． In order to evenly and effectively paint a rough surface, it is necessary to sand it and apply primer before applying the paint.
(A) it and apply primer before applying the paint
(B) it and prime it and paint it
(C) it, then prime it, then paint it
(D) the surface and apply primer before you
apply paint to the surface
(E) the surface, apply primer to the surface and then paint it

Is it D?

'it' has no correct antecedent so, we can eliminate a,b,c
Now, b/w D and E, in E we have 'it' at last which is also not clear.
Hence, the ans is D.

jimmiejaz wrote:Is it D?

'it' has no correct antecedent so, we can eliminate a,b,c
Now, b/w D and E, in E we have 'it' at last which is also not clear.
Hence, the ans is D.

doesn't the 'it' at last refer to the 'surface' in choice E?

My mistake. 'It' correctly refers to the surface but the problem with E is that it contains another comma. If we remove the content between the commas (highlighted in bold below), we can read the sentence as

In order to evenly and effectively paint a rough surface, it is necessary to sand the surface, apply primer to the surface and then paint it.

We miss the 'sand' part which is also a step before we apply paint. Hence, i will still go with D.

Can you please post the OA?

jimmiejaz wrote: In order to evenly and effectively paint a rough surface, it is necessary to sand the surface, apply primer to the surface and then paint it.

We miss the 'sand' part which is also a step before we apply paint. Hence, i will still go with D.

Can you please post the OA?

@jimmiejaz

I am not sure we miss the sand part in E. Here I've constructed the sentence using choice E

In order to evenly and effectively paint a rough surface, it is necessary to sand the surface, apply primer to the surface and then paint it

I might have misunderstood you.

I'll post the OA after a few more opinions, if you don't mind

I feel its A

Yes sure, but if you have a look i have also formed the sentence with choice E.
What i meant to say was that if we have some sentence with in two commas, we can remove it without altering the meaning of the sentence.

I am posting the sentence again with option E.

In order to evenly and effectively paint a rough surface, it is necessary to sand the surface, apply primer to the surface and then paint it.

The content between these red commas can be eliminated and so misses that step.
Hope it clarifies now.

moneyman wrote:I feel its A

Can you please explain why it could be A?

"It" refers to surface and the sentence is structurally parallel

I did not choose E because it uses surface twice and it sounds redundant

moneyman wrote:"It" refers to surface and the sentence is structurally parallel

I did not choose E because it uses surface twice and it sounds redundant

can't 'It' refer to paint??
If not, please explain why.

@jimmiejaz

I agree that the content between two commas could be skipped but I doubt that you could in this case as the second comma is used to list steps.

For example:

In order to score high on the GMAT exam, it is necessary to study the sentence correction section, practice timing drills for SC section and then take timed SC practice exams.

The comma in red is being used to separate items of a list of steps. I don't think the bold part of the sentence can be skipped in such a case.

good question.. "sand the paint" or "sand the surface" which one do you feel is more logical ?

‘sand it’ is ambiguous but then there are some or the other problems with option A, B and C.
A: apply primer and paint to what?
B: awkward
C: awkward
E: As we are trying to list down clauses with verb + noun, we should put a comma before ‘and’ i.e. ‘the surface, apply primer to the surface, and then paint it’. Still, second use of surface is redundant.

IMO D

I say E, because surface must be repeated twice...otherwise there it remains unclear where the primer should be applied to...

well, we've got quite a few answers

OA - A

but I still don't understand why it is A

can an expert help us?