Is this Question correct ?

[goelmohit2002]

Hi All,

In the below question, the OA is [spoiler]"D"[/spoiler]. Can someone please tell is this correct question....in all the options....whom/they/men are referred to....and there is no referent in my opinion for the same in the sentence.

Black History month is observed in Feb,the month of Lincoln's Bday and the generally accepted month of Fredrick Douglass' birth,since they were each primary figures in the abolition of slavery.
a) since they were each
b) who were both
c) because both of whom were
d) because both men were
e) each of whom was one of the

Thanks
Mohit

[rs2010]

I feel use of men is correct.
In A use of since is not correct.
In B use of who.
In C use of whom.
In D not that good choice but probably the best
In E use of whom.

[gmat740]

Is it really required to include men??
I think B is correct because there is a clear reference of the two people about whom we are taking and so I think there is no need to include Men

[PinkBox]

B is incorrect bc "who" is modifying the incorrect noun "birth". also this option changes the meaning of the sentence. "since" in the original sentence tries to show effect so we should stick with an answer choice that conveys the original meaning

[goelmohit2002]

I feel use of men is correct.
In A use of since is not correct.
In B use of who.
In C use of whom.
In D not that good choice but probably the best
In E use of whom.

Can you please tell why use of men is correct, when there is no men in the sentence....there are only their birthdays....and as Manhattan says (atleast for pronoun it says)..there should be clear noun referrent...

Does use of men not come under that rule...

Please tell what I am missing here ?

[goelmohit2002]

Is it really required to include men??
I think B is correct because there is a clear reference of the two people about whom we are taking and so I think there is no need to include Men

IMO yes,...there are only men's birthdays....and as Manhattan says (atleast for pronoun it says)..there should be clear noun referrent...

[Jatinder]

I feel use of men is correct.
In A use of since is not correct.
In B use of who.
In C use of whom.
In D not that good choice but probably the best
In E use of whom.

Can you please tell why use of men is correct, when there is no men in the sentence....there are only their birthdays....and as Manhattan says (atleast for pronoun it says)..there should be clear noun referrent...

Does use of men not come under that rule...

Please tell what I am missing here ?

you are missing nothing, so you are on target.
all other choices has pronoun reference error except D

[goelmohit2002]

you are missing nothing, so you are on target.
all other choices has pronoun reference error except D

Can you please tell...is use of Men ok...when there are no men in the original sentence....there are only men's b'days. If so why ?

Thanks
Mohit

[ken3233]

I picked "E" at first; I can barely believe I overlooked the pronoun error!

[Jatinder]

you are missing nothing, so you are on target.
all other choices has pronoun reference error except D

Can you please tell...is use of Men ok...when there are no men in the original sentence....there are only men's b'days. If so why ?

Thanks
Mohit

hmm.
Men is not a pronoun, so you do not need an antecedant for "Men"
The usage is normel and correct.
Let me know if you still need clarification.

[lunarpower]

jatinder nails it.

ANTECEDENT issues apply only to PRONOUNS.

since "men" is not a pronoun, you don't need a grammatically correct antecedent; all you need is an unambiguous reference to two men somewhere in the sentence. we have that here, so we're golden.

the same is true for singular/plural issues. if you have two NOUNS, then they don't have to agree in terms of singular/plural. for instance, it's fine to write:
birds have a four-chambered heart.
...even though 'birds' is plural and 'heart' is singular. (reference: OG verbal supplement #59, in which neanderthals (pl) have a vocal tract (sing) ).
this is not a problem, because none of 'birds', 'heart', 'neanderthals', and 'tract' is a pronoun.
in fact, these sentences are clearer than their plural counterparts (e.g., 'birds have four-chambered hearts'), because the latter sentence seems to imply that there are multiple hearts per bird.

--

the fact that nouns don't have to have grammatically precise antecedents makes possible the entire class of "absolute phrases" / appositives / noun modifiers / whatever they're called (i don't actually know what they're called). for instance:
the coach tried to use five receivers on first down, a strategy that backfired and resulted in a sack.
in this case, there's no single noun that corresponds to "a strategy" ... but that's fine, since "strategy" isn't a pronoun.
you would NOT, on the other hand, be able to use pronouns such as "which" in this sentence (i.e., you can't say "...which backfired...").

[goelmohit2002]

Thanks Ron and Jatinder for clearing the doubts.