bingojohn wrote:Please help me with this one:

21. 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) ...
(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

jsl wrote:"their" is not ambiguous. As a pronoun, it refers to the closest noun which is rhinoceroses. However, A and B are wrong because "their" can't be used if you don't know the gender of the noun.

logitech wrote:

jsl wrote:"their" is not ambiguous. As a pronoun, it refers to the closest noun which is rhinoceroses. However, A and B are wrong because "their" can't be used if you don't know the gender of the noun.

So you are saying that we can not use THEIR because we dont know rhinoceroses are whether girls or boys

jsl wrote:

logitech wrote:

jsl wrote:"their" is not ambiguous. As a pronoun, it refers to the closest noun which is rhinoceroses. However, A and B are wrong because "their" can't be used if you don't know the gender of the noun.

So you are saying that we can not use THEIR because we dont know rhinoceroses are whether girls or boys

I think so... I'd like someone to reconfirm though. The above rule is something I learnt at Kaplan.

Another example:

"Everyone needs their own pencil" - although this sentence is widely used, it is wrong. It should read... "Everyone needs his or her own pencil"