BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

OG 10 #121

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
User avatar
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:03 am

OG 10 #121

by aiming 800 » Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:07 am
Hi Guys,
I have newly joined this forum and the below is my very first
post.Please help me out with this.

121.The concept of the grand jury dates from the twelfth –century, when Henry II of England ordered panels of common citizens should prepare lists of who were their communities' suspected criminals.
A) should prepare lists of who were their communities' suspected criminals
B) would do the preparation of lists of their communities' suspected criminals
C) preparing lists of suspected criminals in their communities
D) the preparing of a list of suspected criminals in their communities
E) to prepare lists of suspected criminals in their communities

The OA of this question is the option E. What my doubt is that is the use of the pronoun their not ambiguous in the option E as their may refer to either criminals or citizens.So it may be criminal's community as well as citizen's community I understand that E is the best answer but my doubt is if we take E as a single option whether the use of their is ambiguous in it.

I really need some guidelines which i can follow for the SC questions that have their and it as their part. How to decide whether the use of their and it in the question is ambiguous or not? I will be grateful if any of the GMAT experts can explain this with few examples.
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |
Legendary Member
Posts: 1035
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:56 pm
Thanked: 104 times
Followed by:1 members

by scoobydooby » Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:46 am
am no expert, just making an effort to reason:)

the original sentence intends to convey: the king ordered the common citizens to prepare a list of criminals in the (common citizens) community....here "thier" could not logically have referred to criminals. why would the king want the citizens to list criminals in the criminals community?...in this (criminals) community all are criminals :) why list them?

in other words.."their" could have logically referred to only citizens.

E) to prepare lists of suspected criminals in their communities

also, if you read the sentence, "of suspected criminals" modifies the "list". if you ignore the underlined part and read " ordered citizens to prepare lists in their communities" then "their" refers to citizens unambigously.

helps to ignore the object of "of" to get the big picture.
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 84
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 5:04 am
Thanked: 3 times

Re: OG 10 #121

by dgr8onerip » Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:04 am
aiming 800 wrote:Hi Guys,
I have newly joined this forum and the below is my very first
post.Please help me out with this.

121.The concept of the grand jury dates from the twelfth –century, when Henry II of England ordered panels of common citizens should prepare lists of who were their communities' suspected criminals.
A) should prepare lists of who were their communities' suspected criminals
B) would do the preparation of lists of their communities' suspected criminals
C) preparing lists of suspected criminals in their communities
D) the preparing of a list of suspected criminals in their communities
E) to prepare lists of suspected criminals in their communities

The OA of this question is the option E. What my doubt is that is the use of the pronoun their not ambiguous in the option E as their may refer to either criminals or citizens.So it may be criminal's community as well as citizen's community I understand that E is the best answer but my doubt is if we take E as a single option whether the use of their is ambiguous in it.

I really need some guidelines which i can follow for the SC questions that have their and it as their part. How to decide whether the use of their and it in the question is ambiguous or not? I will be grateful if any of the GMAT experts can explain this with few examples.
keep it simple..
in yje above question, there is no other option other than E that starts with 'to'
i agree that it would have been confusing if there were more confusing semi-correct answers
target score- anything above 700
preferably above 750
gmat prep 1- 710
powerprep 1- 730
barrons test 1- 760
kaplan test 1- 620 (lol)
kaplan test 2- 680
score 800 1-720
score 800 2- 730
score 800 3-750
score 800 4-720
score 800 5- 710
gmat prep 1 (retake)- 710
gmat prep 2- 730
gmat prep 2 (retake)- 720
actual gmat - 770 :)
Top
User avatar
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:03 am

by aiming 800 » Mon Mar 09, 2009 12:01 pm
First of all i would like to thank you guys for your precious replies.

I understand that the question logically conveys the communities of citizens but my point here is that the answer we choose should convey the same unambiguously.

In other words i intend to say that for this question E is the best answer but that does not take away the fact that that the use of their is still ambiguous in E,but as all the other probable options have the same ambiguity we should choose E.

Please give your views on this.

I again request any of the GMAT gurus to give few guidelines to tackle the questions involving their,they,it etc. with some examples.
Top
User avatar
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:03 am

by aiming 800 » Mon Mar 09, 2009 10:58 pm
I request Stacey or Ron to help me with my doubt.
Top
Legendary Member
Posts: 1404
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pm
Thanked: 18 times
Followed by:2 members

by tanviet » Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:06 am
the game is that we choose the best, not perfect, choice which is best grammatically and meaningfully.

SC teach us make the best sentence not perfect sentence.
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 6:04 pm
Thanked: 1 times

by priya2gupta5 » Mon Jun 27, 2011 4:54 pm
I also have a doubt in this question. I want to understand why is Choice C wrong in this question.

Thanks,

Priya
____________________________________
If you like what I write, do not hesitate to "thank"...

BTW origin of the word "thank"
- from Old English thancian;
- akin to Old English thanc gratitude
Top
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed May 04, 2011 8:34 am
Thanked: 4 times

by er.aparna » Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:09 pm
Choice C distorts the meaning of the sentence. In this choice, there is a verb-ing modifier "preparing lists..." which modifies the preceding noun - panels of common citizens. This is incorrect since the sentence now means that that Henry II ordered panels of common citizens to do something. These panels of common citizens prepares these specific lists. Furthermore, what the king actually ordered the panel to do is no longer specified in this choice. This is why this choice is wrong since it does not communicate the intended meaning.

Choice E is correct since it states that the king ordered the panel to prepare lists of suspected criminals.
Top
User avatar
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 1:34 pm

by [email protected] » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:09 pm
Hi guys,

I chose E but for another reason: ordered is like a bossy verb, and after a bossy verb you have to write either ..."to prepare" or "that...prepare".
Am I wrong with this approach?

Thanks!
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 645
Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:42 pm
Location: US
Thanked: 527 times
Followed by:227 members

by e-GMAT » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:56 pm
Hi All,
First of all, I must commend @scoobydooby and @er.arpana for that accurate and crisp explanation. Amazing job there folks. Keep it up.

@ [email protected]
Your approach for this question is absolutely correct. The verb "ordered" does demand the use of subjunctive Hence both the uses - "that... prepare" and "to prepare" - that you have mentioned are correct. That's the approach this question here.
Good job done.

Hope this helps. :)
Thanks.
Shraddha
Top
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1