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Tourists and Rhinoceroses

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Tourists and Rhinoceroses

by SmarpanGamt » Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:13 pm
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) whether tourists will continue to visit game parks and see rhinoceroses after their horns are
(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

Please explain the antecedent of pronoun "thier" ( tourists or rhinoceroses )
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by shovan85 » Sat Oct 16, 2010 1:18 pm
SmarpanGamt wrote: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) whether tourists will continue to visit game parks and see rhinoceroses after their horns are
(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

Please explain the antecedent of pronoun "thier" ( tourists or rhinoceroses )
IMO C

Their should refer to rhinoceroses , but as the antecedent is not clear in A it cannot be right.
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by David@VeritasPrep » Sat Oct 16, 2010 5:40 pm
Shovan is right about the pronoun ambiguity. "Their" could refer to either tourists or rhinos and so A is not correct. A generous reader knows it refers to rhinos - but sentence correction is no place for generous readers!

Quite a discussion on this one two years ago found at

https://www.beatthegmat.com/a-proposal-h ... 02-15.html.

One thing that was not completely resolved is the issue of whether Answer Choice C is acceptable or not. Many claimed that C changed "the author's intent" -- I am not sure why anyone would want to apply this thought before "ALL Grammar issues have been dealt with.

It is very rare that this original meaning rule is actually tested on the GMAT. Answer Choice A is not special just because it is listed first. You can apply the logic test - such as comparing a person to a glass of water is not logical. But to simply change the meaning of sentence in some small and logical way is not a reason to eliminate an answer.
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