Sentence Correction

Thanks Guru,

I was just trying to find that : is there anything wrong while saying 'its paying'.

paes wrote:Thanks Guru,

I was just trying to find that : is there anything wrong while saying 'its paying'.

Possessive pronoun + gerund is a legitimate construction, but it should be avoided on the GMAT. I would be very skeptical of an answer choice that uses this construction.

Thanks Guru but I have a doubt here-

The underlined part, I presume, is an independent clause which is joined to the main independent clause "the health care....metropolitan area". My doubt is that if we will not include the 'it' then the second independent clause will be missing a subject resulting in a fragment.

My second doubt is that you said that 'it' could refer back to 'the metropolitan area' but 'in the the metropolitan area' is a prepositional phase and time and again it has been reiterated on this very forum that it is very difficult for a pronoun to refer back to the object of preposition. Are there any exceptions to this? Under which case?

GMATGuruNY wrote:

kvcpk wrote:After several years of rapid growth, the health care company became one of the largest health care providers in the metropolitan area, while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in its payment to doctors and hospitals.
A. while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months
behind in its payment to
B. while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business and fell months
behind in its payment to
C. but then it proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind
in its paying
D. but then proving unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind
in paying
E. but then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind
in paying

Source: GMATPREP

Please provide detailed explanations.

Eliminate A and B because while doesn't imply contrast.

Eliminate D because proving needs to be in the same tense as became.

Eliminate C because the pronoun it could be referring either to the health care company or to the metropolitan area, since either could have proved unable to handle the increase in business. If it's not crystal clear which noun is being replaced by a pronoun, eliminate the answer choice. So C is out.

The correct answer is E.

I received a PM asking me to discuss the comma before the conjunction but. The GMAT doesn't really test punctuation. Look for better reasons to eliminate answer choices.

Jai_itguys wrote:Thanks Guru but I have a doubt here-

The underlined part, I presume, is an independent clause which is joined to the main independent clause "the health care....metropolitan area". My doubt is that if we will not include the 'it' then the second independent clause will be missing a subject resulting in a fragment.

My second doubt is that you said that 'it' could refer back to 'the metropolitan area' but 'in the the metropolitan area' is a prepositional phase and time and again it has been reiterated on this very forum that it is very difficult for a pronoun to refer back to the object of preposition. Are there any exceptions to this? Under which case?

GMATGuruNY wrote:

kvcpk wrote:After several years of rapid growth, the health care company became one of the largest health care providers in the metropolitan area, while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in its payment to doctors and hospitals.
A. while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months
behind in its payment to
B. while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business and fell months
behind in its payment to
C. but then it proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind
in its paying
D. but then proving unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind
in paying
E. but then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind
in paying

Source: GMATPREP

Please provide detailed explanations.

Eliminate A and B because while doesn't imply contrast.

Eliminate D because proving needs to be in the same tense as became.

Eliminate C because the pronoun it could be referring either to the health care company or to the metropolitan area, since either could have proved unable to handle the increase in business. If it's not crystal clear which noun is being replaced by a pronoun, eliminate the answer choice. So C is out.

The correct answer is E.

I received a PM asking me to discuss the comma before the conjunction but. The GMAT doesn't really test punctuation. Look for better reasons to eliminate answer choices.

You are correct that -- viewed from a grammatical perspective -- it should refer to the subject of the previous clause. However, a reader might legitimately wonder whether the intended meaning is for it to refer to the metropolitan area, since it's entirely plausible that the metropolitan area proved unable to handle the increase in business. This potential confusion makes E a better answer choice because omitting the pronoun it makes the meaning in E crystal clear:

...the health care company became one of the largest health care providers...but then proved unable to handle the increase in business...

The health care company is the subject both of became and of proved, so there is no sentence fragment error. (While traditional grammar holds that after a comma both a subject and a verb are required, modern grammar doesn't always adhere to this rule, and punctuation isn't really tested on the GMAT, so we shouldn't use this as a reason to eliminate E.)

Hope this helps.

E is wrong, C is correct. Pls, check OA. This is gmatprep questions, the official source of hard questions. take serious study.

in C, COMMA FAILING modifies IT PROVE UNABLE . This is correct

in E, COMMA FAILING modifies COMPANY BECOME AND PROVE UNABLE. This is incorrect.

GMATGuruNY wrote: You are correct that -- viewed from a grammatical perspective -- it should refer to the subject of the previous clause. However, a reader might legitimately wonder whether the intended meaning is for it to refer to the metropolitan area, since it's entirely plausible that the metropolitan area proved unable to handle the increase in business. This potential confusion makes E a better answer choice because omitting the pronoun it makes the meaning in E crystal clear:

...the health care company became one of the largest health care providers...but then proved unable to handle the increase in business...

The health care company is the subject both of became and of proved, so there is no sentence fragment error. (While traditional grammar holds that after a comma both a subject and a verb are required, modern grammar doesn't always adhere to this rule, and punctuation isn't really tested on the GMAT, so we shouldn't use this as a reason to eliminate E.)

Hope this helps.

Hope u guys don't mind reopening this old thread.
@GMATGuruNY: Can u please help me understand when can i omit the subject of IC starting with but and when not to omit it.

Harry became minister of the State but did not carried out his promises.

Is this correct..can I omit the subject for all FANBOYS(for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), which are used for combing independent clauses.

In C, "It" must refer toy "company" because the second clause is parallel to the fist clause and by default, "it" must refer to "company" and the sentence C is correct at this point.

C can be wrong because "it" is considerered redundant. This redundance is considered an errors many times on og questions ( I am sure of this, but can not remember what question in og)
but in some cases, this redundance appears in the correct answer because when the distance between the first subject and "it" is long, the repeatation is neccessary.

Pls, comment,confirm.

isnt E a run on?

Both C and E seem correct. However, I will select E over C basis wordiness.
'its paying' makes the option more wordy than option E.

pallav.gmat wrote:Both C and E seem correct. However, I will select E over C basis wordiness.
'its paying' makes the option more wordy than option E.

but what about E being a run-on sentene?

abhishek07sep wrote:

pallav.gmat wrote:Both C and E seem correct. However, I will select E over C basis wordiness.
'its paying' makes the option more wordy than option E.

but what about E being a run-on sentene?

I dont think it to be a run-on , can you explain the context behind the thought?

pallav.gmat wrote:

abhishek07sep wrote:

pallav.gmat wrote:Both C and E seem correct. However, I will select E over C basis wordiness.
'its paying' makes the option more wordy than option E.

but what about E being a run-on sentene?

I dont think it to be a run-on , can you explain the context behind the thought?

i like apples , and oranges..
the above sentence is wrong , i guess
the correct sentence should be-
i like apples and oranges..

for the exact same reason i think that e is a run on

I also picked E.

"its paying" in C is wrong. This point is discussed many times on Manhantanforum, but not properly explained.

we should not use possessive pronoun before doing (paying) when there is a noun (payment).

I am not clear of this problem. experts, members, pls, explain.

I think that C is wrong becuase both "it" and "its" are considered reduandant.

possessive pronoun+ doing is considered correct in many og questions

I like his leaning gmat

is correct sentence