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Pronoun - Unoffical source.

by limestone » Mon Oct 11, 2010 1:52 am
The U.S. rejected as insufficient a proposal by European governments to reduce the number of seats they hold on the 24-strong board, according to two European officials.

A.

B. as an insufficient proposal by European governments to reduce the number of seats it

C. such insufficient a proposal of European governments to reduce the number of seats they

D. a proposal which is insufficient by European governments to reduce the number of seats they

E. an insufficient proposal of European governments to reduce the number of seats it.


[spoiler]Source : "Global Finance Chiefs Fail to Resolve Currency Spat (Update1)" - Bloomberg
https://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid ... qhEI&pos=1 .
The sentence is an excerpt from the 4th passage up from the bottom. I have broken it out for you to have some funs.
Bloomberg says : A[/spoiler]

My doubt here is: Is " they" in the above choices ambigous?
"There is nothing either good or bad - but thinking makes it so" - Shakespeare.
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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Mon Oct 11, 2010 4:21 am
When "the U.S." appears as the name of the country, (and certainly as an acronym), it is normally treated as singular - the subject is the singular country, not the plural "states".

However, for the sake of the argument, suppose you thought "they" was ambiguous, as it could refer to either "governments" or "The United States" - viewed as a plural noun. Nonetheless, in practice - it is clear that the answer choices that use "it" are incorrect, as "it" does not match the plural verb "hold" that follows it. Therefore, it follows that one of the answer choices using "they" must be correct, even if it does contain an ambiguity. the correct answer in a GMAT SC question can never present a grammar error, but a 'stylistic' one such as ambiguity is allowed - if the other answer choices commit even worse grammar mistakes.
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by limestone » Mon Oct 11, 2010 8:49 am
Thanks Geva Stern for your nice explanation. Sometimes the answer is not perfectly correct, but the best available choice, isn't it?
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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Mon Oct 11, 2010 2:15 pm
limestone wrote:Thanks Geva Stern for your nice explanation. Sometimes the answer is not perfectly correct, but the best available choice, isn't it?
I would probably use "least worst", but yes. the correct answer is sometimes not perfect. However, it should still not overtly go against grammar.
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