BTGmoderatorRO wrote:Councilman Hamilton states that his $50,000 landscaping proposal for the city dump will help beautify the city and attract tourists; his opponents state that the plan is overly expensive and will not attract tourists, which they compare to lipstick put on a bulldog.
A. which they compare to lipstick put on a bulldog
B. which they compare to putting lipstick on a bulldog
C. not unlike putting lipstick on a bulldog
D. comparing it to putting lipstick on a bulldog
E. comparing it to a bulldog wearing lipstick
OA is d
What is the answer to this question? please, experts kindly help me out.
thanks

I am happy to help. This is a question testing the concept of 'which' and whether the sentence logically makes sense. On the GMAT, 'which' should always work - logically and grammatically - with the noun before the comma. This eliminates A and B, since which cannot refer to people.

C illogically compares tourists to putting lipstick on a bulldog, since like/unlike compares the two nearest nouns. INCORRECT

D - This is the best answer. The pronoun 'it' refers to the plan, which is then compared logically to putting lipstick on a bulldog to highlight the sheer inefficacy - 'will not attract tourists' - and expensiveness - 'overly expensive' - of the plan.CORRECT

Eillogically compares the plan to a bulldog. INCORRECT

Hence, D is the only option in which the comparison is logical and there are no pronoun ambiguities.

Please let me know in case anything doesn't make sense.