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The capital of ...

by puneetdua » Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:31 pm
The capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo's population on the eve of the First World War was 51,919.
(A) Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo's population
(B) Bosnia-Herzegovina is Sarajevo, whose population
(C) Bosnia-Herzegovina is Sarajevo, with a population
(D) Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo having a population that
(E) Bosnia-Herzegovina, the population of Sarajevo


[spoiler]i was down to B/C , but in B it is WHOSE and i thought whose cant be used for a state and i chose C , But OA is B,
Can anyone please answer this query..?[/spoiler]
Thanks
Puneet
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by paddle_sweep » Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:35 pm
Dear puneetdua,

Please check the below post for explanation.

https://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-sentenc ... ation.html
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by puneetdua » Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:43 pm
According to that thread -

" It has sometimes been claimed that whose is properly used only as the possessive form of who and thus should be restricted to animate antecedents, as in a man whose power has greatly eroded.


But there is extensive literary precedent for the use of whose with inanimate antecedents, as in The play, whose style is rigidly formal, is typical of the period. In an earlier survey this example was acceptable to a large majority of the Usage Panel. Those who avoid this usage employ of which: The play, the style of which is rigidly formal, is typical of the period. But as this example demonstrates, substituting of which may produce a stilted sentence "

am not able to digest this properly, can we have a different explanation a bit simpler (Sorry for requesting to explain again)
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by niksworth » Fri Sep 17, 2010 6:35 am
Look closely at C.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is Sarajevo, with a population on the eve of the First World War was 51,919.

Remove the prepositional phrase on the eve of the First World War and see what is left - with a population was 51,919. Is this right?

Stripping to the core of the sentence is very useful, as is evident here. It should be practiced well.
scio me nihil scire
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by e-GMAT » Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:21 am
Hi Puneet,

The rule that "whose" cannot be used for inanimate objects is not correct.

Whose can be used for animate and inanimate objects alike.

To find evidence of usage of whose for inanimate objects in Official Guide, please refer to following questions:

SC#114 - In the non-underlined portion of the sentence, whose is used for Limited Life Funds - an object.
CR#79 - Whose refers to "finding"
CR#88 - Whose refers to "businesses"

So essentially among the important relative pronouns, here are the generally accepted rules:

For humans use - who, whose
For non-humans use - which, that, whose

I hope this helps.

For e-GMAT users, the concept of relative pronoun reference is explained in the concept - Modifiers - Relative Pronouns.

Thanks,

Payal
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by shweta.kalra » Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:53 am
hi payal,
thanks for clarification.
plz clarify the USAGE OF "HAVING"
WHERE DO WE USE "HAVING".
SHUD WE ALWAYS AVOID "HAVING" IN GMAT?

THANKS
SHWETA
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