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Magpie attacks!! :P

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Magpie attacks!! :P

by corleone » Fri Feb 13, 2009 10:42 am
The first detailed study of magpie attacks in Australia indicates that by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in country have been attacked by the birds.

a) same
b) by the time they reach adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women, who were born in the country, had been attacked by birds.
c) by the time they reach adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of the women born in the country had been attacked by the birds.
d) 98 percent of the men and 75 percent of the women that were born in the country were attacked by the birds by the time they reach adulthood.
e) 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women who were born in the country, by the time they reached adulthood had been attacked by birds

OA- c

I wanted to know what u guys think of the "they" in a, b, and c. Reading it, i thought its reference was ambiguous.

Thanks guys.[/spoiler]
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by awesomeusername » Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:31 am
This is tricky because it is usually the case that the antecedent occurs earlier in the sentence than the pronoun. In this case, the antecedent occurs AFTER the pronoun. This is less common, but still considered correct. To quote MGMAT SC,
"The antecedent normally occurs earlier in the sentence. Rarely, the antecedent may come shortly after the pronoun (eg. After he dried his tears, Jack made a vow). However, you should usually place the antecedent first.
Therefore, it is clear that the antecedent refers to the women and men.
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by tj123 » Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:09 pm
i think the answer should be B
in c the it says " of men.....and of the women"

the is only before women and not men. this is not parallel
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by Uri » Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:33 am
awesomeusername has noted a nice point from MGMAT SC guide. but i don't understand why we should use past perfect tense, as used in (C). MGMAT Sc advises to use perfect tenses only when absolutely necessary. moreover, the reporting verb is also in the present ("indicates").
although (C) does not use perfect tense, i don't like it because of the use of the relative pronoun "that".
(A) and (B) are obviously out due to use of incorrect tense.
in (E), it is not clear what "by the time they reached adulthood" is modifying- men and women or country.
can anyone please explain how (C) is better than the other options?
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explaination

by TSonam » Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:07 pm
can someone explain how c is the best answer?
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by rs2010 » Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:38 pm
had been in C is correct because by the time they reach adulthood they had been attacked. This phenomenon is not continue in future. This clearly defines meaning of the sentence. A phenomenon started in past and ended there by the time they reached adulthood.

In D that is close to women only and I would prefer use of who here. And again as in B were born distorts the meaning.

I am not an expert my 2 cents.
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by delhiboy1979 » Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:18 am
shouldnt it say 'reached' instead of reach
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by Thouraya » Sun May 29, 2011 4:13 am
need an EXPERT's opinion please. Why is B wrong? why is it wrong to add "who" were born... Thank you!
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by monge1980 » Sat Feb 11, 2012 8:52 am
Thouraya wrote:need an EXPERT's opinion please. Why is B wrong? why is it wrong to add "who" were born... Thank you!
The first detailed study of magpie attacks in Australia indicates that by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in country have been attacked by the birds.

a)by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in country have been attacked by the birds ... verb tense is not correct. Since the bird attack happened before that men and women reached adulthood, past perfect must be used for the bird attack "had been attacked" and simple past must be used for the adulthood achievement "reached adulthood".

b) by the time they reach adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women, who were born in the country, had been attacked by birds ... the use of the present tense makes the sentence no sensical. Since a result of a study is presented, the elements considered in the study must have shown something in the past. How can a result of a study refers to something that needs to be completed in the present "...they reach adulthood.."?

c) by the time they reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of the women born in the country had been attacked by the birds ... past perfect correctly used to position an event (bird attack) before the other (adulthood achievement). Simple past "reached" is correctly used as the events must be happened in the past in order to be a result of a study.

d) 98 percent of the men and 75 percent of the women that were born in the country were attacked by the birds by the time they reach adulthood ... verb tense sequencing incorrect.

e) 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women who were born in the country, by the time they reached adulthood had been attacked by birds ... ambiguity in the use of modifier, the meaning of the sentence is affected.
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