brutal sc from gmat prep

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replayyyy: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 35; Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:16 am

by replayyyy » Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:26 am

Charles Lindbergh, for his attempt at a solo transatlantic flight, was very reluctant to have any extra weight on his plane, he therefore refused to carry even a pound of mail, despite being offered $1,000 to do so.

A. Charles Lindbergh, for his attempt at a solo transatlantic flight, was very reluctant to have any extra weight on his plane, he therefore
B. When Charles Lindbergh was attempting his solo transatlantic flight, being very reluctant to have any extra weight on his plane, he
C. Since he was very reluctant to carry any extra weight on his plane when he was attempting his solo transatlantic flight, so Charles Lindbergh
D. Being very reluctant to carry any extra weight on his plane when he attempted his solo transatlantic flight was the reason that Charles Lindbergh
E. Very reluctant to have any extra weight on his plane when he attempted his solo transatlantic flight, Charles Lindbergh

oa E

Can somebody explain me why the OA is considered correct when "his" can refer to more than 1 men and therefore distorting the meaning of the sentence ?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:26 am

limestone: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 307; Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 7:52 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 36 times; GMAT Score:640

by limestone » Wed Nov 03, 2010 8:40 am

IMO E

"His" refers to only one man - Charles Lindbergh. "His" can not only refer to a noun after it but also to a noun before it.

Take this example :

Bitten by his dog, Peter has been crying for hours. "His" clearly refers to Peter as there's no other noun in this sentence.

"There is nothing either good or bad - but thinking makes it so" - Shakespeare.

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replayyyy: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 35; Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:16 am

by replayyyy » Wed Nov 03, 2010 10:50 am

limestone wrote:IMO E

"His" refers to only one man - Charles Lindbergh. "His" can not only refer to a noun after it but also to a noun before it.

Take this example :

Bitten by his dog, Peter has been crying for hours. "His" clearly refers to Peter as there's no other noun in this sentence.

OK, this is generally true. Consider, however, this example (it is from Manhattan SC):

Jose`s room is so messy that his mother calls him a pig. - Incorrect
Jose`s room is so messy that his mother calls Jose a pig. - Correct

So, as far as I understand the idea, the point is to leave no place for ANY ambiguity in the sentence. Following this logic, one should avoid the OA because there`s a chance for other referrents to exist, stated in the sentence or not. I don`t want to argue common sense but I am getting too confused.

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Isaac@EconomistGMAT: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 97; Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2010 1:39 amFollowed by: 20 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 22 times

by Isaac@EconomistGMAT » Wed Nov 03, 2010 2:13 pm

Indeed it is true that Pronouns usually refer back and not forward. However, in the Lindbergh example, there is no problem whatsoever with the 'his' as there is only 1 male human noun. If the sentence contains no other male nouns then there is no problem of ambiguity. You should not have to guess whether there may be another referee to the pronoun. If the other noun isn't there then it cannot be referred to.

In addition, parallel to the Jose example brought forth there is absolutely no reason why we cannot say:

Lisa's father ordered her to clean her room.

If we do not use the 'her' in such cases (ie as possessive adjective which acts like a pronoun in that it refers back to the noun)then what would be the point of having such a word in the language. Of course it is ok to do this but in the following sentence it is not as the her is ambiguous of course:

Lisa and Tamara's father told her to clean the room.

THAT being said, in the GMAT, just because you have an ambiguity, does not necessarily mean it is wrong. If the ambiguity is very strong as in the above example of Lisa and Tamara, then chances are almost 100% that they will require this to be fixed. However if it is a weaker ambiguity (ie it can be ambiguous but perhaps not) then they will not consider it necessarily wrong - check out the Official Guide and you will see what I mean). Remember that ambiguity is further down the scale in terms of what you are supposed to fix: If all the answer choices are grammatically wrong and what is left standing is an answer choice that has some ambiguity but no grammar or must eliminate stylistic issues then that is your answer.

Hope this helps.

Isaac Bettan
Academic Director
Master GMAT
https://econgm.at/EconomistGMAT
[youtube]QBNZczg84tU[/youtube]

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Thu Nov 04, 2010 3:22 pm

replayyyy wrote:
Jose`s room is so messy that his mother calls him a pig. - Incorrect
Jose`s room is so messy that his mother calls Jose a pig. - Correct

So, as far as I understand the idea, the point is to leave no place for ANY ambiguity in the sentence. Following this logic, one should avoid the OA because there`s a chance for other referrents to exist, stated in the sentence or not. I don`t want to argue common sense but I am getting too confused.

The first sentence is incorrect because him (an object pronoun) is being used to stand in for Jose's (an adjective modifying the noun room).

A subject pronoun (such as he) and an object pronoun (such as him) can be used only to replace a noun.

A possessive pronoun (such as his) can refer either to a noun (such as Jose) or to another possessive construction (such as Jose's).

Incorrect: Jose's room is so messy that he can't see the floor. (he cannot be used to replace Jose's)
Correct: Jose's room is so messy that his floor hasn't been seen in years.
Correct: Jose hasn't cleaned his floor in years.

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ankurmit: Legendary Member; Posts: 516; Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:42 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Mumbai; Thanked: 14 times; GMAT Score:710

by ankurmit » Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:23 am

Whats wrong with A

--------
Ankur mittal

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