After its international debut, the progress of the Cube

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aspirant2011: Legendary Member; Posts: 1574; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 amFollowed by: 13 members; Thanked: 88 times

by aspirant2011 » Sat May 21, 2011 1:58 am

After its international debut, the progress of the Cube towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted so that it could be manufactured to Western safety and packaging specifications.

A. After its international debut, the progress of the Cube towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted so that it
B. Since its international debut, the progress of the Cube towards the toy shop shelves of the West had been briefly halted so that it
C. After its international debut, the progress of the Cube towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted so as to ensure that it
D. The cube's progress towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted after its international debut so that it
E. Since its international debut, the progress of the Cube towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted so that it

[spoiler]Don't you guys feel option D is wrong??????[/spoiler]

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat May 21, 2011 1:58 am

niksworth: Legendary Member; Posts: 520; Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:44 amFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 70 times

by niksworth » Sat May 21, 2011 2:32 am

All wrong choices A,B,C,E have one glaring error.

After/Since its international debut - its will refer to the closest noun in the main clause. In A/B/C/E this noun is progress, which makes the reference incorrect because the its should refer to cube and not progress.

The sentence should be something like - After its international debut, the cube.... However, we have nothing of this kind. D is an alternative construction although it may be said that it / its doesn't have a referent in D.

Option D
The cube's progress towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted after its international debut so that it could be manufactured to Western safety and packaging specifications.

However, since this non reference is present in all answer choices, it is a non issue. D may thus be chosen as the best answer.

scio me nihil scire

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Frankenstein: Legendary Member; Posts: 1448; Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:55 amFollowed by: 53 members; Location: India; Thanked: 375 times

by Frankenstein » Sat May 21, 2011 2:36 am

Hi,
Possessive pronouns refer back to possessive nouns. Hence D is correct, IMO

Cheers!

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aspirant2011: Legendary Member; Posts: 1574; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 amFollowed by: 13 members; Thanked: 88 times

by aspirant2011 » Sat May 21, 2011 6:50 am

Frankenstein wrote:Hi,
Possessive pronouns refer back to possessive nouns. Hence D is correct, IMO

Cheers!

OK.........but what about "it" in "so that it"-------> to which is it refering to????

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j0daddy: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2010 8:41 am

by j0daddy » Sat May 21, 2011 6:56 am

niksworth wrote:All wrong choices A,B,C,E have one glaring error.

After/Since its international debut - its will refer to the closest noun in the main clause. In A/B/C/E this noun is progress, which makes the reference incorrect because the its should refer to cube and not progress.

The sentence should be something like - After its international debut, the cube.... However, we have nothing of this kind. D is an alternative construction although it may be said that it / its doesn't have a referent in D.

Option D
The cube's progress towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted after its international debut so that it could be manufactured to Western safety and packaging specifications.

However, since this non reference is present in all answer choices, it is a non issue. D may thus be chosen as the best answer.

nikworth has already explained that

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aspirant2011: Legendary Member; Posts: 1574; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 amFollowed by: 13 members; Thanked: 88 times

by aspirant2011 » Sat May 21, 2011 7:05 am

j0daddy wrote:
niksworth wrote:All wrong choices A,B,C,E have one glaring error.

After/Since its international debut - its will refer to the closest noun in the main clause. In A/B/C/E this noun is progress, which makes the reference incorrect because the its should refer to cube and not progress.

The sentence should be something like - After its international debut, the cube.... However, we have nothing of this kind. D is an alternative construction although it may be said that it / its doesn't have a referent in D.

Option D
The cube's progress towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted after its international debut so that it could be manufactured to Western safety and packaging specifications.

However, since this non reference is present in all answer choices, it is a non issue. D may thus be chosen as the best answer.

nikworth has already explained that

Hi j0daddy,

I asked about the reference of "it" not for just getting to the correct answer but to clear my concepts

...........

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j0daddy: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2010 8:41 am

by j0daddy » Sat May 21, 2011 7:25 am

aspirant2011 wrote:
j0daddy wrote:
niksworth wrote:All wrong choices A,B,C,E have one glaring error.

After/Since its international debut - its will refer to the closest noun in the main clause. In A/B/C/E this noun is progress, which makes the reference incorrect because the its should refer to cube and not progress.

The sentence should be something like - After its international debut, the cube.... However, we have nothing of this kind. D is an alternative construction although it may be said that it / its doesn't have a referent in D.

Option D
The cube's progress towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted after its international debut so that it could be manufactured to Western safety and packaging specifications.

However, since this non reference is present in all answer choices, it is a non issue. D may thus be chosen as the best answer.

nikworth has already explained that
Hi j0daddy,

I asked about the reference of "it" not for just getting to the correct answer but to clear my concepts ...........

Hi there. They key here is that this is not the perfect, but the best answer available.

You are right that there may be a confusion as to what "it" in "so that it" is referring to, but since that reference is present in all answer choices - it's not an issue here.

Otherwise "it" in "so that it" is referring (albeit ambiguously) to "the Cube"

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niksworth: Legendary Member; Posts: 520; Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:44 amFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 70 times

by niksworth » Sat May 21, 2011 7:28 am

aspirant2011 wrote: I asked about the reference of "it" not for just getting to the correct answer but to clear my concepts ...........

Look, it is not referring to anything in the sentence. Clearly this is an error. I am sure this question is not from an official source. Just one of the perils of attempting unofficial questions.

scio me nihil scire

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bblast: Legendary Member; Posts: 1077; Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 amFollowed by: 33 members; Thanked: 118 times; GMAT Score:710

by bblast » Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:55 am

Hi,
this is one of the rare errors in SC grail Qbank, some questions are really good.

D is indeed wrong, We cannot use a pronoun to refer back to a possessive noun. Aristotle guy has tried to polish it here but its wrong anyways.

https://www.aristotleprep.com/forum-topi ... ion/sc-q54

Cheers !!

Quant 47-Striving for 50
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My gmat journey :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/710-bblast-s ... 90735.html
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https://www.beatthegmat.com/ways-to-bbla ... 90808.html
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upz46D7 ... TWBZF14TKW_

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