Sentence Correction

Over the past few years, banks have systematically raised their old fees and invented new ones that are harder and harder for consumers to avoid.

(A) banks have systematically raised their old fees and invented new ones that are harder and harder for consumers to avoid

(B) banks are systematically raising their old fees and inventing new ones that become harder and harder for consumers to avoid.

(C) banks systematically raising and inventing new ones make them harder and harder for consumers to avoid

(D) as banks systematically raised their old fees and invented new ones, avoiding them becomes harder and harder for consumers

(E) as banks have systematically raised their old fees and invented new ones, it is becoming harder and harder for consumers to avoid them.

this is a gmat prep question
OA is A
i have the following doubt :
In one of the post of Ron i read that object pronouns cannot refer to the subject of the clause .
i am talking about the following question where he had explained that "them " is not ambiguous

Sports Medicine Programs of the Olympic Training Center, a complex where final try outs are held for athletes representing the US in the Olympics, is geared toward enhancing athletes' performance and toward their preparation for international competition.
A.) is geared toward enhancing athletes' performance and toward their preparation
B.) is geared to enhance the performance of athletes and to prepare them
C.) are geared to enhance athletes performance and their preparation
D.) are geared toward the enhancement of athletes' performance and toward preparing them
E.) are geared toward enhancing the performance of athletes and preparing them

Ron had given the following reasoning as why "them " is not wrong in the above mentioned question (blue color )
he(Ron) said:
"them" is not ambiguous. first, consider the following:
you should stop looking at you in the mirror.
that's wrong, right? right. the reason? if you have a verb whose subject and object are the same entity (called a 'reflexive verb'), then the object has to have the ending -self/-selves.
hence, the correct version:
you should stop looking at yourself in the mirror.

--

first, completely ignore the appositive modifier ('a complex where ... olympics'), which is just noise that doesn't affect the surrounding grammar at all. if you do so, you'll notice that 'programs' is the subject. were it also the object, it would have to manifest as themselves.

therefore, 'them' is not ambiguous (only possible referent remaining = athletes)

Now my doubt is why "them" is ambiguous in the top most question (red color ) in choice E.(OE said that "them" is ambiguous in E)
Also if "them " is not ambiguous then what is wrong in E ? how option A IS BETTER THAN E in the red colored question?


thanks and regards
aditya

Answer E is incorrect because it does not state clearly what is hard to avoid for consumers - banks, old fees or new fees. All three nouns could be referents of the pronoun "them." That's why answer A is the best one.

The rule that object pronouns cannot refer to the subject of the clause cannot be used here because the subject of the clause that includes the pronoun "them" is "it" ("IT is becoming harder and harder...") and not "banks."

To Kasia

The rule that object pronouns cannot refer to the subject of the clause cannot be used here because the subject of the clause that includes the pronoun "them" is "it" ("IT is becoming harder and harder...") and not "banks."

your text is right on the spot ,can't tell u how much i appreciate ur help .now i realize how my application of that rule was faulty .thanks for chipping in
thanks a ton
regards

Glad I could help!

Kasia@EconomistGMAT wrote:Answer E is incorrect because it does not state clearly what is hard to avoid for consumers - banks, old fees or new fees. All three nouns could be referents of the pronoun "them." That's why answer A is the best one.

The rule that object pronouns cannot refer to the subject of the clause cannot be used here because the subject of the clause that includes the pronoun "them" is "it" ("IT is becoming harder and harder...") and not "banks."

In choice E, is not "them" being parallel with "fees"? I have read that a pronoun can refer to a noun, which is far, when both are in the same case. Please clarify.