Sentence Correction

11. Before its independence in 1947, Britain ruled India as a colony and they would relinquish power only after a long
struggle by the native people.
"¢ Before its independence in 1947, Britain ruled India as a colony and they would relinquish power
"¢ Before independence in 1947, Britain had ruled India as a colony and relinquished power
"¢ Before its independence in 1947, India was ruled by Britain as a colony and they relinquished power
"¢ Before independence in 1947, India had been ruled as a colony by Britain, which relinquished power
"¢ Before independence in 1947, India had been a colony of the British, who relinquished power

ANS-- Is E
But I am not getting how ?who is a relative pronoun and can't modify British
according to me answer should be D. D is resolving modifier issue

What is the source??
I see a shift in meaning in E.

Britain ruled india as a colony. This meaning is lost in E.

I think usage of "who" is right because it is referring to "Britain People"

Also, I doubt whether, "Britain people would be called British" is common-Sense.?

It would be easy to spot some like British,spanish, Irish etc..

But, technically would be difficult to know all.

this is MGMAT question and E is correct here. British is referring to people of Britain, therefore, who is correctly modifying British.

the answer is b/w D & E. In D 'which' can either refer to Britain or India - in conclusive ; but in E 'who' refers correctly to British and not India. so the answer is E

let me know if i am right

I thought "Before independence..." sounded funny without including "its", but I know that's no basis for eliminating choices.

soms_ar wrote:the answer is b/w D & E. In D 'which' can either refer to Britain or India - in conclusive ; but in E 'who' refers correctly to British and not India. so the answer is E

let me know if i am right

Wrong.

which refers to the closest noun.
[ Except in case of a noun before preposition ]

This is one of the most basic rule here.
So better revise your concepts.

I'd go for D.