Sentence Correction

Especially in the early years, new entrepreneurs may need to find resourceful ways, like renting temporary office space or using answering services, that make their company seem large and more firmly established than they may actually be.

A) that make their company seem large
B) to make their companies seem larger
C) thus making their companies seem larger
D) so that the companies seem larger
E) of making their company seem large

OA: B
I have two question -
1. How in a same sentence can "they" and "their" refer to two different entities.
2. Please comment on what you think about the usage of "like" in the non-underlined portion of the sentence.so I wanted to be sure even if it is an aberration by GMAC. We never know when they start using 'such as' for 'like'. So, I wanted to be clear on the matter.

Source: Verbal 2017

Now, let's come to what OG has to say =

Clauses beginning so that can express purpose, but do not fit with "ways" in the manner required here: to or of is needed after ways. It very clearly notes that either "to" OR "of" fits after "resourceful ways" in the sentence.

If you ask me why, I will say that I too don't know. But, I am looking out for a reason for this and will update here.

Thanku Sir, for the great explanation

Could someone explain what is wrong in C ?

Hello Everyone!

Let's take a closer look at this question to figure out how to get to the correct answer quickly! First, here is the original question with any major differences between each option highlighted in orange:

Especially in the early years, new entrepreneurs may need to find resourceful ways, like renting temporary office space or using answering services, that make their company seem large and more firmly established than they may actually be.

(A) that make their company seem large
(B) to make their companies seem larger
(C) thus making their companies seem larger
(D) so that the companies seem larger
(E) of making their company seem large

After a quick glance over each option, a few major differences jump out:

1. How they begin: that / to / thus / so that / of
2. company vs. companies
3. large vs. larger

The best way to tackle a GMAT question is to pick out the issues that could potentially eliminate the most answers. For this question, #2 and #3 on our list will knock out 2-3 options easily, so let's start there.

If we start with #3 on our list (large vs. larger), we will eliminate 2-3 answers right away.

After reading through the entire sentence, it's clear that the advice given is meant to make a company seem both larger than it truly is and more firmly established than it truly is. When using the comparative for one item (more firmly established), we must use it for both items! It doesn't make sense to say the advice makes your company large than it truly is and more firmly established than it truly is, does it? So, let's see how our options stack up:

(A) that make their company seem large
(B) to make their companies seem larger
(C) thus making their companies seem larger
(D) so that the companies seem larger
(E) of making their company seem large

We can eliminate options A and E right away because they don't use the correct comparative term "larger" to show how the company looks to how it really is.

If we look at #2 on our list, we would also eliminate options A and E. Since we're talking about the plural "entrepreneurs," we're also talking about their plural "companies" they're starting. It wouldn't make sense to say all entrepreneurs are involved in starting the same company, right?

Now we're left with #1 on our list: how to begin the phrase (to / thus / so that). If we look closely at the original sentence, there are some non-essential phrases that we can eliminate (in this case, we'll highlight them in lavender) to better help us figure out which option is best:

Especially in the early years, new entrepreneurs may need to find resourceful ways, like renting temporary office space or using answering services,that make their company seem large and more firmly established than they may actually be.

Whichever option we choose MUST make sense with and without these non-essential phrases added in! I've added in the rest of the sentence for each one, so we can see which option works the best:

(B) new entrepreneurs may need to find resourceful ways to make their companies seem larger

This option is CORRECT because the word "to" is used correctly here to directly show purpose. It's clear that the entrepreneurs' actions are done with the purpose of making their companies look good.

(C) new entrepreneurs may need to find resourceful ways, thus making their companies seem larger

This option is INCORRECT because it changes the logical meaning of the sentence. "Thus" is meant to show the results of an action, not the purpose of an action. We don't know for sure if these resourceful ways will actually work or not. However, we know that entrepreneurs should do these things with the purpose of trying to make their companies look better, so using "to" is much clearer.

(D) new entrepreneurs may need to find resourceful ways so that the companies seem larger

This option is also INCORRECT because the phrase "so that" doesn't work here. "So that" is meant to show that one person does an action so that another person can do/no do something as a result. Since a company is not a person, it doesn't make sense to use it here. Saying "to" is much clearer and shows a direct purpose.


There you have it - option B is the correct one! It uses the correct comparative "larger," agrees in number (entrepreneurs/they/companies), and uses the best conjunction to show purpose (to).


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

richachampion wrote:Especially in the early years, new entrepreneurs may need to find resourceful ways, like renting temporary office space or using answering services, that make their company seem large and more firmly established than they may actually be.

A) that make their company seem large
B) to make their companies seem larger
C) thus making their companies seem larger
D) so that the companies seem larger
E) of making their company seem large

OA: B

Dear GMATGuru,

I recall that you said that ' different pronouns must have same referent'. However, the OA, the referents for 'their' and 'they' are different. How come?
Thanks

Mo2men wrote:Dear GMATGuru,

I recall that you said that ' different pronouns must have same referent'. However, the OA, the referents for 'their' and 'they' are different. How come?
Thanks

A general rule:
Within a SINGLE CLAUSE, forms of the same pronoun (they, them, their) should have the same referent.

OA: New entrepreneurs may need to find resourceful ways to make their companies seem larger and more firmly established than they may actually be.
Here, their (in the red clause) refers to entrepeneurs, while they (in the blue clause) refers to companies.
Since the two pronouns are contained within different clauses, the rule above does not apply.