GMAT Prep - Magpie

[riteshbindal]

The first detailed study of magpie attacks in Australia indicates that by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in country have been attacked by the birds.

a) by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in country have been attacked by the birds
b) by the time they reach adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women, who were born in the country, had been attacked by birds.
c) by the time they reach adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of the women born in the country had been attacked by the birds.
d) 98 percent of the men and 75 percent of the women that were born in the country were attacked by the birds by the time they reach adulthood.
e) 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women who were born in the country, by the time they reached adulthood had been attacked by birds

OA after some discussion.

[GMATBootcamp]

IMO ans is C

I always try to identify the main subject of a sentence first. In this case it is clearly "98 percent of men and 75 percent of women."

With the subject know, the proper antecedent should be plural - "they." It's a bit tricky because antecedents usually precede the pronoun, but there is no rule specifically stating that antecedents cannot follow the referring pronoun.

A - verb "had reached" doesn't fit logically with the rest of the sentence. ELIMINATE
B - modifier error. ELIMINATE
D - "they" logically refers to the birds instead of the people. ELIMINATE
E - modifier error. ELIMINATE

Only ans C is grammatically correct.

[riteshbindal]

Can you please explain the modifier errors?

[adamk]

Dont think C makes sense, as it mixes up the tenses.
By the time they "reach"... "had been attacked"

IMO E

[GMATBootcamp]

in B - "who were born in the country" is a non restrictive clause and needs to refer to the noun immediately preceding it. This refers to women, when it logically needs to refer to both men and women. Maybe by using the phrase "all of whom..."
in E - "by the time they reached adulthood had been attacked by birds" again needs to refer to immediate noun preceding the phrase. The noun used is "country," which is incorrect.

[gmatmachoman]

IMO E..

Proper Usage of Past Perfect tense(had been attacked) & past tense(reached) ....

B & C have this tense error...reach(Present tense) & Past Perfect tense (had been attacked)

Guys Plz help me on to this one!!

[tisrar02]

Answer should be C and the choice is written wrong.

In answer choice C the word is "reachED" thus making this the correct answer.

[hemant_rajput]

The first detailed study of magpie attacks in Australia indicates that by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in country have been attacked by the birds.

a) by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in country have been attacked by the birds
b) by the time they reach adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women, who were born in the country, had been attacked by birds.
c) by the time they reach adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of the women born in the country had been attacked by the birds.
d) 98 percent of the men and 75 percent of the women that were born in the country were attacked by the birds by the time they reach adulthood.
e) 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women who were born in the country, by the time they reached adulthood had been attacked by birds

OA after some discussion.

I think option A,B and C are eliminated because of they(subject verb agreement). Here they is not having a subject.

now between d and e.

in d the highlighted they refer to bird not to men and women; does it changes the meaning of sentence.

so IMO e

Guys please correct me if my explanation is wrong I'm also new to this section.

[bpolley00]

Ron has already gone over this: The answer is C and here is a detailed explanation, which covers everyone's current dilemas with this question.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/the ... t7402.html

[shenoydevika]

As tisrar02 said, the answer choice should be C and it has been wrongly written. It should read " by the time they reachED adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in the country had been attacked by the birds."

Thankyou bpolley00, for the link to the explanation.

[bpolley00]

Absolutely. I know Ron can explain it more thoroughly than I can. I hope it helps as this SC question is a tough one.