prep question

[jamesk486]

Making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once
in a lifetime, if affordable, is one of the five
obligations of devout Muslims.

(A) if affordable
(B) when it can be afforded
(C) if they can afford it
(D) when affordable
(E) if it should be affordable

OA is EWhat is wrong with A?

[Mahalo]

Is the answer D?
when affordable..

I took a hint on the word obligation and chose "D". Option A will tell only when it is affordable. But something which is obligatory should be done and so i went for the option D.

[kiranlegend]

A is incorrect because If affordable is a modifier that needs to modify 'Making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once
in a lifetime'.. so E is my pick.. C is incorrect again because there is no referrent to they before it. D, like A, is incorrect for the same reason.

B somehow doesn't look nice to me.. can someone shed light on B why it is incorrect?

[loki.gmat]

"it" - can only refer back to a "noun".

in B C n E - "it" refers to "Making the pilgrimage to Mecca ..........." which i think is incorrect.

hence IMO A.


Thanks!

[kirube]

I think 'when affordable' is the right answer.

when is the right word used to refer to the time.

Here the lifetime !!!

Correct me if I am wrong

[ildude02]

I will go with A. Seems like it's a conditional clause and "if" fits the "If....then" clause format. What's the answer?

[jamesk486]

Sorry, I made a typo..the OA is C
(not E)

[codesnooker]

C is incorrect again because there is no referrent to they before it.

In C "they" has a referent "Muslims" that comes at the end of the sentence. There no such rule that referent should come first and after that only pronoun can be called. Referent and pronoun can come anywhere in the sentence if there is clear pronoun reference in the sentence and pronoun agrees with plural/singular subject.

[codesnooker]

I think 'when affordable' is the right answer.

when is the right word used to refer to the time.

Here the lifetime !!!

Correct me if I am wrong

Though I am not sure, but if the choice is something like this "whenever affordable" then it may be acceptable. "When Affordable" make sentence awkward.

"C" sounds best for the moment.

[ksh]

I agree with codesnooker. pronoun 'they' has correctly been used and it refers to antecedent "Muslims". C is the best choice.