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prep question

by jamesk486 » Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:58 pm
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?
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by Mahalo » Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:19 pm
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.
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by kiranlegend » Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:13 pm
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?
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by loki.gmat » Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:03 pm
"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!
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by kirube » Wed Jul 09, 2008 5:53 am
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
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by ildude02 » Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:25 am
I will go with A. Seems like it's a conditional clause and "if" fits the "If....then" clause format. What's the answer?
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by jamesk486 » Wed Jul 09, 2008 10:24 pm
Sorry, I made a typo..the OA is C
(not E)
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by codesnooker » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:10 am
kiranlegend wrote: 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.
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by codesnooker » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:13 am
kirube wrote: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.
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by ksh » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:35 am
I agree with codesnooker. pronoun 'they' has correctly been used and it refers to antecedent "Muslims". C is the best choice.
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