Fatories employing

[jessicamuniz]

Hi there....
Here is a quiick question. I am confuse about when to use "they" or "these". Can somebody help me here please:

Factories in southern states like Georgia and Missisipi employed more than 300,000 workers in the late ninteenth century, but they were driven out of business by increasing federal taxes as well as a labor supply that migrated north in the hope of finding better wages.

a) same
b) More than 300,000 worker had been employed by factories in southern states such as Georgia and Missisipi in the late ninetheen century, but they
c)In the late ninetheen century, more than 300,000 workers were employed by factories in southern states such as Georgia and Missisipi, but they
d) More than 300,000 workers had been employed by factories in southern states like Georgia and Missisipi in the late ninetheen century, but these factories
e) Factories in southern states such as Georgia and Missisipi employed more than 300,000 workers in the late century, but these factories

I am between a and e.

[Jatinder]

Its E

we use "such as" for for example

So eliminate a and d

and its the factories that were driven out of business, so eliminate b and C

[Mani_mba]

I go for E.

I looked out for :

a) an option that used "Such as" instead of "Like"
b) an option that used "unambiguous pronoun". "they" in all other options is ambiguous. Not clear whether "they" refers to the factories or the workers.

[rohangupta83]

A and D are out because they use 'like' instead of 'such as'

''Such as'' is used when you are presenenting an example.

For example: Many south american countries such as Brazil and Argentina have excellent soccer teams.

So, E it is

[rohangupta83]

between 'they' and 'these'

just ask yourself

What does 'they' refer to? and What does 'these' refer to?

you'll get your answer

For example:

In the late ninetheen century, more than 300,000 workers were employed by factories in southern states such as Georgia and Missisipi, but they..................

What does they refer to?

Workers? or Factories?

there is ambiguity here, so don't use the 'they' here.

whereas 'these factories' in choice E makes it clear with respect to what does 'these' refer to? clearly - factories.

Note: If you are not able to correctly identify an antecedent (without any ambiguity) to a pronoun in an answer choice (or vice-versa), it is likely a pronoun error and that answer choice should be avoided.

[vivek.kapoor83]

It has to be E, coz factories were driven out of business not the workers.

[jyotiistalking]

i agrre with everyone else....it has to be E

[Stockmoose16]

i agrre with everyone else....it has to be E

Though I agree that E is the best answer choice, I don't think it is grammatically correct. The answer should contain the past perfect tense to show order in which events occurred. Anyone else agree?

[ashish.arora]

E is correct. The way I look at this problem is as follows:

A, B and C are eliminated because of ambiguity word "they" introduces. Does it refer to factories or workers ?

Now out of D and E, E is preferred over D because D uses passive voice which, most of the times, is not preferred in GMAT and also D uses "like" which is generally used to make comparision whereas "such as" is used to illustrate examples and therefore, is correctly used in E. However, I agree with stockmoose because if you look at the structure of the sentence, it shows two events in the past wherein one event(employment of 300,000 workers) happened earlier than other event(factories were driven out).

[NSNguyen]

IMO: E

[nervesofsteel]

IMO E

[iamcste]

B, C and D have passive voices.. and change the meaning

A, E such as v/s like

so, E

Analyzing extent to which OA is correct is out of scope, I guess

[amitabhprasad]

I will go with "E" as well.
Two issues with "A" corrected in "E"
1) Use of like for showing example
2) use of pronoun "they", they doesn't have any clear referent, it can refer back to the worker or to the factory as well, this reference is clearly corrected in "E"
I will be surprised to see answer other then "E"