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Whereas pure science is mainly concerned

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by tuanquang269 » Sat Dec 03, 2011 8:38 pm
Whereas pure science is mainly concerned with the discovery of new truths and makes few, if any, attempts to discern the best options between their potential uses, applied science involves the application of existing truths to concrete problems.

(A) best options between their potential uses
(B) best options between its potential uses
(C) best of the options among their potential uses
(D) best options among its potential uses
(E) best options among their potential uses

OA is E. I confuse between D and E, can anyone explain why [spoiler]"their" refer to "new truths"[/spoiler]. Thank for advance.
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by sam2304 » Sat Dec 03, 2011 9:44 pm
I went for D as well. But the option seems fine.
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by tanyasingh_85 » Sun Dec 04, 2011 2:30 am
'Their' refers to 'Best Options' and not 'new topics'
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by nileshdalvi » Sun Dec 04, 2011 4:12 am
'Their' indeed refers to New Topics and not the best options. There are truths (plural), each truth has its potential uses (plural). So, the best options are to be selected 'among' such uses of the truths (in case two is not explicitly specified, plural is more than two.) And since truths is plural, we use theirs. That gives option E.

Logically their cannot refer to 'best options' because 'best options among their potential uses' cannot make their refer logically to best options.

Also, this question tests between/among and pronoun cardinality. Do not give excess weightage to Pronoun Antecedent. But for your question, logic and context is the answer.
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by tuanquang269 » Sun Dec 04, 2011 9:13 am
nileshdalvi wrote:'Their' indeed refers to New Topics and not the best options. There are truths (plural), each truth has its potential uses (plural). So, the best options are to be selected 'among' such uses of the truths (in case two is not explicitly specified, plural is more than two.) And since truths is plural, we use theirs. That gives option E.

Logically their cannot refer to 'best options' because 'best options among their potential uses' cannot make their refer logically to best options.

Also, this question tests between/among and pronoun cardinality. Do not give excess weightage to Pronoun Antecedent. But for your question, logic and context is the answer.
Yes, you are correct. "their" refers to "truths".
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