Rules banning cancer causing substances from food apply to new food

I think C is correct here

Rules apply to additives not to others because use of additives is avoidable.
Intended logical meaning is conveyed via C only

D and E are discarded because of sub-verb agreement
A -their ambigiuos
B change meaning

I think C is correct. In main question, "they" is ambiguous because they can refer to additives , substaces and constituents. In such case, the best strategy is to mention the noun .

Subject is The use so it needs singular verb .

Posted from my mobile device

Meaning: Rules banning cancer-causing substances from food apply to new food additives and not to natural constituents of food because natural constituents use as additives is entirely avoidable.
Error Analysis:
1) As can be used either for comparison or for stating a role.
Here, as is used to state the role of natural constituents
2)their correctly refers to the closest noun natural constituents.
3)use is singular, so singular verb is should be used.
Option Analysis:
A) No error
B)slight change in meaning. It says, natural constituents are additives and their use is avoidable. But the intended meaning is natural constituents use as additives is avoidable.
C)use of such additives implies natural constituents of food are additives. This is not true.
D)use of plural verb are for singular use is incorrect
similar error as C
E) There are no meaning or grammatical errors. But, Option A is more precise.

IMO: OPTION A

Rules banning cancer-causing substances from food apply to new food additives and not to natural constituents of food because their use as additives is entirely avoidable.

A. their use as additives is( their is ambiguous,their may refer to both natural constituents and food additives)

B. as additives, their use is( same as in A,meaning of this suggests that natural constituents are used as additives)

C. the use of such additives is( correct)

D. the use of such additives are(SV agreement)

E. the use of them as additives is(what does them refer to)

Will go with choice C

Thanks

A. their use as additives is ......use of their has not got a clear reference..... refers to constituents or additives....incorrect

B. as additives, their use is .....wordy and as..is uasage is not right fit here....incorrect

C. the use of such additives is .....use of such additives is better and correct usage.....correct

D. the use of such additives are ...use..are..wrong usage....incorrect subject verb agreement

E. the use of them as additives is ....pronoun THEM usage is not the right fit..incorrect

+1 for C

Their has so no proper antecedent. Their can be anything :Rules , food additives, natural constituents. Therefore incorrect.


Their has so no proper antecedent. Their can be anything :Rules , food additives, natural constituents. Therefore incorrect.


Correct S-V agreement. Use+is


The use is singular and are is plural. Incorrect S-V agreement.


them has so no proper antecedent. Them can be anything :Rules , food additives, natural constituents. Therefore incorrect.

IMO C.

With warrior1991 answer must be (C) for the same reasons....

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

My comments are in blue text.

Choices A, B, and E are incorrect because the pronouns their and them could refer to any of
several plural nouns . . .
AND
• GMAC will tolerate a fair amount of ambiguity, but
• not if another answer choice makes the antecedent clear

In other words, we could probably figure out what them and their refer to
because every answer choice contains "additives."
But ease of understanding is important.
Compared to (C) and (D), the other three answers are murky.

[Options] B and E are also awkwardly constructed.
See whether you can explain what "awkwardly constructed" refers to.
Understanding WHY something is described as "awkward" will help you
on harder questions that test rhetoric, diction, and style.

In choice D, the plural verb are does not agree in number with the singular noun use.

Choice C is the best answer.

___________________________________________
Vinodsai1995 , mbadream2020 , and shiblee - I'm glad you posted!

Today, all correct answers get kudos.

No best answer exists today. (That phenomenon is common in verbal questions.)

I want to add a "guideline" to that which I mention on the main post.
1) We are looking for 4 wrong answers, NOT one correct answer.
AND
2) Multiple choice means that we have the opportunity to COMPARE, once choices are narrowed down.
• Use that opportunity in gray areas such as pronoun ambiguity and awkwardness.
In other words, when questions turn on gray areas and meaning,
wrong answers are not so much "wrong" in a way that shouts "definite grammatical error here!" as they are "less good" than the best answer.

• I could argue, for example, that pronoun ambiguity in choice E is not fatal.
I WOULD argue, however, that option E is "not as good as option C BECAUSE . . ."

Nice work, all.

.... because .... you have a bigger vocabulary than us

Ahem.
Than WE.

P.S. You beat me to the punch. You posted while I was writing this comment:


dave13 , yet again your humorous aside adds refreshing levity.
Rest assured that I will not be eating any geometrid moths or caterpillar forms thereof.

I will go for (C)
-> the use of such additives is

Hi Team,

I am failing to understand why "is" is used here for a noun which is plural "additives"?

Hi, the subject is use and not additives.

Rules banning cancer-causing substances from food apply to new food additives and not to natural constituents of food because their use as additives is entirely avoidable.

Rule banning cancer-causing substances from food apply
01] to new food additives
02] not to natural constituents of food
because
their use of as additives is entirely avoidable

in underline portion, SV agreement is okay singular noun THEIR USE takes the single verb IS
However, antecedent of of THEIR is not clear. Therefore original statement is incorrect.

(A) their use as additives is - INCORRECT pronoun error

(B) as additives, their use is - INCORRECT pronoun error

(C) the use of such additives is - CORRECT. pronoun error is resolved by this statement

(D) the use of such additives are - INCORRECT SV ERROR; ARE is incorrect

(E) the use of them as additives is - INCORRECT pronoun error.

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.