The Diary of Anne Frank tells the true story of a young girl and her family that were hidden during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands by a gentile Dutch couple, though they were eventually discovered.


A. that were hidden during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands by a gentile Dutch couple, though they were eventually discovered

B. that were hidden by a gentile Dutch couple during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, though they were eventually discovered

C. whom a gentile Dutch couple hid during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands but were eventually discovered

D. who were hidden by a gentile Dutch couple during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands but were eventually discovered

E. who were hidden by a gentile Dutch couple during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands even though they were eventually discovered
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SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL, OXFORD - MBA CLASS OF 2008

I agree with D here

C isn't ||
E has "even though" which isn't needed because we are talking about the story

OA is D.

Look the OE for choice E. Is "they" ambiguous? Dutch couple is a singular. It means "they" is clearly referring to family.
Also don't we have to show a little contrast here, as shown in E?

OE:
The original sentence uses the relative pronoun "that" where "who" is preferred because the antecedent is a group of people. Also, the prepositional phrase "by a gentile Dutch couple" is placed in such a way as to suggest that the occupation was carried out by the couple. Finally, the pronoun "they" is ambiguous – it could refer to the family or to the couple.

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) This choice incorrectly uses the relative pronoun "that" to refer to a group of people. Additionally, the pronoun "they" is ambiguous - it could refer to the family or to the couple.

(C) The use of the object pronoun "whom" makes "a girl and her family" the object of the clause "a gentile Dutch couple hid;" however "a girl and her family" are the subject of the next clause "were eventually discovered." This is a mismatch.

(D) CORRECT. It correctly uses the pronoun "who" to refer to a girl and her family. Additionally, the phrase "by a gentile Dutch couple" is placed immediately after "who were hidden" to clarify the meaning. Finally, the ambiguous pronoun issue is avoided altogether.

(E) The pronoun "they" is ambiguous - it could refer to the family or to the couple.
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SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL, OXFORD - MBA CLASS OF 2008

good point about the contrast

but

consider this

I met the couple at the party and then I saw them at the mall.

not saw it at the mall.

Folks,
I was exactly thinking of the format that OD1976 has given above. If we go technically on reference, it doesn't look correct but actually it "sounds" correct.

Can anybody shed some more light on this? Nandan, Matt, Wilfred, Pret, Paul?

I decided on D pretty quickly here. A, B & C were easly to eliminate based on the first few words of each.

Between D & E, D is clear and concise, while E includes 'they' which does not clearly indicate Ann Frank and her family or the Dutch couple.

D for me.

Thanks for posting the OE on this one Dahiya. Clarified a few doubts I had about the pronoun use of "they."

"though" functions as subordinating conjunction. In this sentence though tries to subordinates "were eventually discovered" to independent clause "were hidden by a gentile Dutch couple". In this process "were eventually discovered" clauses forefits its independence.But in reality it can stand alone as a independent clause.

Sentence has pronoun referent and pronoun case issues

A. that were hidden during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands by a gentile Dutch couple, though they were eventually discovered [they can point to couple or family – eliminate it]

B. that were hidden by a gentile Dutch couple during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, though they were eventually discovered [they can point to couple or family – eliminate it]

C. whom a gentile Dutch couple hid during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands but were eventually discovered [we require a subject pronoun not “whom” – eliminate it]

D. who were hidden by a gentile Dutch couple during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands but were eventually discovered [Hold it]

E. who were hidden by a gentile Dutch couple during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands even though they were eventually discovered [they can point to couple or family – eliminate it]

Answer: D

Hi LionHeart,

just to answer your question,
the last "were" actually is better than "they" in E because "they" is much more ambigous (since it could refer to the couple too). Were makes it parallel "were hidden...were discovered" and this parallelism make the sentence unambigous..

I am not sure what you are asking about "even tough"

correct, and thats another reason why D is right