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While depressed property values can hurt some large [#permalink]
 28 Mar 2010, 10:44
Question Stats:
47% (01:56) correct
52% (01:10) wrong based on 38 sessions
While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose equity —in many cases representing a life's savings—can plunge or even disappear.
(A) they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose
(B) they can potentially devastate homeowners in that their
(C) for homeowners they are potentially devastating, because their
(D) for homeowners, it is potentially devastating in that their
(E) it can potentially devastate homeowners, whose
Can someone please answer this and explain me the rationale? Thank you
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
28 Mar 2010, 11:44
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amitdesai16 wrote: While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose equity —in many cases representing a life's savings—can plunge or even disappear.
(A) they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose
(B) they can potentially devastate homeowners in that their
(C) for homeowners they are potentially devastating, because their
(D) for homeowners, it is potentially devastating in that their
(E) it can potentially devastate homeowners, whose
Can someone please answer this and explain me the rationale? Thank you they/it antecedent is the plural "depressed property values," so eliminate DE. "their equity" in C is probably intended to mean "homeowners' equity. But the problem is that "they" has already been used to refer to "values." Multiple uses of the same pronoun must have the same antecedent, or ambiguity is created. Eliminate C. OK: Dogs are wonderful pets; for epileptics they are potentially lifesaving, because their senses can often detect the coming of a seizure before any signs are visible to humans. (Both pronouns refer to dogs; the double use actually emphasizes this correct meaning.) Not OK: Dogs are wonderful pets; for epileptics they are potentially lifesaving, because their seizures can often occur with no signs visible to humans. (It is unclear whether "their" refers to dogs or epileptics; the double use of the pronoun actually emphasizes the wrong meaning: dogs' seizures.) Similar ambiguity about "in that their" in B: values' equity or homeowners' equity? Also, that phrase is not great idiomatically. A is correct. "Whose" clearly refers to the "homeowners" before the comma, due to placement and the fact that "who/whose" must refer to people, not things.
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
28 Mar 2010, 13:11
Thank you for the quick response.
However, a clarification between A and B is the usage of word "can" vs "are" - any thoughts related to this or this doesn't matter really?
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
29 Mar 2010, 08:36
Would "they" confuse as some large investors as to depressed property values?
Can someone explain to that?
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
25 Apr 2010, 08:36
amitdesai16 wrote: Thank you for the quick response.
However, a clarification between A and B is the usage of word "can" vs "are" - any thoughts related to this or this doesn't matter really? There is certainly a meaning difference between "can" and "are." Consider the difference between "Some birds can talk" (i.e. it is possible) and "some birds are talking" (i.e. right now). I think that difference is of minimal importance in this GMAT question because "potentially" in all choices conveys the "it is possible" meaning. Ekin4112 wrote: Would "they" confuse as some large investors as to depressed property values?
Can someone explain to that? Pronouns don't follow a strict proximity rule (i.e. the antecedent isn't automatically the closest noun, or even the closest preceding noun). While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners...Here, "values" and "they" are used the same way: as subjects of the verbs "can hurt" and "are...devastating." Note that these verbs are parallel, both in tense (present) and meaning. In contrast, "large investors" are the object of the verb, more similar to "(for) homeowners" than to "they." So, the GMAT would not consider this pronoun confusing.
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
25 Apr 2010, 08:41
nice explanation esledge. Thanks.
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
25 Apr 2010, 08:57
This is OG10 question. While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose equity —in many cases representing a life's savings—can plunge or even disappear. The tricky part if WHILE, which is used to make a contrast. When we use WHILE then in the contrasting subclause, the noun is preferable to the subject in the main clause. So, THEY is correct. Here you should avoid CAN in second part as: While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they can potentially devastating... Does this combination matches correctly? NO. This sentence is in progressive format so ARE is correct here.
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
19 Oct 2010, 11:40
So because its a contrast using "While", its preferable to use the pronoun - "they". Esledge has mentioned above that "Pronouns don't follow a strict proximity rule (i.e. the antecedent isn't automatically the closest noun, or even the closest preceding noun).". However, I got a different impression when referring to Manhattan SC correction guide. For pronouns, its not necessary to have proximity to the referred noun?
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
19 Oct 2010, 12:27
amitdesai16 wrote: While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose equity —in many cases representing a life's savings—can plunge or even disappear.
(A) they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose
(B) they can potentially devastate homeowners in that their
(C) for homeowners they are potentially devastating, because their
(D) for homeowners, it is potentially devastating in that their
(E) it can potentially devastate homeowners, whose
Can someone please answer this and explain me the rationale? Thank you A. perfectly fine. "they" modify the "depressed property values". B is incorrect because of the pronoun "their". Its ambiguous. C Incorrect: modifies the wrong noun. should modify "depressed property values". D Incorrect: same reason as C. Also, the use of "it" is ambiguous. what does it really refer to? e Incorrect: "it" is the wrong pronoun. Needs a plural pronoun "they"
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
17 Nov 2010, 01:41
esledge wrote: amitdesai16 wrote: Thank you for the quick response.
However, a clarification between A and B is the usage of word "can" vs "are" - any thoughts related to this or this doesn't matter really? There is certainly a meaning difference between "can" and "are." Consider the difference between "Some birds can talk" (i.e. it is possible) and "some birds are talking" (i.e. right now). I think that difference is of minimal importance in this GMAT question because "potentially" in all choices conveys the "it is possible" meaning. Ekin4112 wrote: Would "they" confuse as some large investors as to depressed property values?
Can someone explain to that? Pronouns don't follow a strict proximity rule (i.e. the antecedent isn't automatically the closest noun, or even the closest preceding noun). While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners...Here, "values" and "they" are used the same way: as subjects of the verbs "can hurt" and "are...devastating." Note that these verbs are parallel, both in tense (present) and meaning. In contrast, "large investors" are the object of the verb, more similar to "(for) homeowners" than to "they." So, the GMAT would not consider this pronoun confusing. ---------- so, what i understand here is that : can + potentially is redundant. do i understand your explanation right?
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
03 Nov 2012, 09:57
esledge wrote: amitdesai16 wrote: Thank you for the quick response.
However, a clarification between A and B is the usage of word "can" vs "are" - any thoughts related to this or this doesn't matter really? There is certainly a meaning difference between "can" and "are." Consider the difference between "Some birds can talk" (i.e. it is possible) and "some birds are talking" (i.e. right now). I think that difference is of minimal importance in this GMAT question because "potentially" in all choices conveys the "it is possible" meaning. Ekin4112 wrote: Would "they" confuse as some large investors as to depressed property values?
Can someone explain to that? Pronouns don't follow a strict proximity rule (i.e. the antecedent isn't automatically the closest noun, or even the closest preceding noun). While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners...Here, "values" and "they" are used the same way: as subjects of the verbs "can hurt" and "are...devastating." Note that these verbs are parallel, both in tense (present) and meaning. In contrast, "large investors" are the object of the verb, more similar to "(for) homeowners" than to "they." So, the GMAT would not consider this pronoun confusing. While I understand that pronouns are correctly used only in option A, I believe Option A is not parallel. While depressed rates hurt large investors they are devastating to.... there seems to be a comparison. Hence, should the two not be parallel i.e. since hurt is given, the correct option must have devastate. Am I missing something or do pronouns trump parallelism?
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
03 Nov 2012, 10:56
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karun0109 wrote: esledge wrote: amitdesai16 wrote: Thank you for the quick response.
However, a clarification between A and B is the usage of word "can" vs "are" - any thoughts related to this or this doesn't matter really? There is certainly a meaning difference between "can" and "are." Consider the difference between "Some birds can talk" (i.e. it is possible) and "some birds are talking" (i.e. right now). I think that difference is of minimal importance in this GMAT question because "potentially" in all choices conveys the "it is possible" meaning. Ekin4112 wrote: Would "they" confuse as some large investors as to depressed property values?
Can someone explain to that? Pronouns don't follow a strict proximity rule (i.e. the antecedent isn't automatically the closest noun, or even the closest preceding noun). While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners...Here, "values" and "they" are used the same way: as subjects of the verbs "can hurt" and "are...devastating." Note that these verbs are parallel, both in tense (present) and meaning. In contrast, "large investors" are the object of the verb, more similar to "(for) homeowners" than to "they." So, the GMAT would not consider this pronoun confusing. While I understand that pronouns are correctly used only in option A, I believe Option A is not parallel. While depressed rates hurt large investors they are devastating to.... there seems to be a comparison. Hence, should the two not be parallel i.e. since hurt is given, the correct option must have devastate. Am I missing something or do pronouns trump parallelism? Hii karun. We need to remember that just as looks dont matter in the real world, looks of the words dont count much. In option A, the subject of hurt is "Depressed property values". But if we look on the second clause, "they are potentially devastating" modifies "Depresses property values" This can be made very clear by looking at an official question. Scientists have recently discovered what could be the largest and oldest living organism on Earth, a giant fungus that is an interwoven filagree of mushrooms and rootlike tentacles spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago and extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.
In this example, both "spawned" and "extending" modify "rootlike tentacles". Hope that helps. -s
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Re: Tricky SC question [#permalink]
11 May 2013, 07:08
[/quote]Hii karun.
We need to remember that just as looks dont matter in the real world, looks of the words dont count much. In option A, the subject of hurt is "Depressed property values". But if we look on the second clause, "they are potentially devastating" modifies "Depresses property values"
This can be made very clear by looking at an official question.
Scientists have recently discovered what could be the largest and oldest living organism on Earth, a giant fungus that is an interwoven filagree of mushrooms and rootlike tentacles spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago and extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.
In this example, both "spawned" and "extending" modify "rootlike tentacles".
Hope that helps.
-s[/quote]
tid-bit - spawned and extending - both participles are describing fungus, not tentacles, and since they are adjectival participles they are parallel.
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Re: Tricky SC question
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11 May 2013, 07:08
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