As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sen

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-



Choice A: In Option A, the pronoun "it" incorrectly refers to the noun "baby", as "baby" is the subject of the preceding clause. Thus, Option A is incorrect.

Choice B: In Option B, the phrase "or legally blind as an adult" incorrectly modifies "a rudimentary sense of vision" to imply that the vision would be blind as an adult. Thus, Option B is incorrect.

Choice C: Option C incorrectly uses a modifier to link the dependent clause "qualifying it to be legally blind if an adult” to the main clause. Thus, Option C is incorrect.

Choice D: Option D correctly conveys the intended meaning of the sentence by avoiding modifier errors and shifting the information regarding legal blindness to an independent clause, correctly, linked to the rest of the sentence through a semicolon. Thus, Option D is correct.

Choice E: Option E commits a mistake similar to the one seen in Option B by applying the modifier "which would be deemed legally blind for an adult" to the noun "vision". Thus, Option E is incorrect.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of “Avoiding Pronoun Ambiguity on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.

A. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision. Since there are two singular antecedents - baby and vision - it is unclear what “it” refers to

B. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind as an adult. This option makes it seem like the rudimentary sense of vision would be legally blind as an adult.

C. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision would be rated about 20/500; qualifying it to be legally blind if an adult. This clause after the semicolon is not an independent clause.

D. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500; an adult with such vision would be deemed legally blind. The intended meaning is clear.

E. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision, which would be deemed legally blind for an adult, would be rated about 20/500. This option makes it seem like the rudimentary sense of vision would be deemed legally blind for an adult.

- Nitha Jay

(D). This problem is testing whether or not we understand how to use the semicolon. Both sentences can stand alone.

[quote]As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.

A. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.
B. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500, or legally lind as an adult.
C. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision would be rated about 20/500; qualifying it to be legally blind if an adult.
D. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500; an adult with such vision would be deemed legally blind.
E. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision, which would deemed legally blind for an adult, would be rated about 20/500./quote]

A. is out. the 'it' is not clear as to its antecedent. This same unclear pronoun is later repeated. beginning with as and then the subject is 'it.'
B. This is better than A. Still the second part (or legally blind as an adult is referring to vision not the baby).
C. Also begins with as forcing the subject to be sense. Then it has a semicolon followed by a less than complete second part.
D. Good. We have the baby as the subject. then the second part is very clear with a clear subject.
E. The subject again is sense. The core of the sentence is "sense would be rated" The modifiers should not overwhelm the core of the sentence.

D. is best of the five. B is the least worst of the remainders.

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Thanks,
Skip

I am also confused about: As a baby emerges from the darkness of the "womb with a rudimentary" ....
"a rudimentary" seems to modify womb rather than baby?

Please clarify this construction.Thanks.

As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.
(A) As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision. 'it' may refer to sense of vision as well as a baby, and vision cannot 'be blind'
(B) A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind as an adult. same as A
(C) As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision would be rated about 20/500; qualifying it to be legally blind if an adult. An integrate sentences should follow a semicolon
(D) A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500; an adult with such vision would be deemed legally blind. correct. semicolon here can separate two sentence with interlinked meaning.
(E) As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision, which would be deemed legally blind for an adult, would be rated about 20/500. same as A

You are reading it as:

"As a baby emerges from the darkness of the (womb with a rudimentary sense of vision"

When you should be grouping it differently as such:

"As a baby {emerges from the (darkness of the womb) } with a rudimentary sense of vision"

How do we know to do this?

We apply the "Cut the Fluff" technique and identify key prepositional words:

1. OF THE WOMB = fluff
2. FROM THE DARKNESS = fluff

The keywords OF and FROM - indicate additional details that you can ignore.

Once you ignore these details, the skeleton becomes:

"As a baby {emerges from the (darkness of the womb) } with a rudimentary sense of vision"

which is:

"As a baby emerges with a rudimentary sense of vision"

So use our "Cut the Fluff" technique to help you find the barebone skeleton of the sentence. Then from there, you can more easily do your analysis.

A video explanation has been provided here:

Can someone please explain why, in C, "qualifying it to be legally blind if an adult" -- why is that not a complete sentence?

It - Subject
To Be - Verb

Why is that a fragment?
Thanks!

As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.

A. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.
B. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500, or legally lind as an adult.
C. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision would be rated about 20/500; qualifying it to be legally blind if an adult.
D. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500; an adult with such vision would be deemed legally blind.
E. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision, which would deemed legally blind for an adult, would be rated about 20/500.

Here's my take on the question:

1. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision. - No clue what does this IT refers to. It could refer to emergence of baby or to the rudimentary sense of vision.

2. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind as an adult. - Improper construction

3. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision would be rated about 20/500; qualifying it to be legally blind if an adult. - Its may refer to baby or to womb. The second issue is that after semicolon, there's a fragment.

4. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500; an adult with such vision would be deemed legally blind. THAT clearly refers to rudimentary sense of vision. A semicolon is used before an independent clause. Sentence is correct.

5. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision, which would deemed legally blind for an adult, would be rated about 20/500. Its is a possessive pronoun, so it must have a noun before it to which it can refer to. As a baby emerges is not a noun.

Hope this helps you.

Dear Russ9,

Here's my take on the question:

As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.

A. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.
B. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500, or legally lind as an adult.
C. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision would be rated about 20/500; qualifying it to be legally blind if an adult.
D. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500; an adult with such vision would be deemed legally blind.
E. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision, which would deemed legally blind for an adult, would be rated about 20/500.



1. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision. - No clue what does this IT refers to. It could refer to emergence of baby or to the rudimentary sense of vision.

2. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind as an adult. - Improper construction

3. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision would be rated about 20/500; qualifying it to be legally blind if an adult. - Its may refer to baby or to womb. The second issue is that after semicolon, there's a fragment.

It is a fragment because, there is no proper noun to which it can refer to and if an adult is incomplete. The correct formation could be, if it were an adult. Though the answer would still be wrong, because of It.

4. A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500; an adult with such vision would be deemed legally blind. THAT clearly refers to rudimentary sense of vision. A semicolon is used before an independent clause. Sentence is correct.

5. As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision, which would deemed legally blind for an adult, would be rated about 20/500. Its is a possessive pronoun, so it must have a noun before it to which it can refer to. As a baby emerges is not a noun.

Hope this helps you.

As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.

(A) As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision --> 1st "it" refers to vision, 2nd "it" refers to baby. Onepronoun must always refer to the same noun if used > time
(B) A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind as an adult --> Here, as an adult seems to refer to a sense of vision, implying that a SENSE OF VISION can function AS AN ADULT.
(C) As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision would be rated about 20/500; qualifying it to be legally blind if an adult. --> qualifyin os not a verb -> makes the part after a semicolon a sentence fragment
(D) A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500; an adult with such vision would be deemed legally blind --> Correct. Baby is compared with an adult. Both sentences before and after a semicolon are have a subject and a verb (can stand alone)
(E) As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision, which would be deemed legally blind for an adult, would be rated about 20/500 --> A viosion can not be blind ...)))

No one seems to read my post as to why E is incorrect and then are unnecessarily wasting their precious preparation time in getting confused
There is a concise and well written grammar rule that tells us exactly why E is wrong and i have explained the same rule in great detail in my earlier post.
I will explain it again here by pasting my earlier post as well as throwing more light on the rule.


The correct answer is D

E is blatantly wrong because of the rules of comma (bet you don't know that )
I am sure Gmat would never hinge a correct answer only based on commas, there would be more mistakes in a wrong option apart from an incorrect comma
SO the rule of comma, states that a phrase bound by commas is akin to a parenthetical element
Meaning, if there is a phrase in between two commas, then treat that particular phrase as if it is inside a bracket. For all practical purposes, such a phrase conveys non essential or additional information - information that is not of great importance to the reader.

SO Option E is essential saying :-
As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb, its rudimentary sense of vision,which would deemed legally blind for an adult, would be rated about 20/500.

Now in essence the sentence can be read as:-
As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb would be rated about 20/500.
This is an absurd sentence with no regard for grammar rules.


We need the phrase "IT"S RUDIMENTARY SENSE OF VISION" as well as "which would deemed legally blind for an adult" because these two phrases tells us that the baby is blind in legal terms. These two phrases are important to grasp the full meaning of the sentence and hence cannot be bound by commas.

Hence E IS WRONG

MORE EXPLANATION ABOUT THE RULE

Use a pair of commas in the middle of a sentence to set off clauses, phrases, and words that are not essential to the meaning of the sentence. Use one comma before to indicate the beginning of the pause and one at the end to indicate the end of the pause.

Here are some clues to help you decide whether the sentence element is essential:

If you leave out the clause, phrase, or word, does the sentence still make sense?
Does the clause, phrase, or word interrupt the flow of words in the original sentence?
If you move the element to a different position in the sentence, does the sentence still make sense?

If you answer "NO" to one or more of these questions, then the element in question is Essential and should NOT EVER be set off with commas like it is done in option E here.

Here are some example sentences with nonessential elements in which we can easily remove the phrase and it will still make complete sense as far as the meaning of the sentence is concerned.

Clause: That Tuesday, which happens to be my birthday, is the only day when I am available to meet.

Phrase: This restaurant has an exciting atmosphere. The food, on the other hand, is rather bland.

Word: I appreciate your hard work. In this case, however, you seem to have over-exerted yourself.

THIS IS THE ONE AND ONLY REASON WHY E IS WRONG

GMATNinja, I solved this question by eliminating answer A because it used pronoun "it" for "baby"; and answer C and E because both used "its" for "baby".

Can we safely conclude that this is the valid reason to eliminate these choices?

I agree that the "it" is a huge problem in answer choice (A), as mentioned here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/qotd-as-a-ba ... l#p1917257.

Good question about (C) and (E), though. In both of them, "its" could, in theory, be considered ambiguous, since "its" could refer to either "baby" or "womb." But pronoun ambiguity isn't an absolute rule on the GMAT (more on pronouns and ambiguity in this webinar), and I don't think that the pronoun is unclear in (C) and (E). At the very least, I wouldn't eliminate (C) or (E) based solely on the pronoun. And in both cases, there are much better reasons (described here) why (C) and (E) are wrong.

I hope this helps!!

Hi GMATNinja,

I still don't understand how "it" is a problem in A as "it" can't refer to baby, but in choice C and E, "its" referring to baby is not a definite error. "Its" referring to baby or womb won't make sense, so that should be enough to eliminate C and E. I understand there are other errors in C and E.

Can "its" referring to "baby" considered okay?

Thanks for your help!

YT

Hello YT/ yt770,

I will be glad to help you out with this one.


Let's take a look at the original sentence:

As a baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision, it would be rated about 20/500, or legally blind if it were an adult with such vision.

In the structure it would be rated..., pronoun it cannot refer to a baby because this reference does not make logical sense. A baby cannot be rated 20/500. Per the context of the sentence, only the sense of vision can be rated so.

Now, the way the original sentence is written, the antecedent of both the instances of pronoun it must refer to the same noun entity. However, pronoun it in the structure if it were an adult... cannot refer to the sense of vision because a sense of vision cannot be an adult.

So, in Choice A, usage of pronoun is incorrect because their reference is not logical.


Now let's talk about Choice C and E. IMHO, usage of pronoun it in Choices C and E are not ambiguous because the sentence won't make sense if it is deemed to refer to any other noun entity apart from a baby. But yes, these two choices have other very definite errors and hence, can be rejected easily.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Hi egmat/Shraddha,

Thanks for your response!! Actually, I still have a doubt. In C and E, "its" is not ambiguous and "its" refer to a baby. How is this not a definite error? I totally understand the other errors that make C and E wrong, but what's confusing to me is the usage of "it/its" to refer to a baby. Shouldn't the correct pronoun is his/her/who to refer to a baby? In that context "its" must be wrong.

Thanks!