Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than

Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 and 1910, but they are now controlled if not prevented; cannons are fired at the slopes to make snow masses fall before they become dangerous.

"they" seems to be incorrectly used here.. if no better choice left will take, otherwise try to chuck it off

(A) Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 to 1910, but they
The same avalanches are now controlled, kind of strange.. as same avalanche is going for some time now
(B) More than 200 people have been killed by avalanches between 1885 and 1910 at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park, but they
Same issues as A
(C) Between 1885 and 1910, more than 200 people were killed by avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park, but they
Same as A
(D) More than 200 people have been killed by avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park between 1885 and 1910, but such avalanches
Such avalanches -- Correct; have been killed - somehow implies that the problem is not yet solved or worked upon, need a simple past.. anyways its a fact. Naah

(E) Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 and 1910, but such avalanches[/quote]
Simple Past, Such avalanches - correct.. E is the right answer

Official Explanation

Logical predication; Verb form

In the sentence as written, the referent of the pronoun they is unclear. It may look, at first, as if the referent is the noun phrase Avalanches . . . 1910. However, this does not work as intended: obviously, avalanches that occurred at the turn of the nineteenth century cannot now be controlled. It is therefore clear that they does not refer correctly.

A. In this choice, the pronoun they does not refer correctly.

B. In this choice, the pronoun they does not refer correctly. Furthermore, it unnecessarily uses the passive form people . . . killed by avalanches.

C. In this choice, the pronoun they does not refer correctly. Furthermore, it unnecessarily uses the passive form people . . . killed by avalanches.

D. In this choice, the verb form have been killed suggests a recent event that perhaps continues to the present. It would be inappropriate to use this to refer to events that happened near the turn of the nineteenth century. Furthermore, it unnecessarily uses the passive form people . . . killed by avalanches.

E. Correct. This choice avoids the unclear pronoun and uses the active form glaciers . . . killed, which produces a simple and rhetorically effective sentence. Furthermore, the phrase such avalanches refers, as intended, to actual or possible avalanches in more recent times than those mentioned in the sentence.

The correct answer is E.

This question tests:
1. Pronouns
2. Verb Tense
3. Idiom



1. Who is they referring to? Is 'they' referring to people or Avalanches? Pronoun Error

2. between 1885 to 1910 Idiom Error. Correct idiom is 'between x and y.'



1. Who is they referring to? Is 'they' referring to people or Avalanches? Pronoun Error

2. have been killed. This is in present perfect tense. 1885 and 1910 are in the past, so there is no need for present perfect tense. Verb Tense Error



1. Who is they referring to? Is 'they' referring to people or Avalanches? Pronoun Error



1. have been killed. This is in present perfect tense. 1885 and 1910 are in the past, so there is no need for present perfect tense. Verb Tense Error



No use of Pronoun

Simple past tense verb 'killed' is correct

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options quickly so we know how to answer questions like this when they pop up on the GMAT! To begin, let's take a quick look at the question and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 and 1910, but they are now controlled if not prevented; cannons are fired at the slopes to make snow masses fall before they become dangerous.

(A) Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 to 1910, but they
(B) More than 200 people have been killed by avalanches between 1885 and 1910 at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park, but they
(C) Between 1885 and 1910, more than 200 people were killed by avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park, but they
(D) More than 200 people have been killed by avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park between 1885 and 1910, but such avalanches
(E) Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 and 1910, but such avalanches

After a quick glance over the options, it's clear that they are all organized differently. However, there are a couple things we can focus on to narrow down our options:

1. killed / have been killed / were killed (Verb Tense)
2. they / such avalanches (Pronouns)

Let's start with #2 on our list because it's a simple "either/or" split. No matter which one we choose, we'll eliminate 2-3 options right off the bat.

This is a pronoun issue, so we need to make sure they pronoun "they" clearly refers back to a logical antecedent:

(A) Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 to 1910, but they
WRONG = It's unclear if "they" is referring back to avalanches, Glacier National Park, or people?? Also, the non-underlined portion has another "they" pronoun in it, so it's even more unclear what these pronouns are referring to.
(B) More than 200 people have been killed by avalanches between 1885 and 1910 at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park, but they
WRONG = It's unclear if "they" is referring back to avalanches, Glacier National Park, or people?? Also, the non-underlined portion has another "they" pronoun in it, so it's even more unclear what these pronouns are referring to.
(C) Between 1885 and 1910, more than 200 people were killed by avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park, but they
WRONG = It's unclear if "they" is referring back to avalanches, Glacier National Park, or people?? Also, the non-underlined portion has another "they" pronoun in it, so it's even more unclear what these pronouns are referring to.
(D) More than 200 people have been killed by avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park between 1885 and 1910, but such avalanches
OKAY = By removing the pronoun and repeating the antecedent, the meaning is 100% clear.
(E) Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 and 1910, but such avalanches
OKAY = By removing the pronoun and repeating the antecedent, the meaning is 100% clear.

We can eliminate options A, B, & C because the pronoun "they" is too vague. Now that we have it narrowed down to only 2 options, let's take a closer look at verb tense and any other issues we can spot:

(D) More than 200 people have been killed by avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park between 1885 and 1910, but such avalanches

This is INCORRECT because the verb "have been killed" is the present perfect tense - which means that avalanches are still killing people. Since the events we're discussing ended in 1910, we need to keep everything in past tense to clearly show the timeline.

(E) Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 and 1910, but such avalanches

This is CORRECT! There aren't any pronoun issues, and the verb is in past tense, which is the most logical option.


There you have it - option E is our correct choice!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Hello to the Legend GMATNinja, GMATNinjaTwo

I am requesting your help for this one, firstly thanks a lot for GMAT SC Youtube videos, they are extremely helpful, secondly this sentence...

If I am quoting you correctly, ' a pronoun in an independent clause refers to subject 1 and not the subject 2 of the main clause'

Thus, I feel that 'they' refers to avalanches

Is this correct?

Whey "they" in (A) cannot refer to the first referent "Avalanches"?

lakshya14

"They" absolutely can and should refer back to "avalanches." As others have pointed out, there can be tricky shades of meaning here. We need to be clear that we aren't preventing the avalanches that already happened! Generally, if the GMAT gives us a choice between a pronoun and the correct noun, the noun is a safer choice, because we know there's no chance of ambiguity or meaning trouble.

In any case, we can cut A before we even get to "they." "Between . . . to" doesn't make sense.

You rock, as always! Thank you.
I am a bit skeptical about the use of the pronoun "they". statement A uses they and it sounds like, we are referring to people.

Hi Romil042, you are right; technically, "they" is an ambiguous pronoun and can refer to people.

However, as GMATNinja mentions in the post above:



While they is the subject of the second clause, people is not the subject of the previous clause (Avalanches is the subject of the first clause). Hence, it is very unlikely that they would refer to people.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Pronoun ambiguity, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

Dear experts how do we know that in A, the they is referring specifically to the older ones?

Thanks

AndrewN VeritasKarishma

Hello MPRS22,
Thank you for the query.

Although your query is not for me, here are my two cents anyway.

We must bear in mind that a pronoun is a replacement for a particular noun in the sentence. When a pronoun is used in place of a particular noun, it stands for that specific noun only. It represents its antecedent with all its modifiers.

In the original sentence, the pronoun "they" has been used as the replacement for "Avalanches". However, the sentence talks about very specific avalanches in the first part. The use of "they" represents the very same avalanches as the pronoun is the mere replacement of the noun used in the sentence. But we understand that the second part of the sentence does not intend to talk about the very same avalanches. The meaning conveyed thus by Choice A is no logical. Therefore, the use of the pronoun "they" leads to the meaning error in Choice A.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Dear Experts:

KarishmaB, GMATNinja, ChiranjeevSingh

I understood the reason for the ambiguity 'they' is creating in the sentence and also that it doesn't refers to the Avalanches in 1885-1910 rather to similar avalanches but I am confused in the meaning derived from correct option(E).

(E) Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 and 1910, but such avalanches

It looks like Avalanches are performing the action of killing people. However, shouldn't it be that people were killed by avalanches?

Thanks.

We don't need to get too literal. Such phrasing is normal in English - 'the book says...,' 'the hurricane advanced...' etc
Also, whether we use active or passive, it doesn't matter. The action of killing was performed by the avalanches in both cases.

Hello mohitwadhwa28,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, we can very well say that the avalanches did the action of killing; this is referred to as anthropomorphization (giving human characteristics to something that is not human), a type of figurative speech that is perfectly acceptable on the GMAT.

In other words, even things that are not capable of conscious action can be said to have actively done something, so long as it is an action that the thing can logically be said to do.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

DmitryFarber IanStewart avigutman - Two quick questions on the pronoun "they"

I eliminated (a), (b) and (c) because of the pronoun error

But my thinking for why "they" is wrong specifically was different.

I am not sure if i just got lucky.

I thought "they" had MANY possible antecedents
antecedent #1 - Avalanches
antecedent # 2 - Slopes
antecedent # 3 - Snow Masses

I think all of these antecedents make sense

(Q1) Could this be ANOTHER reason why "They" is wrong OR do you think the antecedent for "They" is logically only avalanches (antecedent # 2 and antecedent # 3, dont make logical sense)

(Q2) Just confirming but per my understanding, the antecedent of a pronoun CAN be in another independent clause. Hence slopes and snow masses are potential antecedents

I'm not following how slopes or snow masses can be controlled or prevented, jabhatta2. How do you prevent a slope? How do you prevent a snow mass?

avigutman - you are right ..slopes and snow masses themselves cannot be controlled nor prevented.

On Q2 above, is that your understanding ? the antecedent of a pronoun CAN BE in the second independent clause (After the semi-colon)

Made up sentence - I like it when it is charred ; Pizza is made with 3 ingredients only.

I think the above is okay, even though the antecedent is in the 2nd clause (and the 2nd clause is separated with a semi-colon)