Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than

Question

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 and 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

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daagh · Accepted Answer

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 --- The problem is the dual reference of the pronoun 'they". The first one refers to the avalanches while the second refers to the snow masses. 2. Between … to is wrong idiom.

(B) More than 200 people have been killed by avalanches between 1885 and 1910 at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park, but they -- - 1. Same pronoun issue as in A. 2, the present perfect have been killed is wrong for something that happened during a specific past period. We must use simple past.

(C) Between 1885 and 1910, more than 200 people were killed by avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park, but they ---  Pronoun issue as in A and B.

(D) More than 200 people have been killed by avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park between 1885 and 1910, but such avalanches---  The pronoun problem has been settled. However, the present perfect is wrong as in B.

(E) Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 and 1910, but such avalanches --  Amends both the issues and is the correct choice.

GMATNinja · Answer

Glad to hear the videos have been helpful!

Remember, there's no definitive rule dictating what a given pronoun has to refer to, but when a pronoun is the subject of a clause, the most logical place to look for the antecedent is the subject of the previous clause. So an important distinction: this is a usage tendency, not an ironclad rule.

I'm assuming your next question is: "okay, if 'they' refers to the subject of the previous clause, and it's perfectly logical for "avalanches" to be the antecedent here, then why is (A) wrong?"

If that is your question, it's a good one! There's a subtle meaning difference here between using a pronoun that refers to the original avalanches and using the phrase "such avalanches."

Take another look at (A):

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...

Using "they" kind of makes it sound as though we're referring to the same avalanches. In other words, in the first clause, we learn about avalanches that happened between 1885 and 1910, and in the second clause, we see how those identical avalanches are controlled. But that doesn't make sense: how could you control an avalanche a century after it happened?

Contrast this with (E):

Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than 200 people between 1885 and 1910, but  such  avalanches are now controlled...

"Such avalanches" seems to imply "similar avalanches" or these types of avalanches," not the same ones. The avalanches of a century ago were deadly, but similar avalanches are today controlled. This makes more sense, so while I would have hesitated to eliminate (A) initially, (E) is clearer and more logical, and therefore better.

I hope that helps!

dushyanta · Answer

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 
Simple Past, Such avalanches - correct.. E is the right answer

gmatt1476 · 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.

MikeScarn · Answer

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

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

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.

ProfChaos · Answer

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?

lakshya14 · Answer

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

DmitryFarber · Answer

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.

Romil042 · Answer

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.

EducationAisle · Answer

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.

MPRS22 · Answer

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

Thanks

AndrewN   VeritasKarishma

egmat · Answer

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

mohitwadhwa28 · Answer

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.

KarishmaB · Answer

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.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

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

jabhatta2 · Answer

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

avigutman · Answer

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?

jabhatta2 · Answer

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)

Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than

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Avalanches at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park killed more than

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

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