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By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options

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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   14 Feb 2016, 12:00
hi Expert,

it seems that THEM is indicating CUSTOMERS; but THEM should be used instead of COMPANIES to make the meaning legitimate...but my question is WHY ONE COMPANY (FIRST COMPANY) FORCED OTHER COMPANIES (SECOND COMPANY) TO OFFER COMPETITIVE PRICE?? IS THE FIRST COMPANY USED HERE as a customer? is the duty of first company to force the other COMPANY to offer a competitive price?? basically, when '''someone''' force somebody, it means that ''someone'' want to have some benefits from somebody. so my question is: is the first company waiting to have benefit or offer from other company?? if a company is waiting here to get some benefit or offer from other company, WHY THE WORD ''CUSTOMERS'' IS USED HERE?? I think CUSTOMER (NOT the COMPANY) should force the other COMPANY to have the offer.Thanks to read my message...
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   25 Feb 2017, 13:19
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ravi19012015 wrote:
sayantanc2k wrote:
ravi19012015 wrote:
By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options, such as caller identification and voice mail, the new telecommunications company has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them to offer competitive prices.

(A) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them
(B) has not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also forced them
(C) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced these companies
(D) not only has captured customers from other phone companies but also these companies have been forced
(E) not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also has forced them

egmat

I have gone through concept files of pronoun. The process is helping me, but it is causing problems in the above kind of questions. Now that I know that a pronoun should have only one antecedent, which should match in number, refer proper meaning, and make sense, I think in Option A Them refers to Companies. Because customers cannot Offer Prices, only sellers can offer. And here the sellers are Companies.
So in that sense, won't Option C become Wordy?
And how to come solve my ambiguity issue? I see that Them can refer to both Customers and Companies, but per the context of logic and sentence, only Companies can offer prices and therefore Them should go with Companies, thereby eliminating any ambiguity.


Your post itself answers the question you posed. Since option A may as well imply that customers are forced to offer prices (not the correct meaning),the pronoun "they" is ambiguous. This is a solid reason for eliminating A.



Thank you for replying.

I agree with you that there is ambiguity. But then, that ambiguity is kind of meaningless. The Q implies that Companies offer price. Consumers cannot offer price to themselves.
OG explanations focus on meaning, so the meaning will be very inappropriate if we modify consumers by Them. Sentence meaning will be accurate if we modify Them with Companies. So here should we not put consumers aside and modify Companies, because that meaning is meaningful.

In many questions OGE tells that an ambiguous meaning that is meaningless, can be ignored, and therefore actual modification can be applied to true meaning.

Can't we apply that above rule in this question?


I can understand the reason for your confusion. But as this one is an official question, we may conclude that GMAT considers such usage ambiguous. If we have to use our practical knowledge to understand the meaning of a sentence, then that sentence would be considered less preferable than one which is self explanatory.
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   14 Aug 2017, 23:52
maybeam wrote:
By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options, such as caller identification and voice mail, the new telecommunications company has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them to offer competitive prices.

(A) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them
(B) has not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also forced them
(C) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced these companies
(D) not only has captured customers from other phone companies but also these companies have been forced
(E) not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also has forced them


The use of them is ambiguous- the way this sentence is written it could literally imply customers have been forced to offer competitive prices or other phone companies. C successfully eliminates the ambiguity.
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   22 Aug 2017, 00:49
'C' is correct - The sentence intends to show the effect of the new telecommunications company on the other phone companies. In the original sentence, however, the antecedent of the pronoun them is unclear; it may refer to companies or to customers. If it refers to customers, the sentence structure illogically has the new company forcing customers to offer competitive prices.
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   03 Apr 2018, 00:03
"them" in option A correctly refers to "companies" and does not refer to "customers". Hence, the usage of "them" is logically and grammatically correct.

As DmitryFarber rightly said, whenever we have an option between noun and pronoun, choose the noun. Hence we should go ahead with Option C
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   13 Dec 2018, 01:18
(A) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them
(B) has not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also forced them
(C) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced these companies
(D) not only has captured customers from other phone companies but also these companies have been forced
(E) not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also has forced them

Not Only X but Y. Except A and C, in all other construction it is wrongly used.

B/w A & C, the choice is them vs these companies. It is always clearer if the noun is used instead of pronoun to avoid ambiguity. Hence, A is a better construction.

Ans: A
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   24 Jul 2019, 06:49
maybeam wrote:
By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options


Guys why is has correct in all the sentence?

I am just starting with prep and really bad at verbal. :please
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   27 Jul 2019, 22:06
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vyascd The use of "has" indicates the present perfect tense. This is commonly used to describe actions that began in the past and are still ongoing ("I have been working out every day") or achievements ("I have run a 5-minute mile"). In this case, the sentence seems to fit both criteria. The company has achieved something, and the effects it is having on its competitors and customers seem to be ongoing, rather than something that happened only in the past. This sentence certainly could have been written in the past, describing past actions only, but there's nothing wrong with the tense it is written in.
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   28 Jul 2019, 01:09
DmitryFarber wrote:
vyascd The use of "has" indicates the present perfect tense. This is commonly used to describe actions that began in the past and are still ongoing ("I have been working out every day") or achievements ("I have run a 5-minute mile"). In this case, the sentence seems to fit both criteria. The company has achieved something, and the effects it is having on its competitors and customers seem to be ongoing, rather than something that happened only in the past. This sentence certainly could have been written in the past, describing past actions only, but there's nothing wrong with the tense it is written in.


DmitryFarber

There are two entities separated by and "By offering ... and a menu"

So I thought it should be have ( because it is plural )

Where am I going wrong?
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By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   24 Mar 2020, 05:11
maybeam wrote:
By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options, such as caller identification and voice mail, the new telecommunications company has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them to offer competitive prices.

(A) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them
(B) has not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also forced them
(C) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced these companies
(D) not only has captured customers from other phone companies but also these companies have been forced
(E) not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also has forced them



(A) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them - Wrong: 1) Pronoun Ambiguity
(B) has not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also forced them - Wrong: 1) Pronoun Ambiguity 2) Idiom
(C) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced these companies - Correct
(D) not only has captured customers from other phone companies but also these companies have been forced - Wrong: 1) 2 Parallelism Issues
(E) not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also has forced them - Wrong: 1) Pronoun Ambiguity 2) Idiom
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   25 Mar 2020, 04:45
DmitryFarber wrote:
There is no absolute rule for identifying the antecedent. "Them" can refer to any plural noun in the sentence, as long as "they," "them," or "their" hasn't already been used to refer to some other plural noun. However, it's important to use sentence structure and whatever you can gather of the author's intent to determine the correct antecedent. The GMAT doesn't test pronoun ambiguity much, but since we have a choice in this case to replace the unclear "them" with the actual noun, it's wise to do so.

As for the word but, it does not necessarily require a comma. You definitely use a comma if it's joining two independent clauses:

I'm enjoying the party, but I have to leave now.

However, there are many other cases where we don't need one:

The robot has a small but powerful engine.
All but one of the guests arrived late.
I aced the verbal section but timed out on the quant.

Or, as we see here . ..

She has not only written three bestselling novels but also developed fifteen important patents.

Note that the use of "has not only" vs. "not only has" cannot be decided in isolation. Either construction could work. "Not only . . . but also" is a parallelism indicator, so we can use "has" afterward as long as it is parallel. In other words, we can say "She has not only X but also Y" or "She not only HAS X but also HAS Y." We just can't say "She not only HAS X but also Y." Having said that, I prefer the usage in the correct answer. There's not much reason to use "has" twice.


this is great explanation. pronoun error is "comparative error". this means pronoun ambiguity can be acceptable in OA, and choice A can be a correct answer if other choices are not better than choice A.

but inhere, pronoun ambiguity is an error because choice C is better. dont always consider a choice incorrect if it contain pronoun ambiguity as choice A dose. this scenario confuse us, the non natives. I call "comparative error" for pronoun ambiguity.
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   23 Apr 2022, 00:24
DmitryFarber wrote:
There is no absolute rule for identifying the antecedent. "Them" can refer to any plural noun in the sentence, as long as "they," "them," or "their" hasn't already been used to refer to some other plural noun. However, it's important to use sentence structure and whatever you can gather of the author's intent to determine the correct antecedent. The GMAT doesn't test pronoun ambiguity much, but since we have a choice in this case to replace the unclear "them" with the actual noun, it's wise to do so.

As for the word but, it does not necessarily require a comma. You definitely use a comma if it's joining two independent clauses:

I'm enjoying the party, but I have to leave now.

However, there are many other cases where we don't need one:

The robot has a small but powerful engine.
All but one of the guests arrived late.
I aced the verbal section but timed out on the quant.

Or, as we see here . ..

She has not only written three bestselling novels but also developed fifteen important patents.

Note that the use of "has not only" vs. "not only has" cannot be decided in isolation. Either construction could work. "Not only . . . but also" is a parallelism indicator, so we can use "has" afterward as long as it is parallel. In other words, we can say "She has not only X but also Y" or "She not only HAS X but also HAS Y." We just can't say "She not only HAS X but also Y." Having said that, I prefer the usage in the correct answer. There's not much reason to use "has" twice.


corect , choice A could be OA but we still has choice C, better choice. so, GMAT normally accept choice A but we have choice C more clear and so, better. we have to choose choice C. pronoun ambiguity is not absolute rule. method of best choice permits GMAT test us ability to analyze meaning and read well.
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   25 Apr 2022, 04:34
MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, egmat, I chose option A over C because:
- 'Them' can only logically refer to phone companies because customers can't offer competitive prices
- Prioritized concision over repetition

Can you please share your views on what should be the strategy in such cases?
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   25 Apr 2022, 05:11
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CrushTHYGMAT wrote:
MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, egmat, I chose option A over C because:
- 'Them' can only logically refer to phone companies because customers can't offer competitive prices
- Prioritized concision over repetition

Can you please share your views on what should be the strategy in such cases?


Hello CrushTHYGMAT,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the exception to pronoun ambiguity only applies if all but one possible referent produce a completely illogical or incoherent meaning; for example, "The brothers recently bought identical cars, and they are both electric." - in this case, pronoun ambiguity does not apply because it is entirely illogical to say that the brothers are electric, meaning "they" can only refer to "cars".

In this sentence, although it does not make much sense in this context, it is not impossible for "customers" to offer lower prices; thus, "them" is ambiguous.

To understand the concept of "Exceptions to Pronoun Ambiguity" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   09 Jul 2022, 04:21
DmitryFarber

Hi,

Would option A] and B] be correct, had we replaced 'them' with the correct noun. Does 'IT' after 'BUT' in option B] creates a problem because otherwise the meaning would be correct.


By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options, such as caller identification and voice mail, the new telecommunications company has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them to offer competitive prices.

(A) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them
(B) has not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also forced them



DmitryFarber wrote:
There is no absolute rule for identifying the antecedent. "Them" can refer to any plural noun in the sentence, as long as "they," "them," or "their" hasn't already been used to refer to some other plural noun. However, it's important to use sentence structure and whatever you can gather of the author's intent to determine the correct antecedent. The GMAT doesn't test pronoun ambiguity much, but since we have a choice in this case to replace the unclear "them" with the actual noun, it's wise to do so.

As for the word but, it does not necessarily require a comma. You definitely use a comma if it's joining two independent clauses:

I'm enjoying the party, but I have to leave now.

However, there are many other cases where we don't need one:

The robot has a small but powerful engine.
All but one of the guests arrived late.
I aced the verbal section but timed out on the quant.

Or, as we see here . ..

She has not only written three bestselling novels but also developed fifteen important patents.

Note that the use of "has not only" vs. "not only has" cannot be decided in isolation. Either construction could work. "Not only . . . but also" is a parallelism indicator, so we can use "has" afterward as long as it is parallel. In other words, we can say "She has not only X but also Y" or "She not only HAS X but also HAS Y." We just can't say "She not only HAS X but also Y." Having said that, I prefer the usage in the correct answer. There's not much reason to use "has" twice.
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Re: By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options [#permalink] New post   09 Jul 2023, 10:57
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