Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had

Question

Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than  they had in their previous camping trip , the Outdoor Club only had enough food for two days.

(A) they had in their previous camping trip

(B) their previous camping trip had had

(C) they had for a previous camping trip

(D) in their previous camping trip

(E) for any previous camping trip

Similar OG SC  :  LINK

Thoughtosphere · Accepted Answer

This is a fantastic question, and I realized that after I incorrectly marked C and was confused between A and C. While solving the question, I thought twice that the question may be wrong, but alas, I missed a point. The catch in the question is Outdoor Club this has to be singular, thus they / their will lead to wrong answer choices. This would smoothly glide you to answer choice "e", which is the better of the five. I hope I don't do this mistake during exams.. :pray

Thanks for sharing such a nice question... :-)

pqhai · Answer

Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than  they had in  their  previous camping trip ,  the Outdoor Club  only had enough food for two days.

a) they  had in their previous camping trip
b) their  previous camping trip had had
c) they  had for a previous camping trip
d)in  their  previous camping trip
A, B, C, and D are wrong because "the Outdoor Club" is singular.

e) for any previous camping trip 
 Correct.

Hope it helps.

prabhakarsharma · Answer

Am confused between A-D and E. In option A-E the pronouns they , their are referring to outdoor club, which should not be plural as its a group. Also if we go with meaning the sentence is talking about the club as a whole and not about its members. thus plural pronoun should not be used .

Because of this only E manages to stay afloat.

Any thoughts ?

sanpreetsingh · Answer

A,B,C,D - Pronoun agreement error. "outdoor club" is singular. 
So referring it with they and their is wrong.

Hence, E is the answer.

hiranmay · Answer

Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than  they had in their previous camping trip ,  the Outdoor Club  only had enough food for two days.

A.  they  had in their previous camping trip

B.  their  previous camping trip had had

C.  they  had for a previous camping trip

D. in  their  previous camping trip

E. for any previous camping trip -->  correct

nightvision · Answer

the outdoor club is singular.

all options, expect E, have either they or their. So E is correct.

JS1290 · Answer

The Outdoor Club - singular. Answer becomes straight E

TheNightKing · Answer

Such an elegant question. After wasting 2 minutes you're like, wait, what the heck. Answer is straight E.
Haha.
Nice one!

Thank you

GDT · Answer

The portion before the comma is a dependent clause which aims to present a contrast as indicated by the use of the word "despite"
what immediately follows the comma is Outdoor club and the first part conveys what this club did 
As the club is singular so it should not be referred to by plural they etc. Thus, E is correct

AlexGmat2017 · Answer

Can anyone explain why E) uses preposition "for" rather than "to"? 
I thougt using "to any previous campaign trip" would be <more parallel> to the phrase "to the campaign".

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jeffarah · Answer

My only issue with this question is that answer E totally changes the Meaning of the sentence.

It states: "for  any  previous camping trip" whereas the original meaning was clearly stated as their  previous  camping trip.

Doesn't meaning hold much more weight on the GMAT? I feel a question like this will not be on the actual test.

Stanindaw · Answer

How many of the options are parallel? I think 4 of them, Am i correct?

sivatx2 · Answer

I believe the question is incorrect. If this SC question, has to claim the same like OG question as mentioned, then "previous camping trips" should have been used in the sentence. The answer choices "for any previous camping trip" means it considers multiple trips, which is not stated in the original sentence and the answer is changing the meaning of the original sentence. It should have been then "for the previous camping trip". All the answer other choices are not selectable as well, as Outdoor Club is singular.

I believe you may have to consider changing from trip to trips.

I believe you may have to consider changing from trip to trips.

Stanindaaaw · Answer

All i want to know is that, if we correct the singular-plural issue, how many options would be correct then in term parallelism?

Posted from my mobile device

tinbq · Answer

Hi experts,

I think pronoun they can refer to a collective noun like a club, please help to explain why it is wrong in this case which does not give any hint for the singularity of the subject. In addition, Is 'to the campground' parallel to 'for a trip'?

Thanks.

StringArgs · Answer

Hi  Narenn

you had mentioned here  https://gmatclub.com/forum/subject-verb-agreement-pronouns-159965.html#p1268059 :
A collective or group noun identifies a single entity that is composed of more than one unit: class, team, faculty, majority, family, series, committee, audience, crowd.
Collective nouns are singular when they act as one unit.
e.g. The committee meets Friday at noon.
e.g. A majority is needed to pass the bill.

But if the context of the sentence emphasizes the individual members of the group, collective nouns are plural.
e.g. The committees  meet  each Friday at noon.

In this example can we not consider The Outdoor Club to be referring to its members (plural) and thus use they?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  StringArgs ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, collective nouns are always singular; a plural pronoun can only be used in relation to the collective noun if its constituents are also referred to elsewhere in the sentence.

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

StringArgs · Answer

Can you please support with examples? (when collective nouns are plural)

VerbalBot · Answer

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Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had

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Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had

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