268. During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in tens of thousands of Americans being evicted from homes that they canno longer afford monthly payments.
(A) that they can
(B) that they could
(C) on which they can
(D) because they can
(E) for which they could

First Take - Can VS Could
Could is correct as the entire sentence is in the past tense and hence can would not be in sync....
Hence A, C, D are out...

B says that they could ... they is not sure whether it is Americans or Homes... hence B is out.. (an introduction of that after homes... makes homes a subject and hence creates this cconfusion)

E is a clear winner... which states.... homes for which they could....... and hence correct (if that is not present after homes... homes would be treated as an object and they would not refer to it in any form)

IMO E). Here we are talking about past and so it requires conditional past (could) and we are referring homes and so it requires which since "that" cannot be used for things.

a simple to thing toremember here is that we usually eliminate 'which' because it refers to a noun preceding it. but remember that if a preposition precedes 'which', then this yardstick must not be applied

IMO:

Option d is also wrong because That is being used as a subordinator, and it is not clear what verb is being modified by it.

Its also the wrong subordinator! Because, As, For, or Since should be used.

no its not a subordinator!!
citizens of many countries are expressing concern THAT the enviromentmental damage caused by widespread release of green house gasses maybe impossible to reverse.

could > can

can is used for general ability, could is used for possibility

I could pay my taxes. ----> Expresses possibility. If I have nothing else to do with the money, I might pay taxes.

IMO:

Can the phrase "the enviromentmental damage caused by widespread release of green house gasses maybe impossible to reverse" stand as an independent clause? If so, then you have a run on sentence.

I think in the example you have cited, if THAT is not a subordinator then the sentence is a run on sentence.

this sentence is perfectly correct. using essential modifier doesnt make a run on sentnce. although despite inspite of because make run on sentnces. who has told u 'that' is a subordinator? the clause before 'that' need not have a verb.

roshanaslam: MGMAT indicates that all relative pronouns can be used as subordinators (sorry for the late reply)

went with D.. Because looked a better choice but didnt notice 'can' tense mistake

Got it wrong, the answer is E i guess...
Good to know that in general "which" must be preceded by a noun. However, if a preposition is attached before which as in this case "For Which..." then this case does not apply..

E it is ....in option D) "can" is wrongly used ...it should be past tense "could"

E. Which can be used because preposition is used before it.

abhimahna and GMATNinja

I get really confused about the pronoun usage. The rule is that a pronoun must have only one antecedent and "it should make sense". But "they" in this question can logically refer to only AMERICANS because if we say "that homes could/can no longer afford payments...", it does not make sense.

Am I thinking in the wrong direction?

'that' and 'which' both can be used for things. Difference is 'that' is used for general things but 'which' is used to refer specific things.
As in this case we are talking about those specific homes, 'which' is preferred here.

During the recession of 1973, home mortgage foreclosures resulted in tens of thousands of Americans being evicted from homes that they canno longer afford monthly payments.
(A) that they can
(B) that they could
(C) on which they can
(D) because they can
(E) for which they could
this one is hard.
look at choice D.
I think, can/could is a problem in D but there is another problem
"because they can no longer pay monthly payment" is not clear. payment for what. the sentence should be
because they can no longer pay monthly payment for the homes"

in contrast, choice E is more logic. the ideas in choice E are connected logically

this is the reason why choice D is wrong.

Since the original sentence included "resulted" which is past tense, we should also have a consistent past tense verb here ("could"). Therefore, eliminate A, C, and D.

since "that" come directly after "home", the "they" would refer to "homes", but homes cannot do the human action of affording mortgages. Therefore, B wrong.

Use of "for which":

Relevant example:

Incorrect: the restaurant I ate at.
Correct: the restaurant at which I ate.

Therefore, by plugging in E, we could translate the clause to home which they can no longer afford monthly payments for. Correct.
_________________

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
_________________