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egmat
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Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it 27 Oct 2022, 06:26
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jim441
I chose B because it was the best choice among all, although use of "they" seems ambiguous as "they" can refer to "Elk" or mountains.
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Hello jim441,

Great job in solving this official question correctly. :thumbs-up:

I just want to add here that the use of the pronoun "they" is not at all ambiguous. The context of the sentence makes it super clear that "they" can only refer to "Elk" because an animal can be found all over the continent. However, it is a little unlikely for a mountain range to extend through the entire continent.

The point to note here is that just the presence of multiple nouns that agree in number with the pronoun in the sentence does not make the pronoun ambiguous. A pronoun is called ambiguous only when more than one noun stands as the logical antecedent of the pronoun.


Hope this helps. :)
Thanks.
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Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it 27 Oct 2022, 07:00
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egmat
jim441
I chose B because it was the best choice among all, although use of "they" seems ambiguous as "they" can refer to "Elk" or mountains.


Hello jim441,

Great job in solving this official question correctly. :thumbs-up:

I just want to add here that the use of the pronoun "they" is not at all ambiguous. The context of the sentence makes it super clear that "they" can only refer to "Elk" because an animal can be found all over the continent. However, it is a little unlikely for a mountain range to extend through the entire continent.

The point to note here is that just the presence of multiple nouns that agree in number with the pronoun in the sentence does not make the pronoun ambiguous. A pronoun is called ambiguous only when more than one noun stands as the logical antecedent of the pronoun.


Hope this helps. :)
Thanks.
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Thanks alot. It all makes sense now.

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Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it 29 Oct 2022, 20:35
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himanshu0123
in B] how do I identify that 'it' is a placeholder and not a pronoun error
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First, you do need to have memorized the basic form of this type of sentence in which "it" is a placeholder:
It is [ADJ] that [COMPLETE SENTENCE].

I think it's probably safe to assume that you know at least this basic formulation (since otherwise you probably wouldn't be asking about this type of construction), but, if not, please say so.

From there, you just need a familiar transformation.

In the same way you could take the sentence
It is easy to learn these words
and transform it (in an appropriate context) into
...make(s) it easy to learn these words,

you can do the same thing with
It is [ADJ] that [COMPLETE SENTENCE]
—>
[i]...make(s) it [ADJ] that [COMPLETE SENTENCE].
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Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it 01 Nov 2022, 05:57
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Hi,
Is the usage of 'it' as a placeholder correct in the sentence below.

''Negotiating carefully every bend on the long curving road, the truck drivers who were accustomed to driving heavy vehicles found it difficult to control the recently launched light weight trucks''

ExpertsGlobal5
himanshu0123
in B] how do I identify that 'it' is a placeholder and not a pronoun error


Hello himanshu0123,

We hope this finds you well.

"it" can be identified as a placeholder pronoun, and thus not subject to the pronoun error of lacking a referent, if there is a suitable "that"/"who"/"whether" clause that "it" can refer to.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it 01 Nov 2022, 06:16
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RonTargetTestPrep

I did not understand it fully. Could you please share some examples?

Is the usage of 'IT' correct below?

''The truck drivers who were accustomed to driving heavy vehicles found it difficult to control the recently launched light weight trucks''


RonTargetTestPrep
himanshu0123
in B] how do I identify that 'it' is a placeholder and not a pronoun error

First, you do need to have memorized the basic form of this type of sentence in which "it" is a placeholder:
It is [ADJ] that [COMPLETE SENTENCE].

I think it's probably safe to assume that you know at least this basic formulation (since otherwise you probably wouldn't be asking about this type of construction), but, if not, please say so.

From there, you just need a familiar transformation.

In the same way you could take the sentence
It is easy to learn these words
and transform it (in an appropriate context) into
...make(s) it easy to learn these words,

you can do the same thing with
It is [ADJ] that [COMPLETE SENTENCE]
—>
[i]...make(s) it [ADJ] that [COMPLETE SENTENCE].
Show more
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Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it 01 Nov 2022, 06:31
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Hey himanshu0123,

Happy to help.

Your sentence: Negotiating carefully every bend on the long curving road, the truck drivers who were accustomed to driving heavy vehicles found it difficult to control the recently launched light weight trucks.

Yes, the use of the placeholder 'it' in this sentence is correct.


Happy Learning!


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Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it 04 Feb 2023, 22:29
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GMATNinja @everyone else
No concrete explanation I could find for C.
the only thing I could think of is the logical intention of using "but still" to modify a previous. I would think but still will signal a concession from a contrast to the current situation (elk's current habitat). there was nothing in the main clause that would be contrast to the elk's ability to once range all over the place.
(E) use of since in E seems to be have the same flaw.

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Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it 24 Feb 2023, 11:48
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No concrete explanation I could find for C.

the only thing I could think of is the logical intention of using "but still" to modify a previous. I would think but still will signal a concession from a contrast to the current situation (elk's current habitat). there was nothing in the main clause that would be contrast to the elk's ability to once range all over the place.

(E) use of since in E seems to be have the same flaw.

Thanks!
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(C) doesn't have any clear and obvious grammar mistakes, but it does have several little meaning issues.

Quote:
"...living now solely almost in the Rocky Mountains..."
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The elk are now only living almost in the Rocky Mountains? The "almost" should come before "solely" (as in choice B) to make it clear that "almost" modifies "solely" and not the prepositional phrase ("in the Rocky Mountains").

As written, (C) seems to suggest that the elk are living near the Rocky Mountains (not quite IN the Rocky Mountains -- ALMOST in the Rocky Mountains). Does that mean that I'll have elk in my tiny little backyard near downtown Denver? Sounds great! ;)

Quote:
"It would seem that elk would be mountain dwellers because of their living now solely almost in the Rocky Mountains"
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The meaning of the "because of" part is unclear. Does this mean that elk dwell in the mountains BECAUSE they live now solely almost in the Rocky Mountains? That doesn't make any sense.

Yes, the reader can eventually figure out the logical meaning. But the cause-and-effect relationship (and the overall meaning) is much clearer in (B):

Quote:
"The fact that elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains would make it seem that they are mountain dwellers."
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What makes it seem that the elk are mountain dwellers? The fact that elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains. And that meaning is perfectly clear and logical.

Quote:
"but still"
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We could drive ourselves nuts trying to analyze the word "still", but I would argue that it's unnecessary at best, and potentially a little bit confusing.

The word "still" is often used to convey the idea that something happens DESPITE something else. For example:

    "Tim's car has faulty brakes, but still, it drives like a dream."

In this example, "still" is basically a synonym for "nevertheless" or "in spite of". Basically because the brakes are faulty, we would NOT expect the car to drive like a dream; nevertheless, it does in fact drive like a dream.

So I guess we could argue that the timing of the "but still" logic seems off: in spite of something that's happening now ("it would seem..."), the elk did something in the past ("they once ranged..."). It would make sense for something to be happening now IN SPITE OF something that happened in the past, but in (C) the "cause" seems to come after the "effect".

Sure, we could probably come up with an example where that sort of timing makes sense, but in this case it just adds to the confusion.

Is the use of "still" absolutely WRONG? Maybe not. But the meaning is a little bit easier to follow without it.

Again: I wouldn't overthink the use of "still" in this case, mostly because we have plenty of other reasons to pick (B) over (C). So don't lose too much sleep over it.

One last thing:

Quote:
"It would seem..."
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Even though there's nothing inherently wrong with using "it" as a non-referential pronoun in a situation like this one, why use one if you don't have to? That's another vote in favor of (B) over (C).

Again, (C) doesn't violate any straightforward rules, but when we compare it to (B), we see that (B) is a much better, clearer option.

I hope that helps!
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Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it 01 Oct 2023, 08:44
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singh_amit19
Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it seem that elk are mountain dwellers, while they once ranged over virtually all of the continental United States except for a small strip in the extreme Southwest.


A. Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it seem that elk are mountain dwellers, while

B. The fact that elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains would make it seem that they are mountain dwellers, but

C. It would seem that elk would be mountain dwellers because of their living now solely almost in the Rocky Mountains, but still

D. Now living almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, it would seem that elk were mountain dwellers, although

E. It seems that elk would be mountain dwellers from the fact that they now live solely almost in the Rocky Mountains, since
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My approach to the question:

A. 'which' Modifier issue (the Rocky Mountains) therefore incorrect

B. I was skeptical about the use of 'it' and 'they' as both of them didn't have an apparent reference, but as other options suggest 'Elk" here is referred to as plural so 'they' definitely refers back to elk and 'it' could probably refer to 'The fact'. correct

C. no clear referent for 'It'. incorrect

D. Modifier issue. incorrect

E. same as C. incorrect
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