Factories in southern states like Georgia and Mississippi employed mor

Question

Factories in southern states like Georgia and Mississippi employed more than 300,000 workers in the late nineteenth century, but they  were driven out of business by increasing federal taxes as well as a labor supply that migrated north in the hope of finding better wages.

A. Factories in southern states like Georgia and Mississippi employed more than 300,000 workers in the late nineteenth century, but they
 
B. More than 300,000 workers had been employed by factories in southern states such as Georgia and Mississippi in the late nineteenth century, but they
 
C. In the late nineteenth century, more than 300,000 workers were employed by factories in southern states such as Georgia and Mississippi, but they
 
D. More than 300,000 workers had been employed by factories in southern states like Georgia and Mississippi in the late nineteenth century, but these factories
 
E. Factories in southern states such as Georgia and Mississippi employed more than 300,000 workers in the late nineteenth century, but these factories

AnotherGmater · Answer

A and D are out, because both are using "Like" where "Such as" is needed.
B and C are out, because of the pronoun error "but  they "; here "they" is referring to Workers not Factories.
E fixes all the above issues.

Abhishek009 · Answer

Answer will be (E) , for the highlighted errors in the other options...

akashbolster · Answer

In Option D is "had been" right? because here we are talking about earlier event.

tarunanandani · Answer

+1 for E. 
The errors are highlighted in red. Options B and C have pronoun, 'they', ambiguity. Options A and D incorrectly use 'like' for examples.

surendrasaini1 · Answer

Factories in southern states like Georgia and Mississippi employed more than 300,000 workers in the late nineteenth century, but they  were driven out of business by increasing federal taxes as well as a labor supply that migrated north in the hope of finding better wages.

1. Factories in southern states like Georgia and Mississippi employed more than 300,000 workers in the late nineteenth century, but they(use of like is incorrect)

2. More than 300,000 workers had been employed by factories in southern states such as Georgia and Mississippi in the late nineteenth century, but they(wrong verb tense,passive construction,pronoun they reference is not clear)

3. In the late nineteenth century, more than 300,000 workers were employed by factories in southern states such as Georgia and Mississippi, but they(passive construction)

4. More than 300,000 workers had been employed by factories in southern states like Georgia and Mississippi in the late nineteenth century, but these factories(use of like is incorrect)

5. Factories in southern states such as Georgia and Mississippi employed more than 300,000 workers in the late nineteenth century, but these factories(correct)

I will go with option no 5

Thanks

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aragonn · Answer

Question Explanation: 
Since the underlined portion of the sentence contains the pronoun they, check that it agrees unambiguously with its referent. The plural pronoun they could refer to factories, states, or workers. This is a pronoun ambiguity error, so eliminate choice A and look for any obvious repeaters. Choices B and C are obvious repeaters because they both contain the plural pronoun they, so eliminate choices B and C. Now, evaluate the remaining answer choices individually, looking for reasons to eliminate each.

Choice D fixes the original pronoun ambiguity error by replacing the pronoun they with the phrase these factories, but the use of the word like suggests that the factories were located in states similar to Georgia and Mississippi, not states actually including Georgia and Mississippi. This is an idiom error, since such as is the correct idiom to mean for example. Also, this choice changes the subject of the sentence from factories to more than 300,000 workers, thus changing the meaning of the sentence. Eliminate choice D. Choice E fixes the original pronoun ambiguity error by replacing the pronoun they with the phrase these factories, and introduces no new errors, so keep choice E.

Alternatively, if it is difficult to spot the grammar rule the sentence is testing, another strategy is to identify an error from the answers by looking for either a 2/3 split or differences among the answers. Because three of the answer choices end with but they and two answer choices end with but these factories, this difference is an indication to look for pronoun ambiguity errors.

Choice A: No. The plural pronoun they could refer to factories, states, or workers. Pronoun ambiguity.

Choice B: No. The plural pronoun they could refer to factories, states, or workers. Pronoun ambiguity.

Choice C: No. The plural pronoun they could refer to factories, states, or workers. Pronoun ambiguity.

Choice D: No. Like is incorrectly used instead of such as. Idiom.

Choice E: Correct.

The correct answer is choice E.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Factories in southern states like Georgia and Mississippi employed mor

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Factories in southern states like Georgia and Mississippi employed mor

Prep Toolkit

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