KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

(D)

Step 1: Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors

Whenever a sentence contains an underlined pronoun, you should assess pronoun-antecedent agreement. This sentence contains the underlined pronoun “they,” which is plural. Since the plural pronoun “they” refers to “an actor,” which is a singular noun, the lack of agreement between the pronoun and its antecedent is an error in the sentence.

Step 2: Scan and Group the Answer Choices

All of the answer choices contain “they,” so for the pronoun and antecedent to agree, the antecedent must be changed to something plural,such as “actors.” (A) and (B) start with “an actor,” while (C), (D), and (E) begin with “actors.”

Step 3: Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains

Eliminate (A) and (B) for the pronoun agreement error discussed above. Examining the remainingchoices, note that (C) is wordy and subtly distorts the meaning of the original sentence; the original talks about how any actor should (not) be classified, while this choice limits the discussion to actors already classified as elite. (E) must be eliminated, because “automatically” should modify “should . . . be classified,” not “elite.” This leaves (D) as the correct answer; it fixes the pronoun agreement error and introduces no new errors.
_________________

Film critics often cite the example of Nicolas Cage’s winning the Academy Award for Best Actor as a reason that an actor should not automatically be classified as elite if they win an Academy Award.


A. an actor should not automatically be classified as elite if they win an Academy Award - an actor and they – wrong

B. an actor automatically classified as elite because they won an Academy Award should not always be classified as such -----same error as in A

C. actors automatically classified as elite because they won an Academy Award should not always be classified as such— The shift of tense from present to past is wrong. In addition, compared to D, this is wordy.

D. actors should not automatically be classified as elite if they win an Academy Award – the correct choice

E. actors should not be classified as automatically elite if they win an Academy Award – Changed meaning in saying ‘automatically elite’

D is the choice
_________________