Responding to a pm:

The thing that puts me off (A) is the use of 'and' to join two sentences which are different thoughts (though related). C improves it a whole lot with the use of the semi colon. It separates the sentences.

As for your question, 'which' does refer to the book. It's acceptable to say that the book/article/paper argues ..., (e.g. the idea could be that the particular written material presents an idea against an accepted notion)
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For Ralph Waldo Emerson, transcendentalism was his professed ideal over a century before the contemporary American environmental movement [u]was launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.

Additional information
1. Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson.
2. Silent Spring is an environmental science book written by Rachel Carson and published in 1962.
The book brought environmental concerns to the American public and inspired an environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The choices are split
1. movement was launched with Silent Spring vs movement launched with Silent Spring vsmovement launched Silent Spring
2. all that it has to offer vs all that it offers.

Points to be considered here
1. For the person R, his movement was his ideal before some other movement launched.
2. this R expressed his beliefs in his essay "Nature" and his beliefs argue that

man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and
all that nature has to offer.

3. both the points 1 and 2, are not related to each other or are Independent events and are not parallel.
Therefore they must be joined by a semicolon or a proper conjunction.
and cannot play the role of conjunction since both the sentences are not parallel.
4. Movement was not launched with the book silent spring by someone, the circumstances led to it.
5. arguing(Verb+ing modifier) implies as if it is resulting form the other events mentioned in the sentence.
6. He did not argue and he just outlined his beliefs in his essay which argued sth.

A. was launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.
error mentioned above in points 3,4,5 and 6 make this choice incorrect.

B. launched itself with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” which argued that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it offers.
(Movement cannot launch itself thereby giving rise to meaning error.
and outlined......... phrase is a misplaced modifier creating a run-on sentence)

C. launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” which argued that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.
both the independent events are separated by a semicolon properly.
Nature essay argued that man..............is perfect and correct.
All errors mentioned above are resolved

D. launched Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; Emerson outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.
movement cannot launch the book silent spring.
Arguing error repeats here.

E. was launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; in it he outlined his beliefs in this essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it offers.
was launched and arguing errors as above repeat here.
Use of pronoun it and starting the sentence with in it created a confusion to what it refers to and usage of pronoun this is wrong and adds to point of confusion here.

I wish someone explains the split choice 2 as well.

For Ralph Waldo Emerson, transcendentalism was his professed ideal over a century before the contemporary American environmental movement was launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.

was launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer. arguing here is incorrect - what does it modify? essay cannot argue. Neither does it modify the whole clause properly

launched itself with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” which argued that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it offers. movement launched itself??? incorrect

launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” which argued that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer. Seems like the best choice - which argued works better. Although I agree launched vs. was launched is questionable But nonetheless launched works here.

launched Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; Emerson outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer. same problem as A. Modifier error

was launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; in it he outlined his beliefs in this essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it offers. it is ambiguous - what is it? movement, essay ?

the which in C seems to refer to "Nature" a essay, so my question is how can a essay argue anything, a person can make an argument through an essay.
In option A "arguing ..... " is used as an adverbial modifier modifying the preceding clause.
For example ->
I wrote on book on genetic, arguing that human cloning is possible.

launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” which argued that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.

Guys why not D...

launched Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; Emerson outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.

Both C and D seems similar...
Even D is more clear in expressing meaning....

In C, how can a pronoun "he" in independent clause refers back to Emerson ????

D is not correct because the 'contemporary American environmental movement' did not launch 'Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring'. A movement does not launch a book. Instead, a book launches a movement.

In the first part of the sentence, we are talking about 'Ralph Waldo Emerson'. 'he' is naturally referring to him.

Take another example:
I love my brother; he is witty and caring.

Who does 'he' refer to here? Obviously, it refers to 'my brother'.
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But I still don't understand 2 things :

1. "The contemporary American environmental movement was launched"
vs
"The contemporary American environmental movement launched"

An environmental movement cannot launch itself right? The movement always needs to be launched by others ...

Hence to me "The contemporary American environmental movement was launched..." is correct
and "The contemporary American environmental movement launched ..." is incorrect


2. To me "arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer" is correctly modifying the previous clause. What is wrong with arguing here

Please correct me where I am wrong here

For Ralph Waldo Emerson, transcendentalism was his professed ideal over a century before the contemporary American environmental movement was launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.

A. was launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.
'was launched' is not appropriate here ...the portion after "and" is not parallel to the first part

B. launched itself with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” which argued that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it offers.
and outlined" makes it as if the movement outlined the beliefs...

C. launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” which argued that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.
the second part of the sentence is written as an independent sentence, resolving all issues.. CORRECT

D. launched Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; Emerson outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.
'with' missing ,changing the meaning...

E. was launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; in it he outlined his beliefs in this essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it offers.
"was" and "in it" make the sentence incorrect
ans C

"it" refers to "nature's beauty". The noun is "beauty".
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I still dont buy this totally. If I change your example to I love my brother Jack while Jack loves James; he is really witty. Now who does he here refer to? my brother Jack or James?

A. was launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.

C. launched with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” which argued that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer.

The bold portions make C a better answer than A.

Note that in the original sentence, there is no ambiguity (unlike the example you have given). If "he" doesn't refer to Emerson, who does it refer to? There is no other possible person since Rachel Carson (a feminine name) is anyway used in possessive case only. Hence, it is quite clear that "he" refers to Emerson.
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man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it offers.

In all the options one thing is awkward....nature's beauty....here nature is in possessive form....
is it correct to use pronoun 'it' for possessive nature's ....and all that it offers.... ??

expert please reply??

"it" refers to "nature's beauty". The noun is beauty.
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please refer the part
" he outlined his beliefs in his essay, “Nature,” arguing that man does not fully accept nature’s beauty and all that it has to offer"

as per the intended meaning ...man does not fully accept what nature has all to offer not nature's beauty ...what does nature's beauty has to offer to mam??

How about "a sense of pride", "a feeling of belongingness" and whatever else poets can think of?

Though I am not sure why you are questioning the non-underlined part. The question is not trying to confuse you by asking what you think the author means.

Also, though we do not use a nominative/objective case pronoun when the antecedent is possessive but GMAT will not ask you to decide based on this distinction alone. Check this post for more: https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2016/0 ... -the-gmat/
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Does "it" refer to the closest noun always?

Not necessary. A pronoun takes the logical antecedent. Here is a post discussing pronoun ambiguity:
https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2016/0 ... -the-gmat/
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Hi Chetan2u,
Can you kindly explain why was launched is not correct here. whether the movement launched itself as in B or launched with something as in C or launched something as in D, all in active voice. Can a movement do such acts? Or is it better to say in passive voice that the movement was launched’. For me, the movement cant launch itself, someone needs to launch it.