Last visit was: 10 Jul 2025, 07:28 It is currently 10 Jul 2025, 07:28
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
655-705 Level|   Modifiers|   Pronouns|   Use of Being|   Verb Tense/Form|                                 
User avatar
kornn
Joined: 28 Jan 2017
Last visit: 18 Dec 2021
Posts: 358
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 832
Posts: 358
Kudos: 91
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
IanStewart
User avatar
GMAT Tutor
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Last visit: 09 Jul 2025
Posts: 4,140
Own Kudos:
10,603
 [1]
Given Kudos: 97
 Q51  V47
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 4,140
Kudos: 10,603
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
avatar
maggiesomi
avatar
Current Student
Joined: 15 Jun 2019
Last visit: 13 Jul 2022
Posts: 14
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 40
Location: United States (CA)
GMAT 1: 640 Q49 V27
GPA: 3.58
GMAT 1: 640 Q49 V27
Posts: 14
Kudos: 1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
GMATNinja
User avatar
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Last visit: 10 July 2025
Posts: 7,349
Own Kudos:
68,493
 [3]
Given Kudos: 1,963
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Products:
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Posts: 7,349
Kudos: 68,493
 [3]
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
maggiesomi
Hi GMATNinja,
Could you help me to clarify why does the sentence use 'miss' instead of 'misses' in 'is likely to make an executive miss signs'? I thought executive is the one misses the signs of troubles, so I went C from E. Please help me :angel: Thank you.
Consider these examples:

  • "Tim studies for the test." - In this case, "Tim" is the subject, so the verb ("studies") must agree with "Tim".
  • "Tim's wife makes him study for the test." - Why do we use "him" instead of "he"? Because "Tim" is the object of the verb "makes", not the subject of the verb "study". With this special construction, we do NOT need the form of "to study" to match with the implied subject ("Tim"). Instead, we simply use the infinitive form (without the "to"). The general pattern for this situation (when somebody makes someone do something) is: form of "to make" + object + infinitive (without the "to").
  • "Lack of focus is likely to make Tim fail the test." - This is similar to the previous example, only a bit different because of the "likely" - now we have the infinitive form "to make." Otherwise, the construction is the same.

Notice that the construction in the third example is exactly the same as the construction in choice (E): "Being... is likely to make an executive miss signs..." So, once again, we are using the infinitive without the "to" ("miss"), not the form of "to miss" that matches "executive".

I hope that helps!
User avatar
shanks2020
Joined: 02 Dec 2018
Last visit: 21 Mar 2024
Posts: 239
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 70
Posts: 239
Kudos: 36
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
marine
Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.


A. Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

B. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that worked well in the past, makes missing signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting ones likely when they do appear.

C. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action is likely to miss or misinterpret signs of incipient trouble when they do appear, especially if it has worked well in the past.

D. Executives' being heavily committed to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes them likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting them when they do appear.

E. Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

OG16 SC110


Attachment:
001.jpg
Attachment:
002.jpg
Attachment:
003.jpg
Attachment:
004.jpg

Hi GMATNinja AndrewN

Why can't "IT" in option A act as a placeholder pronoun?
avatar
AndrewN
avatar
Volunteer Expert
Joined: 16 May 2019
Last visit: 29 Mar 2025
Posts: 3,502
Own Kudos:
7,372
 [1]
Given Kudos: 500
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 3,502
Kudos: 7,372
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
shanks2020
Hi GMATNinja AndrewN

Why can't "IT" in option A act as a placeholder pronoun?
Hello, shanks2020. I think Marty Murray did an excellent job exploring this very question above, in this post. It should help answer your question.

Happy reading, and thank you for thinking to ask me about this question.

- Andrew
avatar
OjhaShishir
Joined: 19 Dec 2019
Last visit: 10 Mar 2021
Posts: 31
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 6
Posts: 31
Kudos: 20
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
MartyTargetTestPrep
"It" can be used as you described, as it is in the following example.

    The telescope makes it easy to see details of faraway objects.

We can confirm that "it" is used logically by substituting the infinitive for "it."

    The telescope makes to see details of faraway objects easy.

However, "it" does not work logically in that way in this instance, as we can see by substituting the infinitive for "it."

    Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action makes to miss signs of incipient trouble likely.

Since that version is not logical, we can't really say that "it" is used logically.
Hello MartyTargetTestPrep, I am slightly confused because I do find this quite logical:

    Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action makes to miss signs of incipient trouble likely.
.

Can you suggest what is illogical about the above sentence :?
User avatar
AjiteshArun
User avatar
Major Poster
Joined: 15 Jul 2015
Last visit: 01 Jun 2025
Posts: 5,949
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 732
Location: India
GMAT Focus 1: 715 Q83 V90 DI83
GMAT 1: 780 Q50 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V169
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT Focus 1: 715 Q83 V90 DI83
GMAT 1: 780 Q50 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V169
Posts: 5,949
Kudos: 5,055
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi OjhaShishir,

The meaning issue here is that option A does not identify who is likely to miss signs of incipient trouble. However, I'd also say that it appears as if the it in option A refers to something else (not the infinitive).

{something} makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble... ← The it clearly is not a very good way to refer to an executive, so it seems as if the it doesn't point to anything in the sentence.
User avatar
Rubal733
Joined: 18 Aug 2018
Last visit: 19 Jan 2021
Posts: 11
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 22
Posts: 11
Kudos: 3
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
GMATNinja
This is one of the OG questions that causes the most trouble, partly because a lot of GMAT test-takers have an (occasionally incorrect) impulse to automatically eliminate any answer choice with the word "being."

But we'll get to that. Let's take these buggers in order:

Quote:
A. Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

That second "it" is the big problem here: "makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble..." I suppose that "it" could refer to "heavy commitment" or "course of action", but neither of those would make any sense. (A) is gone.

Quote:
B. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that worked well in the past, makes missing signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting ones likely when they do appear.

This is fairly subtle, but the subject doesn't make a whole lot of sense with the main verb here. "An executive... makes missing signs of incipient trouble... likely when they do appear." The pronoun "they" is OK, but it doesn't make logical sense to say that "an executive makes missing signs of trouble likely..." Also, I see no good reason use "ones" here -- in theory, "ones" would refer to very specific signs of trouble, and there's no good reason to use "ones" when a simple "them" would work. (B) is gone.

Quote:
C. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action is likely to miss or misinterpret signs of incipient trouble when they do appear, especially if it has worked well in the past.

The "it" is a problem here: "it" generally refers to the nearest singular noun. In this case, "it" would seem to refer to "trouble," and that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. "Course of action" would work, but that's much farther back in the sentence.

To be fair, ambiguous pronouns aren't always wrong on the GMAT, so if you want to be conservative, you could keep (C) for now. But as we'll see in a moment, (E) is a much better option.

Quote:
D. Executives’ being heavily committed to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes them likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting them when they do appear.

"Them" is trying to refer back to a possessive pronoun, "executives'", and that's wrong on the GMAT. Non-possessive pronouns (they, them, he, she, it) can't refer back to possessive nouns on the GMAT. So (D) is gone.

Quote:
E. Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

There are lots of pronoun issues in the other answer choices, but we're all good with (E): the ambiguous "it" we saw in (C) isn't here at all, and "them" and "they" very clearly refer to "signs of incipient trouble." The subject "being heavily committed to a course of action" works nicely with the main verb phrase ("is likely to make an executive miss signs of trouble..."), so (E) is an upgrade from (B).

That leaves "being" as the only reasonable objection to (E). But "being" is absolutely fine here: it's just a noun, also known as a gerund in this case. "Being" is no different than any other gerund. So (E) is our answer.

Please see last Monday's Topic of the Week for more on gerunds and other "-ing" words on the GMAT: https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... 39780.html.


'Being heavily committed' should directly modifies the ' Executive'? should't it?
for the same reason i cancelled E out.
User avatar
GMATNinja
User avatar
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Last visit: 10 July 2025
Posts: 7,349
Own Kudos:
68,493
 [1]
Given Kudos: 1,963
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Products:
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Posts: 7,349
Kudos: 68,493
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Rubal733
GMATNinja
Quote:
E. Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

There are lots of pronoun issues in the other answer choices, but we're all good with (E): the ambiguous "it" we saw in (C) isn't here at all, and "them" and "they" very clearly refer to "signs of incipient trouble." The subject "being heavily committed to a course of action" works nicely with the main verb phrase ("is likely to make an executive miss signs of trouble..."), so (E) is an upgrade from (B).

That leaves "being" as the only reasonable objection to (E). But "being" is absolutely fine here: it's just a noun, also known as a gerund in this case. "Being" is no different than any other gerund. So (E) is our answer.

Please see last Monday's Topic of the Week for more on gerunds and other "-ing" words on the GMAT: https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... 39780.html.


'Being heavily committed' should directly modifies the ' Executive'? should't it?
for the same reason i cancelled E out.
"Being" is actually the subject of the sentence in this case and functions as a noun, not a modifier: "Being {...} is likely to make..." For more on "being", check out this article.
User avatar
CEdward
Joined: 11 Aug 2020
Last visit: 14 Apr 2022
Posts: 1,212
Own Kudos:
247
 [1]
Given Kudos: 332
Posts: 1,212
Kudos: 247
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
GMATNinja Thanks for this insight. Small tips here and there seem like they can move oceans on test day.

How do we recognize whether being is a 'gerund'? Are there any ways to identify that? Whenever I read 'being' or any gerund for that matter, most of the time they just seem like verbs to me.
User avatar
GMATNinja
User avatar
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Last visit: 10 July 2025
Posts: 7,349
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 1,963
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Products:
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Posts: 7,349
Kudos: 68,493
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
CEdward
GMATNinja Thanks for this insight. Small tips here and there seem like they can move oceans on test day.

How do we recognize whether being is a 'gerund'? Are there any ways to identify that? Whenever I read 'being' or any gerund for that matter, most of the time they just seem like verbs to me.
I'm glad that you find these tips useful! For more on "being", check out this article.
avatar
pk6969
Joined: 25 May 2020
Last visit: 02 Jan 2022
Posts: 136
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 70
Location: India
Concentration: Finance, General Management
GPA: 3.2
Posts: 136
Kudos: 14
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
how do we know that second IT in option 2 is not a dummy pronoun?
User avatar
GMATNinja
User avatar
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Last visit: 10 July 2025
Posts: 7,349
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 1,963
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Products:
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Posts: 7,349
Kudos: 68,493
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
pk6969
how do we know that second IT in option 2 is not a dummy pronoun?
Context! :)

Consider an example:

    "The chainsaw Tim bought his children was a bad idea, not only because it came without safety guards or instructions, but because it is generally a bad idea to buy power tools for toddlers."

Notice that the first "it" is clearly referring to the "chainsaw." So far so good. Because there's a second "it," my initial thought is that this pronoun has the same antecedent as the first one. After all, one could say that a "chainsaw" is a "bad idea."

But after rereading the second portion, you can see that it doesn't work. The phrase "a chainsaw is generally a bad idea to buy power tools for toddlers" is nonsense. You could argue that the second "it" is a dummy pronoun, but the usage is less than ideal, because it's awfully confusing when you first read the sentence.

(A) is even worse. Take another look:

Quote:
Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

The first "it" seems to be referring to a "course of action," so initially, it's reasonable to assume that the second "it" is doing the same. Of course, it's illogical to write that "a course of action is likely to miss signs," but "it" also wouldn't work as a dummy pronoun.

When I write "it is snowing," there's no subject that could be performing the main action of the sentence, so I'm clearly using the "it" as a dummy pronoun, invoking an abstract state of affairs, or a general condition. But when I write "it is likely to miss signs", it stands to reason that I'm referring to some concrete entity that's missing signs -- probably a person or a group of people. The big problem with (E) is that there's nothing "it" could refer to, as we can't use "it" to refer to an executive.

Because "it" doesn't work as a dummy pronoun in (E) and also has no logical referent, we know that the usage is incorrect.

I hope that helps!
avatar
Laksh47
Joined: 01 Mar 2020
Last visit: 18 Apr 2021
Posts: 25
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 65
Posts: 25
Kudos: 4
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hello experts,

I wanted to ask can the second "it" not be a placeholder pronoun in option (A)? Does it necessarily need to have an antecedent (which makes it ambiguous) ?

Thanks in advance.
User avatar
Shef08
Joined: 01 Jan 2019
Last visit: 01 Apr 2025
Posts: 84
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 111
Location: Canada
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
GPA: 3.24
Posts: 84
Kudos: 33
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
A. Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.
First It, what does it refer to? Heavy commitment, course of action? Ambiguous. Mark a red flag. Second it, again what does it refer to? Also heavy commitment makes it likely to miss signs!! Naah sounds incorrect. A is out

B. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that worked well in the past, makes missing signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting ones likely when they do appear.
Meaning implies that commitment to a course of action makes an executive likely to miss or misinterpret signs. However, B says that an executive makes missing signs. Incorrect meaning, B is out.

C. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action is likely to miss or misinterpret signs of incipient trouble when they do appear, especially if it has worked well in the past.
Placement of especially changes the systematic grammar of the sentence. Especially if it... past should me modifying course of action, because that’s what the sentence is talking about. I’ll not pay too much attention to this one and move forward.

D. Executives' being heavily committed to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes them likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting them when they do appear.
Non- Possessive pronoun referring to possessive noun. Will leave this out.

E. Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.
So this one is nice and crisp. It fills in the void of all incorrect choices above. The modifier especially correctly modifies course of action. Them and they both refer to signs. Although being is used, but the other grounds of the answer is solid. Will stick to this. E is our champ.

Hit kudos

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
Shef08
Joined: 01 Jan 2019
Last visit: 01 Apr 2025
Posts: 84
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 111
Location: Canada
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
GPA: 3.24
Posts: 84
Kudos: 33
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Laksh47
Hello experts,

I wanted to ask can the second "it" not be a placeholder pronoun in option (A)? Does it necessarily need to have an antecedent (which makes it ambiguous) ?

Thanks in advance.



Hey Laksh47,

I am going to try and answer your question. GMAT has clear rules for pronouns, they must have antecedents. Per my understanding of the exam and the course, Meaning of the sentence precedes Pronoun ambiguity. Even if we were to consider pronoun ambiguity and go with answer choice A, it clearly misses the meaning aspect.
Try reading the sentence like this:

“Heavy commitment makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear”

Now ask yourself what is this it? If you say it is the object of the sentence, then that’s wrong on the gmat again. Because pronouns need nouns as antecedents. If it is not an object that what is the object of the sentence and why do we need It then?


Let me know if you have any more questions.
Happy to help.

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
gagan0303
Joined: 13 Sep 2020
Last visit: 17 Dec 2022
Posts: 110
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 413
Location: India
GMAT 1: 690 Q49 V34
GMAT 1: 690 Q49 V34
Posts: 110
Kudos: 14
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
GMATNinja why can't 'it' in A refer back to executives?
avatar
psls
Joined: 27 Jan 2021
Last visit: 12 Dec 2023
Posts: 33
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 131
Posts: 33
Kudos: 9
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi Experts,

GMATNinja egmat

I got some questions.

Question 1:
Quote:
Can we eliminate (A), (D) from using "makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble"?
Does "make + noun + likely to verb" grammatically correct?
In grammar rule, the verb "make" MUST be followed by verb infinitive without "to".
Therefore, in this case, I'm not sure that [likely to miss...] acts as adverbial modifier instead of verb.


Question 2:
Quote:
Can we eliminate (B) from using "makes missing".
Does "make + gerund" grammatically correct?

Thank you.
User avatar
GMATNinja
User avatar
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Last visit: 10 July 2025
Posts: 7,349
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 1,963
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Products:
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Posts: 7,349
Kudos: 68,493
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
gagan0303
GMATNinja why can't 'it' in A refer back to executives?
"It" can't refer to a person, so we know that it doesn't refer back to "executive." "It" is generally only used for inanimate objects and animals... and occasionally babies who haven't yet begun to act human yet. :)

I hope that helps a bit!
   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   
Moderators:
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7349 posts
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
235 posts