In order to truly appreciate their own journey towards an advanced de

Question

In order to truly appreciate their own journey towards an advanced degree, Dr. Henry has recommended  some students return to the place symbolizing the beginning of their academic career, their former elementary school .

(A) some students return to the place symbolizing the beginning of their academic career, their former elementary school

(B) that some students return to their former elementary school, the place symbolizing the beginning of their academic career to them

(C) some students returning to their former elementary school, the place that, to them, symbolizes the beginning of their academic career

(D) that some students return to their former elementary school, the place that, to them, symbolizes the beginning of their academic career

(E) that some students return to their former elementary school which was the place which symbolized the beginning of their academic career to them

AndrewN · Accepted Answer

I am seeing a lot of questions and Expert Reply requests come through on this one, so I will offer my thoughts in an effort to assist the community.

Everyone has their own way of approaching SC questions—some people insist on reading the whole sentence through to glean the meaning—but my own approach involves detaching from the main sentence as soon as I  know  something is wrong. In this manner, I can look for common elements in other answers and nix them without a second thought. Here, the infinitive form  return  after  recommended  tells us that we should be looking for a  that : see  this post  on the topic by   bb  . We can comfortably eliminate (A) and (C).

The placement of  to them  muddles the picture. It is not exactly redundant, as the element in question is retained in the correct answer, which we will talk about below; however, any kind of modifier or aside on the GMAT™ should be placed as close as possible to what it is commenting on so as to avoid confusion. Why is  to them  not redundant after   their  academic career ? Because if you replaced the pronoun with a generic article,  a/an , you would not be removing the same element—to be clear,  symbolizing the beginning of an academic career to them  is not equivalent to  symbolizing the beginning of their academic career . In the former,  to them  indicates a perspective, so it should be placed as close to  symbolizing  as possible; in the latter, it is not clear whose perspective is under discussion, whether Dr. Henry or the students see an old elementary school as a symbol. Regardless of how you interpret the issue,  to them  at the end of this answer choice is questionable. If you were unsure of it, you could set the answer choice aside and check the others, never a bad idea when the clock is ticking.

We might as well get (E) out of the way for the same reason as (C). The use of the restrictive  which  clauses should raise an eyebrow, but the OG makes it clear that a  which/that  split in such a context is not tested. The first  which , without a comma, is dubious, since the restrictive usage separates one particular type of elementary school, the one that was a symbolic place, from another type, I guess any run-of-the-mill school building that carried no significant meaning. In any case, we see that  to them  makes an appearance at the end of the sentence, just as detached as before from what it should be commenting on. If anything, you should feel better about eliminating (B).

Now it is clear that  to them  hearks back to  the place  (via  that ) and the students' associations with it— the place,  to them , symbolizes  something. We cannot call  to them  redundant in other choices when it is paired with  their academic career  for the same reason we cannot call it redundant here. The issue was one instead of placement and the clear expression of vital meaning. This is the answer that is hardest to argue against, so it is the one we ought to pick.

I hope that helps. I would be happy to discuss the question further if there are lingering doubts. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

EtaCarnia · Answer

Hi ,

Please explain why D and why not B

rocky620 · Answer

Subjunctive "Recommend" requires  that  followed by the basic form of verb.
Options A & C are out.

In options B & E,

(B) that some students return to their former elementary school, the place symbolizing the beginning of their academic career  to them

(E) that some students return to their former elementary school which was the place which symbolized the beginning of their academic career  to them

To them is redundant in the usage, these options will be good even if we remove "to them".

Option D is correct

ravigupta2912 · Answer

"to them" in B doesn't sound right. But i want to know the grammatical rule for eliminating B. Is it just diction & style?

EtaCarnia · Answer

I believe , in option B "to them " is redundant . That's why we eliminate option B

rocky620 · Answer

The usage of to them and their (both used as pronouns) in option B is redundant. Same is the case with option E.

For Eg: 
The coach advised the players that, more practice will lead to their victory to them. Here its understood that the victory will be of the players, which is depicted by "their" and the meaning is also clear.

If you see in option D, to them is used (as a modifier) because it is specifying the importance of the place only to a specific section of students. The place may actually not be important to some other section.

Sumi1010 · Answer

Dear Experts,

Does GMAT differentiate the noun+ Verb-ing modifiers (choice B) and vs noun + Relative Pronoun Modifiers (choice D). 
IMO both modify the adjacent noun and have the same meaning.

rm93 · Answer

Please provide explanation for the question.

va789 · Answer

Why do we eliminate B? Is it because "to them" is redundant, or is there a specific grammar rule here?

Sumi1010 · Answer

Thanks  AndrewN  for the explanation. May I request you to help me with my query? 
- Does GMAT differentiate the noun+ Verb-ing modifiers (choice B) and vs noun + Relative Pronoun Modifiers (choice D).

EtaCarnia · Answer

HI Can anyone help me with this below question with explanation :

Founded by Iranian prophet and reformer Zoroastrian the sixth centaury BC , Zoroastrianism , containing both monotheistic and dualistic feature,  were influencing  the three other major western religions .

A)were influencing 
B)which influencing 
C)influenced 
D)which had influenced 
E)had influenced

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Sumi1010 . To answer your question, yes, the GMAT™ differentiates between constructs, but not every differentiation can be used as a basis for elimination. In general, the noun + relative pronoun modifier is a safer, more versatile bet, and I would leave it at that. (And luckily for us, choice (B) has a more glaring issue, so we can feel better about eliminating it from contention.)

Good luck with your studies, and thank you for thinking to follow up with me.

- Andrew

Bunuel · Answer

This question is discussed here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/founded-by-t ... 23741.html Hope it helps. Please read carefully and follow our posting rules: https://gmatclub.com/forum/rules-to-pos ... 08733.html Thank you.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

Since the underlined words form a clause which is the direct object of this sentence,  "that"  is needed for correct grammatical construction. Thus,  choices A  and  C  are eliminated.  Choices B & E  are eliminated because the modifier  "to them"  should be as close as possible to the word or words it modifires.

The correct answer is D.

In order to truly appreciate their own journey towards an advanced de

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