John is studying theater, and if his self-confidence improves, it gave

A. it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field

Past Tense. eliminate

B. it will give him a meaningful advantage in his field

Theatre is John's field, should mean "it" is referring to self confidence. Fits in "if..then" structure. Will keep alive

C. it will give him an advantage in his field that is very meaningful

Meaningful Advantage is a neater way to convey the meaning. Eliminate. Eliminate

D. this can give him a meaningful advantage in his field

Unclear, what this is refering to. Eliminate

E. this art form will give him a meaningful advantage in his field

Art form is Theatre. His field is also Theatre. "Theatre will give him a meaningful advantage in Theatre" should not be right. Eliminate

B is the correct answer choice in my opinion.

My answer is (B). It took me 36 seconds.

(A) Simple past tense is incompatible with the rest of the sentence.

(B) The use of "simple future" is appropriate: when the main clause uses simple future tense, the subordinate clause should be in simple present tense, hence "if his self-confidence improves".
Is there any ambiguity with "it"? When "it", used here as a subject in main clause, refers to the subject of the subordinate clause "his self-confidence" immediately before it, we can accept it.

(C) Unnecessarily wordy in "that is very meaningful".

(D) It is quite similar with (B). I eliminated (D) for two reasons: (1) it is not using simple future tense. (2) "this", unlike "it", feels a bit unnatural because it is not super clear what "this" refers to.

(E) What "art form"? The sentence does not mention an art form earlier. It is his improved self-confidence that will give him a meaningful advantage.

The actual sentence is
John is studying theater, and if his self-confidence improves, it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field.

Things to know before looking at the choices :
1. Both the constructions are correct :
If X happens, Y will happen.
If X happens, Y can/may happen.

2. IT(in case acting as a pronoun - and not a placeholder) refers to <subject> of the nearest clause.
3. What is meaningful in this sentence?
- the advantage because of the improved confidence ( and not the field).
4. "this" and "these" are a demonstrative pronouns (act as adjectives) and can't stand alone.

Now, let's look at the choices -

A. it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field
Incorrect construction: If <simple present>, then <simple past>
B. it will give him a meaningful advantage in his field
Looks right. hold on.
C. it will give him an advantage in his field that is very meaningful
The field(theatre) is not meaningful.
D. this can give him a meaningful advantage in his field
"this" is a demonstrative pronoun (acts as adjective) and can't stand alone.
E. this art form will give him a meaningful advantage in his field.
This choice could be correct only if we "assume" that Self confidence is an art form.. We can't assume it.

Thus, B wins.

IMO B

John is studying theater, and if his self-confidence improves, it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field.

A. it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field - Incorrect
use of past tense gave is incorrect.
if something happens(simple future), something else will happen(simple future)

B. it will give him a meaningful advantage in his field - Correct
antecedent of it - self-confidence
his self-confidence will give him an advantage - seems right

C. it will give him an advantage in his field that is very meaningful - Incorrect
advantage that is very meaningfully is unnecessarily wordy. we have a better choice in option B

D. this can give him a meaningful advantage in his field - Incorrect
the original sentence implies that if something happens something else will happen. Changing will to can changes the meaning, now if something happens there is no guarantee that the other thing will happen

E. this art form will give him a meaningful advantage in his field - Incorrect
the original sentence implies that the confidence will help him in his field.
Plus, this art form- theater - cannot give him an advantage in his field of theater.

John is studying theater, and if his self-confidence improves, it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field.

A. it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field -> if and present tense hints for "simple future tense". Incorrect.

B. it will give him a meaningful advantage in his field -> It is better. Let's keep it.

C. it will give him an advantage in his field that is very meaningful -> field is very meaningful or meaningful advantage. Incorrect.

D. this can give him a meaningful advantage in his field -> Same as A. Incorrect.

E. this art form will give him a meaningful advantage in his field -> Does theater will give him meaningful advantage or self confidence. Incorrect.

So, I think B.

John is studying theater, and if his self-confidence improves, it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field.

KEY is to fulfill condition. If + simple present tense........., simple future tense.

A. it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field
IF condition is not fulfilled.

B. it will give him a meaningful advantage in his field
No remarks

C. it will give him an advantage in his field that is very meaningful
Too wordy. Also modifier error

D. this can give him a meaningful advantage in his field
IF condition is not fulfilled

E. this art form will give him a meaningful advantage in his field
meaning error.

John is studying theater, and if his self-confidence improves, it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field.

Pre-thinking: Tense usage - gave v/s can give v/s will give eliminates option A and D.

A. it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field

B. it will give him a meaningful advantage in his field

C. it will give him an advantage in his field that is very meaningful
'meaningful' should modify 'the advantage' and not the field.

D. this can give him a meaningful advantage in his field

E. this art form will give him a meaningful advantage in his field
'it' refers to 'self-confidence' and this self-confidence will give him an advantage no the art from.

IMO answer should be Option B.

John is studying theater, and if his self-confidence improves, it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field.


A. it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field Incorrect

past form wrong - it should be present tense or future tense

B. it will give him a meaningful advantage in his field Correct

C. it will give him an advantage in his field that is very meaningful Incorrect

this choice is redundant, B is more concise

D. this can give him a meaningful advantage in his field Incorrect

this refers to what - self-confidence or improvement

E. this art form will give him a meaningful advantage in his field Incorrect

art form changes intended meaning, it should be self-confidence

Could someone please explain how option E is the correct answer?

IMO E

John is studying theater, and if his self-confidence improves, it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field.

Firstly, we have to be absolutely clear about what will give him a meaningful advantage in his field.
Is it the self confidence? No.
Let's examine.
Cause: self-confidence improves
Effect : Improvement in theater

So essentially, it is the theatrical skills (that will improve because of improved self confidence) that will become an advantage in his field.

A. it gave him a meaningful advantage in his field

B. it will give him a meaningful advantage in his field

C. it will give him an advantage in his field that is very meaningful

In A/B/C -> 'It' has an ambiguous antecedent and the meaning is not clear.

D. this can give him a meaningful advantage in his field
What does 'this' point to? Not clear.

E. this art form will give him a meaningful advantage in his field
Correct.

Bunuel can we have the Official Explanation please ? Despite having some compelling answers, there is still a lot of uncertainty as to why E is the OA.

AndrewN, I would love to hear your thoughts on this question.

Hello, kntombat. I seem to be the guy to call whenever there is a debatable OA. In this one, I can see why there is so much fuss about (B) and (E). How about we look at each in the context of the sentence?


In (B), it cannot refer to the act of improving self-confidence, or else the sentence breaks down. Picking up the sentence with the conditional,

a) if his self-confidence improves, [his/such] self-confidence will give him a meaningful advantage in his field.

I see nothing wrong with the above conditional. However, adding back in the part about John studying theater puts stress on the pronoun, since it could also refer to theater:

b) John is studying theater, and if his self-confidence improves, theater will give him a meaningful advantage in his field.

Now, pronoun ambiguity is not an absolute death sentence against an answer choice, but it often leads to incorrect answers, so we should at least approach this one with caution.

How about we test (E) in a similar manner? This time, we need to replace this art form with theater.

c) if his self-confidence improves, theater will give him a meaningful advantage in his field.

I would not say that there is anything wrong with this line either. Things get a little confusing when we add back in the independent clause:

d) John is studying theater, and if his self-confidence improves, theater will give him a meaningful advantage in his field.

Now, if John intends to work within the theatrical arts, then his field might reasonably be called theater, and saying that theater will give him a meaningful advantage in theater is nonsensical. On the other hand, the sentence never indicates that John is majoring in theater or that he intends to pursue a career in that particular field once he has graduated. (In college, I myself once jumped into a senior-level Directing course, despite having no theatre background, just to try it out as an elective.) Taken as a whole, we cannot assume that John studying theater is the same as John wants to work in theater. Thus, (E) is a valid sentence.

Had I not known the OA ahead of time from your query, I probably would have selected (B). I doubt that such a question would show up as is on the GMAT™, but have fun with it and then move on to practicing official questions for Verbal.

Thank you for thinking to ask me about this one.

- Andrew

Agreeing to the flaw of all fours, E seems to completely absurd because one is clearly getting the idea that art form is giving advantage in art form.
Guess one has to believe pronoun errors are greater crime than any othet.

Posted from my mobile device

GMATNinja where you at my friend??? Pronoun ambiguity should not always be a concern unless and until we find a better choice right?
I am sure many over here don't find E to be a better choice. Any inputs from your side on this??? :')

GMATNinja

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