Joplin’s faith in his opera “Tremonisha” was unshakable; in 1911 he pu

Firstly, I think the second part of the sentence is wrong in non-underlined part. What does "he" refer to? in the first part we have "Joplin’s faith...", a possessive noun which clearly only possessive pronoun can refer to it. Hence, "he" must be replaced with "Joplin". Anyway, regardless of non-underlined part, the second part talks about two actions done by Joplin which must be parallel:
published the score...
and
decided...

So, parallelism is alright as is, but "decided on staging"? hmmmm, seems there's something wrong here... this version fails to convey the intention: he decided to stage it; that's better, let's go for POE:

(A) on staging it himself; As stated, we need "to stage"

(B) that he himself would do the staging; Doesn't seem wordy and awkward? "would do the staging?" I won't die for it, so Eliminate.

(C) to do the staging of the work by himself; Not bad. we finally see "to do", but what about the rest? "to do the staging"? This choice also remove "it" and "the work" is replaced which is not necessary. but wait a minute... what the heck is "by" doing here? is that passive or what? there must be better choice; let's just go on.

(D) that he himself would stage it; would stage is not what we look for. Eliminate.

(E) to stage the work himself; That's it: short, clear & parallel. Mark it.

Official Explanation :

Choice A is poorly worded: it refers to the score, not to the opera itself, and decided on staging it is unidiomatic.

Choice B does not specify what it was that Joplin decided to stage.

Choice C is unidiomatic and needlessly wordy. Because the pronoun reference of it is faulty, choice D, like choice A, confuses staging the score with staging the work.

Choice E is best.

Correct ans is E
Here "it" in staging it doesn't tell who is it referring to. Also decided to is correct with verb than decided on which is used with noun.

[quote="sudarshan22"]
Joplin’s faith in his opera “Tremonisha” was unshakable; in 1911 he published the score at his own expense and decided on staging it himself.



(A) on staging it himself-- it is ambiguos pronoun error

(B) that he himself would do the staging; usage of word that makes the sentence , 'he himself' is wrong usage ..

(C) to do the staging of the work by himself ; staging incorrect verb

(D) that he himself would stage it ; same as A

(E) to stage the work himself ; correct option goes well with complete sentence

Clearly E stands out , correct

• Immediate elimination? Only Answer A
I immediately eliminated only option (A).
Decided on staging is not idiomatic.

Decided to stage is correct in this context.
Idiom: Decide to do X.

Eliminate A.

• Pronoun ambiguity, but only after I had read option E
-- I use pronoun ambiguity as a last tool
-- GMAC is more flexible than people believe about pronoun ambiguity
-- IF I have an answer such as (E) that I am certain is grammatically correct,
I compare other answers to that one.

Options A and D use the word it.

Because the sentence tells me that Joplin had faith in his opera,
I am not actually confused by the word "it" A and D.
I understand that he published the score for the opera at his own expense.
I understand that he staged the opera himself.

At the same time, compared to "the work" in option E,
the word "it" in options A and D is not as clear.

Eliminate D. (Option A is already gone.)

• No direct object for "the staging." The staging of what?
-- Option B has a problem similar to that in A and D but more unusual.

He would "do the staging" himself does not tell me
as clearly as E does what he staged.

I know that he staged the opera, even just from (B) standing alone.
But (B) is not as clear as (E) is.

Eliminate B

• Concision

Option C has too many words. (So does option D, which is already gone. See pink highlight in D above.)

C uses this phrasing: to do the staging of the work
Better and shortened: to stage the work

C uses this phrasing: by himself
Better and shortened: himself

Oh, wait.
Those two shortened forms are option E.

Eliminate C.

Option E is correct.

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