Lacking information about energy use, people tend to overestimate the

Nope. "It" is wrong here.

There's a really nice, clean division of labor here between the 'standard' (not expressly for comparisons) pronouns "it"/"they" and the comparison-specific pronouns "that"/"those".

Specifically:

• "IT"/"THEY" stands for a noun WITH ALL attached modifiers/descriptors/context from its original appearance.

• "THAT"/"THOSE" stands for a noun with NONE or SOME, but NOT ALL, attached modifiers/descriptors/context from its original appearance.


Here are some paired examples to help you understand:

#1 The definition of gross domestic product (GDP), perversely, places a value on domestic labor outsourced to maids or nannies but not when it is performed by members of the household.
—> INCORRECT
"It" would have to stand for the entire underlined phrase above, consisting of "domestic labor" plus the attached modifier "outsourced to maids or nannies".
That's nonsense, because the resulting sentence contradicts itself—talking about domestic labor that's 'outsourced' to non-household members yet somehow still performed by household members.

#2The definition of gross domestic product (GDP), perversely, places a value on domestic labor outsourced to maids or nannies but not on that performed by members of the household.
—> CORRECT
To stand for "domestic labor" WITHOUT the attached descriptive modifier "outsourced to maids or nannies", we need the comparison pronoun "THAT"—which exists expressly to do this exact job!


#3 The definition of gross domestic product (GDP), perversely, places a value on domestic labor when it is outsourced to maids or nannies but not when it is performed by members of the household.
—> CORRECT
"Domestic labor" does not have any additional modifiers attached to it. So, "it" is just "domestic labor".

#4 The definition of gross domestic product (GDP), perversely, places a value on domestic labor when it is outsourced to maids or nannies but not when that is performed by members of the household.
—> INCORRECT
The comparison pronoun "that" can ONLY be used if some description is LEFT OFF the noun.


Note that these two types of pronouns have roles that are mutually exclusive. If "it" works, then "that" is wrong. If "that" works, then "it" is wrong. The same is true for "they/them" and "those" respectively.

This is the sentence if you remove the modifiers :

People under-estimate the amount of energy when used by unobtrusive equipment

This implies people under-estimate the amount of energy (when energy is used by unobtrusive equipment)

So when energy is NOT USED by unobtrusive equipment, people DONT under-estimate

Isnt that accurate ? I thought per the meaning of the sentence -- When unobtrusive equipment is NOT using energy so when the equipment is IDLE -- people dont Under-estimate

I dont see what is wrong with "When"

jabhatta2

It isn't really useful to look at the word "when" in isolation here. All of the choices with "when" also use "it." In the past few posts, both Ron and I have gotten into why "it" doesn't make sense here. Using a "when" modifier just tacks on to the same mistaken reading. In this context, we are talking about two different amounts of energy, not the exact same energy used in two different kinds of device.Since it wouldn't work to say "underestimate that when used by unobtrusive equipment," there's no way to say that "when" is usable in this sentence.

People overestimate the amount of energy used by Russia and underestimate the amount of energy when used by USA

RonTargetTestPrep KarishmaB DmitryFarber - question on the usage of "When" in option (B), (c), and (E) ?

can we eliminate these choices because of faulty ussage of "When" ?

I personally think "When" is justified.

Reason :

"...equipment... that IS visible" is right, but we have the same "when" problem as in (B). Now that I think about it, I'm also not crazy about the "it" -- the pronoun is a long way from its antecedent, "the amount of energy." The pronoun "that" is much clearer in (A) or (D), because of the parallel structure.

If you wanted to be conservative and hang onto (C) at first, that's great -- I would do the same. But as we'll see in a moment, there's a much better option.



Ooh, this looks great. No subject-verb issue, plus it's pleasantly succinct: "visible equipment... that must be turned on and off" is way better than "equipment that is visible and must be turned on and off." And as discussed above, "that" is a nice, clear pronoun. Keep (D)..