Making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime,

'If affordable' is too far from 'pilgrimage' to be used a its modifier.

Here, it looks like 'if affordable' is modifying 'lifetime'. More over the subject of the sentence is 'Muslims' so C is the winner.

Making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime, if affordable, is one of the five obligations of devout Muslims.

given sentence correctly uses if since there is a condition that if pilgrimage is affordable then making it is one of the five obligations of Muslims.

making the pilgrimage if affordable is not clear in meaning as it does not explain whom does it refer to.
affordable to whom...............answer is Muslims and that is nowhere indicated or mentioned.

b) when it can be affordable.............using when to refer unspecified time(once in lifetime) is incorrect usage.

c) if they can afford it................solves the problem by using pronoun they to refer Muslims.

d) when affordable..............same as A and B.

e) if it should be affordable............we cant use should in if clause and to whom is also not mentioned.

I hope this helps

Hi Mechmeera,

Muslims follows after they right.. what is your take on that? I have never seen a sentence where the pronoun precedes the antecedent. Can you kindly elaborate?

Regards,
Dom

If the pronoun contains one and only antecedent which is correct meaning wise,
then it is not important whether the pronoun precedes or succeeds the antecedent.

we generally prefer cases where pronoun appears after and closer to the antecedent.
but this is just a preference if available in options and not a rule to follow.

There are plenty of such cases where pronoun precedes the antecedent. This usage is correct.
You can get quite a few examples from OG itself.

Please provide a better explanation for this answer choice. I am unable to understand the exact logic behind such questions.

Dear ashitaporwal,

I'm happy to respond.

My friend, I am going to chide you. What you have written is not a thoughtful or thorough question. First of all, it probably didn't take you very long to write and post this question--right there is an indication of the problem. Your education depends first and foremost on your effort: anything which doesn't involve that much effort for you probably is not going to involve that much learning. This thread has multiple posts about this question: did you read through these? Your question doesn't make that clear. A high-quality question would be very clear about exactly what you do and don't understand. A high-quality question would involve extensive reflection on your own understanding, because such reflection is crucial for learning. Writing excellent questions take a great deal of effort precisely because it is one of the habits of excellence. See:
Asking Excellent Questions

I am going to challenge you to read that blog, then read & study every entry in this thread, and integrate all this information to write the highest-quality question about this SC problem. If you do that, I will be happy to answer it.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

daagh Why option A is wrong?

Usage of IF and When on the GMAT.

In conditional statements, ‘if’ and ‘when’ can be used interchangeably – but only in certain cases.

‘If’ and ‘when’ can be used interchangeably when we present conditions in which the outcome is definite or the outcome is a general fact. i.e. if event A happens, event B happens.

Example : We know as a general fact that water evaporates when it is heated.

If you heat water, it evaporates. – CORRECT
When you heat water, it evaporates. – CORRECT

When can you not use ‘when’ in place of ‘if’?

When ‘if’ conditional statement is used to express a situation in which the outcome is a possibility and not a certainty, ‘when’ cannot be used in place of ‘if’.

Example: Possibility of going to fair

Morgans may go to the fair, if the weather is bright and sunny. – CORRECT
Morgans may go to the fair, when the weather is bright and sunny. – INCORRECT

key takeaways

If the conditional statement expresses a general fact ‘if’ and ‘when’ can be used interchangeably.
If the conditional statement expresses a possibility, ‘when’ cannot be used in place of ‘if’.

Source credit: https://e-gmat.com/blogs/if-vs-when/

Applying the concept to solve this question:

We cannot use when here because we do not know for certain whether the outcome making the pilgrimage is certain.

Left with A C E.

affordable(adjective) vs afford(verb)

Dictionary meaning of affordable is inexpensive; reasonably priced.

As per the meaning of the original sentence, Making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime, if affordable inexpensive or reasonably priced, is one of the five obligations of devout Muslims.

Who decides whether the pilgrimage is affordable or not?

Who reckons whether they can afford the affordable pilgrimage?

This option does not answer those questions. Option C answers it and therefore is the winner.

Option C says .

what is the antecedent of it ? To me, It refers to . This is wrong usage. Kindly explain.

Regards,
Arup

VeritasKarishma mam Kindly explain why Option A is incorrect?

Making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime, if affordable, is one of the five obligations of devout Muslims.

(A) if affordable -> It is modifying "lifetime", but it should modify "Muslims". Incorrect.

(B) when it can be afforable -> when hints for time. We don't have any time indication. Incorrect.

(C) if they can afford it -> It is better. Let's keep it.

(D) when affordable -> Same as B.

(E) if it should be affordable -> Same as A.

So, I think C.

It is mentioned in the threads above that 'if affordable' in option A modifies the closest noun - lifetime. With that logic, shouldnt option C also modify lifetime.
How are we sure that the 'it' in option C is modifying 'making pilgrimage..'

Lifetime is singular noun. "They" cannot refer to it. Pronoun they makes it very clearn that the phrase refers to muslims.

Hence, C is the clearest option.

Posted from my mobile device

egmat ,
I Don't understand how option A is wrong here, i get why option C is correct.
Doesn't 'if affordable' refer to the 'pilgrimage'. So can't we say something like - Making the journey, if the journey is affordable, is one of the obligations of devout muslims.

Making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime, if affordable, is one of the five obligations of devout Muslims.

(A) if affordable
(C) if they can afford it

Making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime, if affordable, is one of the five obligations of devout Muslims.

Option Elimination -

(A) if affordable - it's a prepositional phrase that can be used to modify nouns or action verbs. But in this case, due to its vicinity to "a lifetime," it seems to modify "a lifetime," which doesn't make sense. On the other hand, if we take it adverbially, it should modify the action verb, which we don't have in this sentence. We have a linking verb "is" here. On a side note - We can use prepositional phrases with linking verbs, but it adds information to the subject in that case. E.g., - He is in the park. "in the park" adds more information about the subject's location. In our case, "Making the pilgrimage" is too far, which would not be a problem if we had an action verb, but as we have a linking verb here, we need the modifier as close to the noun. Wrong.

(B) when it can be affordable - "when" is a time marker first, indicating certainty. E.g., When it rains, the streets get wet. (It means that the rain is expected to occur and when it occurs streets will get wet). The sentence's intended meaning is that it is not certain that every devout Muslim can make a pilgrimage to Mecca. So, a better conditional here is "if." E.g., If it rains, we will stay indoors. (in this sentence, the rain is uncertain; if it happens, we'll stay indoors).

(C) if they can afford it - perfect. It is a proper if-then conditional. For clarity, here is what it means - If devout Muslims can afford it, making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime is one of their five obligations.

(D) when affordable - same issue as described in A and B.

(E) if it should be affordable - Adding "should be" adds unnecessary uncertainty. The intended meaning is not a matter of "should" but rather a matter of whether the devout Muslims have the financial means to afford the pilgrimage. C is a much superior option than E.