Of the seventeen moons of Saturn, only one, having its atmosphere

(A) Of the seventeen moons of Saturn, only one, having its atmosphere
Pronoun Error: Its does not have a clear antecedent. It can refer to both Saturn and one of the moon.

(B) Of the seventeen moons of Saturn, only one, which has an atmosphere
Relation pronoun which correctly modifies the one moon of Saturn rather than Saturn itself.

(C) Only one of the seventeen moons of Saturn, with atmosphere that is
Not sure whether there should be an article, an, before atmosphere in the answer choice.
Modifier Error: Prepositional phrase with atmosphere erroneously modifies Saturn

(D) Only one of the seventeen moons of Saturn, which has an atmosphere
Pronoun Error: Relative pronoun which erroneously modifies Saturn rather than the one moon.

(E) Only one of the seventeen moons of Saturn, its atmosphere being
Pronoun Error: Its does not have a clear antecedent. It can refer to both Saturn and one of the moon.
Usage: Being is a red flag.

Hello DisciplinedPrep, how are you?

Could you please advise

Only one of the seventeen moons of Saturn, with atmosphere that is opaque to visible light, could not be photographed by Voyager1.

why do you think "with" modifier modifies Saturn? Why not One Saturn moon?

"with" modifies one Saturn moon

Intent of the sentence, took the best of me.(marked C)

So we are talking about one of the 17 moons of Saturn. That particular one is opaque to visible light.

(A) Of the seventeen moons of Saturn, only one, having its atmosphere
its referring to what??, Saturn or one of the moon

(B) Of the seventeen moons of Saturn, only one, which has an atmosphere
Here which is correctly referring to one of the moon. -> Matches the intent clearly and efficiently

(C) Only one of the seventeen moons of Saturn, with atmosphere that is
So is it for this case, with can refer to Saturn or one of the moon.

(D) Only one of the seventeen moons of Saturn, which has an atmosphere
which pronoun referring to Saturn -> eliminate, not the intent

(E) Only one of the seventeen moons of Saturn, its atmosphere being
its, incorrect reference to Saturn -> eliminate, not the intent

Actually, I think its in (A) is nowhere ambiguous because:
1) it follows 'only one' (not reasonable enough)
2) the -ing modifier gives a reason why the satellite could not be photographed; (B) cuts out this feature
3) if having refers to only one, it is illogical that its refers to Saturn

I think those reasons combined are enough to eliminate any doubts about what its refers to.
Would be pleased if someone would give an opinion regarding this.

Hello artiom01, how are you?
thank you for your question, it is absolutely reasonable.
Let's try to get to the bottom of the truth


Simple example:

The Moon goes around the Earth, while The Earth goes atround the Sun; it is celestial body.

Pronoun ambiguity take place when pronoun has several logical antecedents, it doesn't matter where the antecedent located, it can be anywhere in the sentence.

'it' - singular
The Moon, the Earth, and the Sun - singular

The Moon is celestial body - makes sence
The Earth is celestial body - makes sence
The Sun is celestial body - makes sence

Hence we have pronoun ambiguity in this sentence, 'it' has three logical antecedents.

The Moon goes around the Earth, while The Earth goes around the Sun; it is inhabited by people.

'it' - singular
The Moon, the Earth, and the Sun - singular

The Moon is inhabited by people - we know this is not 'truth' - doesn't make sence
The Earth is inhabited by people - makes sence
The Sun is inhabited by people - it is 'impossible' - doesn't make sence

In this sentence 'it' logically refers to only one word "The Earth" there is no pronoun ambiguity.

Our sentence:

Of the seventeen moons of Saturn, only one, having its atmosphere opaque to visible light, could not be photographed by Voyager1.

'its' - singular
Saturn, onle one - singular

Saturn has atmosphere opaque to visible light - makes sence
One of Saturn moon has atmosphere opaque to visible light - makes sence

Hence we have pronoun ambiguity in this sentence, 'its' has two logical antecedents.


v-ing modifier preceded by comma (e-gmat):
- can modify preceeding clause and must make sence with the subject of the sentence;
- explicit 'how' aspect of the preceeding clause;
- explicit 'result' and 'reason' of the preceeding clause.



Present participles by Magoosh -->

The man, seeing the fallen tree in the road ahead, ….

'seeing' plays the role of the adjective, it describes the man.

Of the seventeen moons of Saturn, only one, having its atmosphere opaque to visible light, could not be photographed by Voyager1.

'having' describes 'only one' and gives additional information.


as the author states general facts about Saturn and its moons, there is no meaning change in B.


(B) is just more clearly explaining author's idea

We never look for one good answer choice, ALWAYS four wrong, sometimes wright answer sounds crap but it is grammatically and logically conveys intended meaning, and it is enough to choose it.


I like this question, and it seems quite reasonable to me...
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Hello generis, how are you?
if you have some time, could you please share your thoughts?

Of the seventeen moons of Saturn, only one, having its atmosphere opaque to visible light, could not be photographed by Voyager1.

We know that 'having' refers to 'one' hence can we consider that 'it's' also unambiguously refers to 'one' ?

p.s. generis is my general reasoning on this thread valid enough?

IMO, "with" can not be used in this sentence even if it modifies "Saturn's moon" or Saturn" itself. Option C implies that only one moon could not be photographed with atmosphere opaque to visibility. Means, if it does not have atmosphere opaque to visibility, it could be photographed.
But this is not the intended meaning IMO. Central modifier is just trying to tell that "Only one moon could not be photographed because of some reason" and that moon has atmosphere opaque to visibility.

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