One report concludes that many schools do not have, or likely to have,

Question

One report concludes that many schools do not have,  or  likely to have, enough computers to use them effectively.

(A) or
(B) nor
(C) or are
(D) nor are they
(E) nor are not

I am stuck between (B) and (D)..Does 'they' in option (D) refer to schools..i think 'nor are' is better than 'nor'

sayantanc2k · Accepted Answer

It is allowed to omit certain parts from the second element of a parralell structure only if that part has already been stated in the first element.

The original structure is:

many schools  do  not  have   nor  they  are  likely to have

Here the first element of parallelism is: many schools do not have
Second element: they are likely to have.

Connector: nor

The verb in the first element is " do have"
The verb in the second element is "are"

Since the verb is different in the second element, it cannot be omitted.

egmat · Answer

One report concludes that many schools do not have, or likely to have, enough computers to use them effectively.

https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Grammar.png

The sentence means that many schools neither have enough computers nor they are likely to have many computers to use them effectively.
Notice what follows “or” is not grammatically parallel to what precedes it. X = many schools do not have (clause) and Y = likely to have (adverb + to verb). So we have parallelism issue here as well.

POE:
 Choice A:  Incorrect as discussed.

Choice B:  Same parallelism issue as A.

Choice C:  With the use of “or”, what this sentence now means is that the schools do not have many computers but are likely to have many computers. This is a suggestion made in a very awkward manner which is not the logical intended meaning of the sentence. It is rather the contradictory suggestion. Hence usage of “or” is incorrect here. So the idiom error leads to meaning error also.

Choice D:  Correct answer, presents the logical intended meaning of the sentence.

Choice E:  There are two negative words together in this choice.

https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Takeaway.png 
1. First understand the logical intended meaning of the sentence. Then choose the answer choice that conveys that logical intended meaning.
2. In a parallel list what follows the marker should be logically as well as grammatically parallel to what precedes the marker.

Hope this helps.
Shraddha
 https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/shraddha.jpg

sudeep · Answer

With D, there will be ambiguity created between 'they' and 'them', used for computers in the last.

bigoyal · Answer

Agree with you. Correct answer should be D..

A and C are out for using "or", which should be replaced with "nor"
E is out for using "nor" and "not" together

B. is out for not maintaining parallelism. The first part is "many schools do not have", where "do" is the verb in simple present tense. Whereas the 2nd part "many schools... likely to have" have no verb, it just has "to have" which is in infinitive form.

D. Maintains parallelism. In the 2nd part - "nor are they likely to have" - "are" is the verb used in simple present.
"They" correctly refers to "many schools" as there is no other subject here, and "they" cannot refer to "one report".

PositiveSoul · Answer

Agree with D.

A and C are out for using "or", which should be replaced with "nor"
E is out for using "nor" and "not" together

B. is out for not maintaining parallelism. The first part is "many schools do not have", where "do" is the verb in simple present tense. Whereas the 2nd part "many schools... likely to have" have no verb, it just has "to have" which is in infinitive form.

D. Maintains parallelism. In the 2nd part - "nor are they likely to have" - "are" is the verb used in simple present.
"They" correctly refers to "many schools" as there is no other subject here, and "they" cannot refer to "one report".

robu · Answer

In my view, nor is also correct because I can say that 'i do not have nor likely to have in future.
please some expert give opinion on this.

LogicGuru1 · Answer

One report concludes that many schools do not have,  or  likely to have, enough computers to use  them  effectively.

A very simple but golden rule of coordinating conjunctions states that FANBOYS (for, and, nor, because, or, yet ,so) is in play here

A Coordinating conjunction introduces 2 independent clauses. 
Clauses by definition should have  independent subjects.  and also  independent verb (although not parallel but still a verb is present in the second clause) 
 
Therefore the problem is that there should be a  PROPER SUBJECT  in the second clause.

Only D has the proper subject " THEY " . " THEM " in the NON-Underlined part refers back to " THEY "
 
REST ALL OPTIONS A,B,C,E are missing the subject. "THEM" in the NON-Underlined part has no subject to refer back to.

ANSWER IS D

anje29 · Answer

Hi,
Are you sure 'them' is referring to 'they' here. As per the meaning of the sentence 'them' should refer to the 'computers' .

egmat · Answer

Hello anje29 , I will glad to answer this one. The plural pronoun them in the non-underlined portion of the sentence refers to plural computers and not to many schools . It is the computers that are not used effectively. Hope this helps. :-)

Thanks. Shraddha

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  anje29 , you are correct.

them  refers to  computers , while  they  refers to  schools .

anairamitch1804 · Answer

@Anje

(A) and (B) are incorrect because of their poor parallelism. In this "or" construction, the first half is "do not have", a tensed verb. Therefore, the second half of the construction must also contain a tensed verb. 
(A) and (B) don't have a tensed verb ("likely to have" contains only an infinitive - not what we want here).

(option E) contains a double negative, so it's out. 
 
(option C) is, as far as i can tell grammatically correct (although the commas are superfluous in such a construction), but it's simply absurd. The use of "or" here creates a sentence that is weirdly self-contradictory.

The clear point of the sentence is that the schools don't have enough computers, so you need to select the choice that's grammatically correct but also in line with that meaning. (option D) is the only choice that satisfies both criteria.

Skywalker18 · Answer

GMATNinja  ,  RonPurewal  ,  sayantanc2k  , mikemcgarry  , daagh  , egmat  , EMPOWERgmatRichC  , AjiteshArun  , ChiranjeevSingh  -- is it okay to have plural pronouns refer to two different antecedents?

egmat · Answer

Hello Skywalker18 , I will be glad to help you with this one.

A pronoun must have a just one logical antecedent in the sentence. If a sentence uses multiple pronouns, all of them must have clear logical antecedents. It is absolutely okay to use two plural pronouns that CLEARLY refer to their respective plural noun antecedents. After all, we have this usage in the correct answer choice of an official sentence. So this usage is absolutely acceptable. The only logic by which the usage of pronouns is governed is that they must have clear logical antecedents. In the official sentence in question, the plural pronoun they logically refers only to many schools and plural pronoun them in the non-underlined portion of the sentence refers to plural computers . Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear Skywalker18 , I'm happy to respond.

With all due respect to Shraddha, I will disagree. I will say that, under certain circumstance, it is 100% fine for a single plural pronoun to refer to two different antecedents. 1) John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were bitter political rivals at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but they became the dearest of friends in their old age . That sentence is 100% correct, and the pronoun " they " clear refers to the two subject nouns in parallel. This would be the most common case: if two single nouns are in parallel, right next to each other, this setup makes it very easy to include them together in a single pronoun. It's possible, though, that the two nouns would be separated or in different roles. If the two nouns are separate, the pronoun " they " is often followed by the word " both " for clarity. 2) Diamond is the hardest substance in the natural world while graphite is so soft that it's smearable, and yet they both are forms of the element carbon . 3) T.S. Eliot was as much a staunch conservative as e e cummings was a non-conformist liberal, but they both broke substantial new ground in the modernist expansion of the poetic canon . Both of those sentences are 100% correct. Both of these are of the general logical form " P and Q are different but they're also similar ." The grammatical construction of #3 is particularly sophisticated, but it's 100% correct. Does all this make sense? Mike

RonPurewal · Answer

^^ this is an official problem. if something happens in the correct answer to an official problem, then ... well ... you have your answer to "is it okay?".
   EVERYTHING in OFFICIALLY correct sentences is correct and acceptable!

__

in fact — in the problem at hand here, these two pronouns  MUST  refer to different things.
"they" is a subject, and "them" is an object in the same clause / part of the sentence. if both of these were intended to refer to the same noun, then they'd have to be "they" and "them  selves  ", not just "they" and "them".

sayantanc2k · Answer

In general no because a pronoun ambiguity would arise, but in case the subject and object are "they" and "them" (as in this case), such ambiguity does not arise, since if the object referred to the same antecedent, it would be the reflexive form "themsleves" rather than "them".

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

One report concludes that many schools do not have,  or  likely to have, enough computers to use them effectively.

(A) or  Since the sentence talks about something that  will not  happen, we need a negation in the form of "nor". Eliminate.

(B) nor  While "nor" is correctly used, the verb "are" is required to maintain parallelism. Eliminate.

(C) or are  Same error as (A). Eliminate.

(D) nor are they  Correct answer. Correct use of "nor" followed by the verb "are".

(E) nor are not  Double negation "nor" and "not" is redundant and not appropriate. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

vishuvashishth · Answer

Hi egmat, GMATNinja, EMPOWERgmatVerbal, sayantanc2k, daagh

Why can't we consider choice A as i have mentioned below, do not in bracket repeated for both elements in the list.

One report concludes that many schools do not (Stem)
(do not) have, 
or 
(do not ) likely to have, 
enough computers to use them effectively.

mSKR · Answer

One report concludes that 
many schools 
do not  have ,
 or  likely to have ,
 enough computers to use them effectively.

Have - is VERB
to have - is not verb
We need a verb

dont have OR/NOT ( Some verb)
likely is not a verb

Reject A and C because OR is wrong meaning. ( dont have or have -- doesnt make sense)
We need NOR
Reject E : double negative 
Left wth B and D

We need verb after NOR
only D option has

Read again:

One report concludes that many schools do not  have , NOR (they)  ARE  likely to have, enough computers to use them effectively.

One report concludes that many schools do not have, or likely to have,

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

One report concludes that many schools do not have, or likely to have,

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