Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had : Sentence Correction (EA only)

aadikamagic

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Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

Updated on: 28 Jul 2018, 18:23

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00:00

A

B

C

D

E

Difficulty:

65% (hard)

Question Stats:

47% (01:10) correct

53% (01:27) wrong

based on 1281 sessions

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Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had in their previous camping trip, the Outdoor Club only had enough food for two days.

(A) they had in their previous camping trip

(B) their previous camping trip had had

(C) they had for a previous camping trip

(D) in their previous camping trip

(E) for any previous camping trip

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Originally posted by aadikamagic on 02 Oct 2014, 21:24.
Last edited by BillyZ on 28 Jul 2018, 18:23, edited 2 times in total.

Renamed the topic, edited the question and added the OA.

request expert reply

Thoughtosphere

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

02 Oct 2014, 23:26

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aadikamagic wrote:

Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had in their previous camping trip, the Outdoor Club only had enough food for two days.

a)they had in their previous camping trip
b)their previous camping trip had had
c)they had for a previous camping trip
d)in their previous camping trip
e)for any previous camping trip

This is a fantastic question, and I realized that after I incorrectly marked C and was confused between A and C. While solving the question, I thought twice that the question may be wrong, but alas, I missed a point.

The catch in the question is Outdoor Club this has to be singular, thus they / their will lead to wrong answer choices. This would smoothly glide you to answer choice "e", which is the better of the five.

I hope I don't do this mistake during exams.. :pray

Thanks for sharing such a nice question... :-)

pqhai

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

03 Oct 2014, 10:46

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Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had in their previous camping trip, the Outdoor Club only had enough food for two days.

a)they had in their previous camping trip
b)their previous camping trip had had
c)they had for a previous camping trip
d)in their previous camping trip
A, B, C, and D are wrong because "the Outdoor Club" is singular.

e)for any previous camping trip
Correct.

Hope it helps.

prabhakarsharma

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

02 Oct 2014, 22:31

aadikamagic wrote:

Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had in their previous camping trip, the Outdoor Club only had enough food for two days.

a)they had in their previous camping trip
b)their previous camping trip had had
c)they had for a previous camping trip
d)in their previous camping trip
e)for any previous camping trip

Am confused between A-D and E. In option A-E the pronouns they , their are referring to outdoor club, which should not be plural as its a group. Also if we go with meaning the sentence is talking about the club as a whole and not about its members. thus plural pronoun should not be used .

Because of this only E manages to stay afloat.

Any thoughts ?

S

sanpreetsingh

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

18 Jul 2018, 05:29

A,B,C,D - Pronoun agreement error. "outdoor club" is singular.
So referring it with they and their is wrong.

Hence, E is the answer.

L

hiranmay

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

18 Jul 2018, 05:42

Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had in their previous camping trip, the Outdoor Club only had enough food for two days.

A. they had in their previous camping trip

B. their previous camping trip had had

C. they had for a previous camping trip

D. in their previous camping trip

E. for any previous camping trip --> correct

B

nightvision

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

18 Jul 2018, 12:30

the outdoor club is singular.

all options, expect E, have either they or their. So E is correct.

P

JS1290

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

19 Jul 2018, 12:53

The Outdoor Club - singular. Answer becomes straight E

L

TheNightKing

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

22 Sep 2019, 14:22

Such an elegant question. After wasting 2 minutes you're like, wait, what the heck. Answer is straight E.
Haha.
Nice one!

Thank you

G

GDT

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

04 Apr 2020, 06:00

The portion before the comma is a dependent clause which aims to present a contrast as indicated by the use of the word "despite"
what immediately follows the comma is Outdoor club and the first part conveys what this club did
As the club is singular so it should not be referred to by plural they etc. Thus, E is correct

B

AlexGmat2017

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

12 Apr 2020, 20:27

Can anyone explain why E) uses preposition "for" rather than "to"?
I thougt using "to any previous campaign trip" would be <more parallel> to the phrase "to the campaign".

Posted from my mobile device

B

jeffarah

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

23 Jun 2020, 22:41

My only issue with this question is that answer E totally changes the Meaning of the sentence.

It states: "for any previous camping trip" whereas the original meaning was clearly stated as their previous camping trip.

Doesn't meaning hold much more weight on the GMAT? I feel a question like this will not be on the actual test.

S

Stanindaw

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

12 Aug 2021, 08:49

How many of the options are parallel? I think 4 of them, Am i correct?

D

sivatx2

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

13 Aug 2021, 10:47

1

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I believe the question is incorrect. If this SC question, has to claim the same like OG question as mentioned, then "previous camping trips" should have been used in the sentence. The answer choices "for any previous camping trip" means it considers multiple trips, which is not stated in the original sentence and the answer is changing the meaning of the original sentence. It should have been then "for the previous camping trip". All the answer other choices are not selectable as well, as Outdoor Club is singular.

I believe you may have to consider changing from trip to trips.

B

Stanindaaaw

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

13 Aug 2021, 15:13

All i want to know is that, if we correct the singular-plural issue, how many options would be correct then in term parallelism?

Posted from my mobile device

B

tinbq

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

17 Aug 2021, 02:46

Hi experts,

I think pronoun they can refer to a collective noun like a club, please help to explain why it is wrong in this case which does not give any hint for the singularity of the subject. In addition, Is 'to the campground' parallel to 'for a trip'?

Thanks.

B

StringArgs

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

26 Aug 2022, 05:26

Hi Narenn

you had mentioned here https://gmatclub.com/forum/subject-verb-agreement-pronouns-159965.html#p1268059:
A collective or group noun identifies a single entity that is composed of more than one unit: class, team, faculty, majority, family, series, committee, audience, crowd.
Collective nouns are singular when they act as one unit.
e.g. The committee meets Friday at noon.
e.g. A majority is needed to pass the bill.

But if the context of the sentence emphasizes the individual members of the group, collective nouns are plural.
e.g. The committees meet each Friday at noon.

In this example can we not consider The Outdoor Club to be referring to its members (plural) and thus use they?

L

ExpertsGlobal5

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

26 Aug 2022, 05:46

Expert Reply

StringArgs wrote:

Hi Narenn

you had mentioned here https://gmatclub.com/forum/subject-verb-agreement-pronouns-159965.html#p1268059:
A collective or group noun identifies a single entity that is composed of more than one unit: class, team, faculty, majority, family, series, committee, audience, crowd.
Collective nouns are singular when they act as one unit.
e.g. The committee meets Friday at noon.
e.g. A majority is needed to pass the bill.

But if the context of the sentence emphasizes the individual members of the group, collective nouns are plural.
e.g. The committees meet each Friday at noon.

In this example can we not consider The Outdoor Club to be referring to its members (plural) and thus use they?

Hello StringArgs,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, collective nouns are always singular; a plural pronoun can only be used in relation to the collective noun if its constituents are also referred to elsewhere in the sentence.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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StringArgs

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

26 Aug 2022, 05:51

ExpertsGlobal5 wrote:

StringArgs wrote:

Hi Narenn

you had mentioned here https://gmatclub.com/forum/subject-verb-agreement-pronouns-159965.html#p1268059:
A collective or group noun identifies a single entity that is composed of more than one unit: class, team, faculty, majority, family, series, committee, audience, crowd.
Collective nouns are singular when they act as one unit.
e.g. The committee meets Friday at noon.
e.g. A majority is needed to pass the bill.

But if the context of the sentence emphasizes the individual members of the group, collective nouns are plural.
e.g. The committees meet each Friday at noon.

In this example can we not consider The Outdoor Club to be referring to its members (plural) and thus use they?

Hello StringArgs,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, collective nouns are always singular; a plural pronoun can only be used in relation to the collective noun if its constituents are also referred to elsewhere in the sentence.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Can you please support with examples? (when collective nouns are plural)

VerbalBot

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

07 Sep 2023, 10:42

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Re: Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had [#permalink]

07 Sep 2023, 10:42

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Despite having brought far more gear to the campground than they had

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