The Eastern State Penitentiary was established in 1822 by reformers

Hello Everyone!

Let’s tackle this question, one answer at a time, to locate any potential problems.

The Eastern State Penitentiary was established in 1822 by reformers advocating that prisoners be held in solitary confinement and hard labor so as to reform them.

(A) advocating that prisoners be held in solitary confinement and hard labor so as to reform them
(B) who were advocating prisoners to be held in solitary confinement and hard labor for their reform
(C) advocating solitary confinement and hard labor as the means to reform prisoners
(D) who advocated solitary confinement and hard labor for the means of prisoner reform
(E) advocating as the means for prisoner reform solitary confinement and hard labor

After a quick glance over the question, it’s clear that each option is vastly different from the other. This is a sign that we are dealing with an issue of clarity. Whenever we deal with clarity, we must focus on a few issues to help eliminate wrong answers quickly:

1. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
2. Misplaced Modifiers
3. Overly wordy phrases

Let’s start with pronoun-antecedent agreement. Only options A and B use pronouns, so let’s check those first:

(A) advocating that prisoners be held in solitary confinement and hard labor so as to reform them
This is INCORRECT because it uses a vague pronoun! It’s unclear in the sentence if the pronoun “them” is referring to the prisoners reforming themselves, or if the prisoners are reforming the reformers.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal
It seems that we can use 'prisoners' or 'reformers' instead of 'themselves' (not 'them' at all). Can I have your thought, please?
Thanks__

GMATNinja please explain why the modifier in D ( who advocated....)is incorrect and how come ing modifier is correct here

Hello Everyone!

Let’s tackle this question, one answer at a time, to locate any potential problems.

The Eastern State Penitentiary was established in 1822 by reformers advocating that prisoners be held in solitary confinement and hard labor so as to reform them.

(A) advocating that prisoners be held in solitary confinement and hard labor so as to reform them
(B) who were advocating prisoners to be held in solitary confinement and hard labor for their reform
(C) advocating solitary confinement and hard labor as the means to reform prisoners
(D) who advocated solitary confinement and hard labor for the means of prisoner reform
(E) advocating as the means for prisoner reform solitary confinement and hard labor

After a quick glance over the question, it’s clear that each option is vastly different from the other. This is a sign that we are dealing with an issue of clarity. Whenever we deal with clarity, we must focus on a few issues to help eliminate wrong answers quickly:

1. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
2. Misplaced Modifiers
3. Overly wordy phrases

Let’s start with pronoun-antecedent agreement. Only options A and B use pronouns, so let’s check those first:

(A) advocating that prisoners be held in solitary confinement and hard labor so as to reform them
This is INCORRECT because it uses a vague pronoun! It’s unclear in the sentence if the pronoun “them” is referring to the prisoners reforming themselves, or if the prisoners are reforming the reformers.

(B) who were advocating prisoners to be held in solitary confinement and hard labor for their reform
This option is also INCORRECT because it’s not clear if “their” is referring to the prisoners or the reformers.

So that means we can knock options A and B out of the running. This leaves us with C, D, and E. Let’s look at each one to see if they have problems with either misplaced modifiers or wordiness:

(C) advocating solitary confinement and hard labor as the means to reform prisoners
This is CORRECT! It doesn’t have any issues with pronouns, modifiers, or wordiness. This is clear and concise, which is what the GMAT is looking for!

(D) who advocated solitary confinement and hard labor for the means of prisoner reform

This is INCORRECT because it’s vague and a bit wordy. It says that the reformers want solitary confinement and hard labor, but they don’t say WHO they think should be doing it! Is this something the prisoners will do or the reformers? It’s also a bit clunky to say “for the means of,” when you could easily simplify it to “for.”

(E) advocating as the means for prisoner reform solitary confinement and hard labor

This is INCORRECT because it contains a misplaced modifier! The phrase “as the means for prisoner reform” should go after “solitary confinement and hard labor.” You could place it here if you really wanted to, but you would need to put commas before and after the phrase so it’s clear this is a non-essential modifier.

There you have it! Option C is the correct answer!


Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

GMATNinja
karishmaB
mikemcgarry
Could you please explain why option C is better than option A?
What makes option A wrong here?
I chose A because it follows subjunctive mood.

GMATNinja
karishmaB
mikemcgarry
Could you please explain why option C is better than option A?
What makes option A wrong here?
I chose A because it follows subjunctive mood.

The Eastern State Penitentiary was established in 1822 by reformers advocating that prisoners be held in solitary confinement and hard labor so as to reform them.

The Eastern State Penitentiary was established in 1822 by reformers advocating solitary confinement and hard labor as the means to reform prisoners.

The Eastern State Penitentiary was established in 1822 by reformers advocating that prisoners be held in solitary confinement and hard labor so as to reform them.r

Hello,

In option C, isn't option "C" using wrong tense? "Advocating" is present tense whereas the action happened in the past.

Thank,
Vaishali

Hello,

In option C, isn't option "C" using wrong tense? "Advocating" is present tense whereas the action happened in the past.

Thank,
Vaishali

(C) advocating solitary confinement and hard labour as the means to reform prisoners

The parallelism in (A) creates an illogical meaning. Take another look:


Here, the parallel elements are "solitary confinement" and "hard labor," making it seems as though prisoners are held in solitary confinement and held in hard labor. You can do hard labor. You can recommend hard labor. But held in hard labor? Nah.

Contrast that with (C):


Notice that the same two elements are parallel, but now the both are preceded by "advocating," so the reformers were advocating solitary confinement and advocating hard labor. That makes way more sense.

Because (C) creates a more logical meaning than (A), it's a better answer. Simple as that.

I hope that helps!