One thing that sets American Millennials apart from members of other

A path to correctly answering this question is noticing that the sentence is conveying that a “thing that sets American Millennials apart from other generations” is something. So, the use of the correct answer will result in a version that effectively conveys what that something is.

One thing that sets American Millennials apart from members of other generations is their having redefined the American dream.

(A) their having redefined

Since “having redefined” is a gerund and, thus, serves as a noun, this version is effective, in that it conveys that the “thing” that sets Millennials apart is Millennials’ having redefined the American dream.

Also, notice that logic dictates that “their” refers to “American Millennials,” and not to “members of other generations,” because it is Millennials’ having redefined the American dream that would set Millennials apart from members of other generations.

So, this version effectively conveys a clear meaning.

Correct Answer

(B) redefining

This version could be tempting, because this choice is the most concise one. However, the brevity of this choice comes at the expense of clarity, as what this version is meant to convey is not entirely clear. Are Millennials redefining the American dream? The version does not clearly say so and does not make clear what redefining the American dream has to do with Millennials.

(C) because they have redefined

This use of this choice results in an illogically constructed sentence. The resulting sentence is essentially “One thing … is because they have redefined the American dream.” Read literally, the sentence basically conveys that “one thing” exists (i.e., is) because the Millennials have redefined the American dream. Cleary that meaning is not the point to be made.

(D) to have redefined

While this version almost seems to work, its construction is not quite logical, and it does not convey a clear meaning.

The most obvious issue is that this version does not clearly connect redefining the American dream to the Millennials, as “to have redefined the American dream” does not indicate that the Millennials are the ones who have redefined the American dream.

Also, even if we assume that the Millennials are somehow connected to “to have redefined the American dream,” the sentence does not convey whether the Millennials have redefined the American dream or will redefine the American dream, or what exactly the relationship is between redefining the American dream and the Millennials.


(E) that of redefining

This version is awkward and does not convey a clear meaning.

The pronoun “that” is essentially an unnecessary repetition of “thing,” as we can see in this simplified version: “One thing is that of redefining ….” Essentially, this version is saying “One thing is the thing of redefining ….”

Also, this version does not make clear that it is the Millennials who are redefining the American dream.

Correct answer: A