By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options

By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options

vyascd The use of "has" indicates the present perfect tense. This is commonly used to describe actions that began in the past and are still ongoing ("I have been working out every day") or achievements ("I have run a 5-minute mile"). In this case, the sentence seems to fit both criteria. The company has achieved something, and the effects it is having on its competitors and customers seem to be ongoing, rather than something that happened only in the past. This sentence certainly could have been written in the past, describing past actions only, but there's nothing wrong with the tense it is written in.

By offering lower prices and a menu of personal communications options, such as caller identification and voice mail, the new telecommunications company has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them to offer competitive prices.

(A) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced them
(B) has not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also forced them
(C) has not only captured customers from other phone companies but also forced these companies
(D) not only has captured customers from other phone companies but also these companies have been forced
(E) not only captured customers from other phone companies, but it also has forced them

There is no absolute rule for identifying the antecedent. "Them" can refer to any plural noun in the sentence, as long as "they," "them," or "their" hasn't already been used to refer to some other plural noun. However, it's important to use sentence structure and whatever you can gather of the author's intent to determine the correct antecedent. The GMAT doesn't test pronoun ambiguity much, but since we have a choice in this case to replace the unclear "them" with the actual noun, it's wise to do so.

As for the word but, it does not necessarily require a comma. You definitely use a comma if it's joining two independent clauses:

I'm enjoying the party, but I have to leave now.

However, there are many other cases where we don't need one:

The robot has a small but powerful engine.
All but one of the guests arrived late.
I aced the verbal section but timed out on the quant.

Or, as we see here . ..

She has not only written three bestselling novels but also developed fifteen important patents.

Note that the use of "has not only" vs. "not only has" cannot be decided in isolation. Either construction could work. "Not only . . . but also" is a parallelism indicator, so we can use "has" afterward as long as it is parallel. In other words, we can say "She has not only X but also Y" or "She not only HAS X but also HAS Y." We just can't say "She not only HAS X but also Y." Having said that, I prefer the usage in the correct answer. There's not much reason to use "has" twice.

There is no absolute rule for identifying the antecedent. "Them" can refer to any plural noun in the sentence, as long as "they," "them," or "their" hasn't already been used to refer to some other plural noun. However, it's important to use sentence structure and whatever you can gather of the author's intent to determine the correct antecedent. The GMAT doesn't test pronoun ambiguity much, but since we have a choice in this case to replace the unclear "them" with the actual noun, it's wise to do so.

As for the word but, it does not necessarily require a comma. You definitely use a comma if it's joining two independent clauses:

I'm enjoying the party, but I have to leave now.

However, there are many other cases where we don't need one:

The robot has a small but powerful engine.
All but one of the guests arrived late.
I aced the verbal section but timed out on the quant.

Or, as we see here . ..

She has not only written three bestselling novels but also developed fifteen important patents.

Note that the use of "has not only" vs. "not only has" cannot be decided in isolation. Either construction could work. "Not only . . . but also" is a parallelism indicator, so we can use "has" afterward as long as it is parallel. In other words, we can say "She has not only X but also Y" or "She not only HAS X but also HAS Y." We just can't say "She not only HAS X but also Y." Having said that, I prefer the usage in the correct answer. There's not much reason to use "has" twice.

MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, egmat, I chose option A over C because:
- 'Them' can only logically refer to phone companies because customers can't offer competitive prices
- Prioritized concision over repetition

Can you please share your views on what should be the strategy in such cases?

MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, egmat, I chose option A over C because:
- 'Them' can only logically refer to phone companies because customers can't offer competitive prices
- Prioritized concision over repetition

Can you please share your views on what should be the strategy in such cases?

There is no absolute rule for identifying the antecedent. "Them" can refer to any plural noun in the sentence, as long as "they," "them," or "their" hasn't already been used to refer to some other plural noun. However, it's important to use sentence structure and whatever you can gather of the author's intent to determine the correct antecedent. The GMAT doesn't test pronoun ambiguity much, but since we have a choice in this case to replace the unclear "them" with the actual noun, it's wise to do so.

As for the word but, it does not necessarily require a comma. You definitely use a comma if it's joining two independent clauses:

I'm enjoying the party, but I have to leave now.

However, there are many other cases where we don't need one:

The robot has a small but powerful engine.
All but one of the guests arrived late.
I aced the verbal section but timed out on the quant.

Or, as we see here . ..

She has not only written three bestselling novels but also developed fifteen important patents.

Note that the use of "has not only" vs. "not only has" cannot be decided in isolation. Either construction could work. "Not only . . . but also" is a parallelism indicator, so we can use "has" afterward as long as it is parallel. In other words, we can say "She has not only X but also Y" or "She not only HAS X but also HAS Y." We just can't say "She not only HAS X but also Y." Having said that, I prefer the usage in the correct answer. There's not much reason to use "has" twice.