Pack 10 Q2: The use of antibiotics, or the life-saving mold, which...

A) have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was prescribed in 1942 -- "have" (plural) and "it" (singular). In this sentence, logically, what has become easily available and what was prescribed logically refer to antibiotics and need to have subject pronoun agreement.

B) has become easily available even with some skepticism when they were first prescribed in 1942 -- Same error as A.

C) have become easily available even with some skepticism when first prescribed in 1942 -- the subject of the first sentence is "use". "of antibiotics" is a prepositional phrase. Accordingly, "has" should be used but the sentence won't make logical sense then "use become easily available". "have" in this case does not reconcile with the subject i.e. "use".

The structure of the sentence is like this Subject, modifier 1, modifier 2, verb 1. Using slash and burn technique, one can easily see that the subject is "use" in this case. If it were antibiotics, we wouldn't need a comma after scientists and "which" noun modifier would have acted like a clause in itself. (though singular verb "has" wouldn't then reconcile with plural subject "antibiotics")

D) has become easily available even with some skepticism when the antibiotic was first prescribed in 1942 -- I don't like this choice since it has the logical error in so far as "use" cannot become easily available. It is the antibiotic that has become easily available.

E) antibiotics have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was first introduced in 1942 -- same error as A. "antibiotics" and "it". Note that pronoun ambiguity isn't a hard and fast rule but agreement between pronoun number and subject it refers to is. And there is a glaring error in this choice.


I would go for D but frankly I don't like any of the choices here. Waiting for OA.

The use of antibiotics, or the life-saving mold, which was discovered by a Scottish scientist, has moved past laboratories to almost every pharmacy in the world and have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was prescribed in 1942.

A) have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was prescribed in 1942
B) has become easily available even with some skepticism when they were first prescribed in 1942
C) have become easily available even with some skepticism when first prescribed in 1942
D) has become easily available even with some skepticism when the antibiotic was first prescribed in 1942
E) antibiotics have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was first introduced in 1942

IMO, the answer is E.

A --> "have" is wrong. should be "has"
B --> the use of antibiotics can't have become easily available.
C --> "have" is wrong. should be "has"
D --> same as B.
E --> Correct.

A) have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was prescribed in 1942
B) has become easily available even with some skepticism when they were first prescribed in 1942
C) have become easily available even with some skepticism when first prescribed in 1942
D) has become easily available even with some skepticism when the antibiotic was first prescribed in 1942
E) antibiotics have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was first introduced in 1942

Let's break this down; first we see a difference in has/ have usage . Let's check and eliminate options
The use of antibiotics, *bla bla bla *, has moved past laboratories *bla bla bla*
and *antibiotics* have become easily available. So has is wrong here.
Eliminating B and D.

We are left with A, C and E
Looking at A, u can see a mis match in tenses; have is used for antibiotics and then its is used ; so that's wrong
Looking at E; Same error as A
Option C altogether skips that confusion by avoiding to use possessive pronoun.

C is the correct option as per me. Awaiting OA

srivapriyam

It is okay to use the past tense in E because it is clear that "in 1942" is a past signal.

Past Tense is not the problem as per me. The problem in E is usage of "its" when using "have" at the start.

Hope that explains your concern

Yea, I think I missed that point.
I think the answer should be D then.

I am also confused between D and E, but I am going with D option ( using POE)

1) Has v/s Have
Here the Subject is 'The use of' and the author use 'Has' verb in the 1st part, so maintain parallelism and eliminate sentences with Have.
Eliminate A and C.
Coming to B, D and E

A) have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was prescribed in 1942

B) has become easily available even with some skepticism when they were first prescribed in 1942
Here, 'They' refers to what ? Referent is not clear

C) have become easily available even with some skepticism when first prescribed in 1942

D) has become easily available even with some skepticism when the antibiotic was first prescribed in 1942- CORRECT

E) antibiotics have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was first introduced in 1942.
Here also 'It' refers to what ?
It can be scientist
Referent is not clear

Official Explanation

The use of antibiotics, or the life-saving mold, which was discovered by a Scottish scientist, has moved past laboratories to almost every pharmacy in the world and have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was prescribed in 1942.

A) have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was prescribed in 1942
B) has become easily available even with some skepticism when they were first prescribed in 1942
C) have become easily available even with some skepticism when first prescribed in 1942
D) has become easily available even with some skepticism when the antibiotic was first prescribed in 1942
E) antibiotics have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was first introduced in 1942

There are two issues with this question. The first is the verb tense: have become/has become. The second is the antecedent and pronoun agreement: it/they/the antibiotic. If we can focus on one at a time, we should be able to eliminate our options and get to the correct one rather quickly:

Number One: have become / has become
This is an issue with parallelism & verb tenses. We can look to the original sentence for clues as to which verb tense we need:

The use of antibiotics, or the life-saving mold, which was discovered by a Scottish scientist, has moved past laboratories to almost every pharmacy in the world and have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was prescribed in 1942.

The verb needs to be consistent with other verbs in the sentence AND match up with its subject, which in this case is the singular “use.” Let’s eliminate any that use the plural “have become” and keep all that use the singular “has become:”

A) have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was prescribed in 1942
B) has become easily available even with some skepticism when they were first prescribed in 1942
C) have become easily available even with some skepticism when first prescribed in 1942
D) has become easily available even with some skepticism when the antibiotic was first prescribed in 1942
E) antibiotics have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was first introduced in 1942

We can eliminate options A, C, & E because they don’t use the same verb tense throughout, and the verb doesn’t agree with the subject. Now that we have it narrowed down to only 2 options, let’s move on.

Number Two: it/they/the antibiotic

This is an issue of clarity and pronouns. We need to make sure that if we use pronouns that they agree with their antecedent and are 100% clear. If no pronouns are present, make sure the meaning is still clear:

B) has become easily available even with some skepticism when they were first prescribed in 1942
This is INCORRECT. Although the verb tense is correct since “has moved” was used earlier in the sentence, it is not clear who “they” is referring to.

D) has become easily available even with some skepticism when the antibiotic was first prescribed in 1942
This is CORRECT. The verb tense is correct and it is completely clear that antibiotics were first prescribed in 1942. When it is unclear what the pronoun is referring to, repeating the antecedent clarifies the sentence.

There you have it - option D is the correct choice! By starting with a simple “either/or” split, we can typically eliminate 2-3 options quickly and get on to more complicated issues!


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

You were on the right track to look at the pronouns, shameekv1989, but the phrase "the use of antibiotics has become easily available" does work for this sentence. Check out the official explanation in the comments, and look out for the next question coming out soon!

Well done, sauravleo123! You cracked the code! In many of the GMAT sentence correction questions, there won't be a perfect answer - you just need to find the best one out of the five given. In this case, it does make sense to say "the use of antibiotics has become easily available," but it just may not be how many of us would prefer to say it. You did recognize that the other 4 options had much bigger issues, and kudos to you for focusing on those issues!

Well done, ravigupta2912! You cracked the code! Sure, option D isn't written the way most writers would prefer to write it, but it has no grammatical errors - just some unpopular stylistic choices. You were able to keep your focus on the issues that mattered (pronouns & subject/verb agreement), so kudos to you for doing that!

You were very close, h31337u! The phrase "the use of antibiotics has become easily available" isn't grammatically wrong - it's an unpopular stylistic choice, sure, but it's not logically wrong. That phrase also appears in every option, so even if you don't like it, you cannot focus too much attention on it. Focus only on the differences, not the similarities, and that will help you find the best option (even if it's not perfect).

Check out the official explanation in the comments for more, and look out for the next question coming soon!

You were close srivapriyam when focusing on subject/verb agreement and pronouns. Check out the official explanation in the comments for more information, and look out for the next question coming soon!

Well done thenikhilseth! You cracked the code on this one! Kudos to you!

Hi

I have a confusion regarding the OA . This means that the "use has become easily available" , shouldn't it be the antibiotics are easily available?

A: Have is incorrect ( subject verb agreement error)
B: has and they together..one is sigular other is plural..(subject verb agreement error)
C: Have is incorrect ( subject verb agreement error)
D: Correct Choice
E: It is incorrect ( Subject verb agreement error)

Thanks for your question MrSengupta!

If we look at the original sentence, the subject isn't antibiotics:

The use of antibiotics, or the life-saving mold, which was discovered by a Scottish scientist, has moved past laboratories to almost every pharmacy in the world and [u]have become easily available even with some skepticism when it was prescribed in 1942.

The phrase "of antibiotics" is a prepositional phrase, so it cannot stand in for the subject. Therefore, we need to make sure the two actions both agree with the subject (use), and not the object (antibiotics). In this case, option D wins. It sounds strange to say "the use of antibiotics has become easily available," but it's grammatically correct.

Remember - we're not looking for a perfect answer in the GMAT. We're looking for the best of the 5, and in this case, D is the best one.