Unlike the belief held by many of their peers that our Earth and Sun

Question

Unlike the belief held by many of their peers that our Earth and Sun are  part of a unique solar system, astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail held on to the theory developed in the 19th century that extrasolar planets existed, and in 1992 discovered several terrestrial-mass planets orbiting a pulsar roughly 2,000 light-years from the sun.

A) Unlike the belief held by many of their peers that our Earth and Sun are
B) Contrary to the long-held belief that our Earth and Sun are 
C) As opposed to the popular belief long held by their peers that our Earth and Sun are
D) Even though many of their peers were convinced that our Earth and Sun are 
E) Even with many of their peers being convinced our Earth and Sun are

nidhihiremath · Answer

Why cannot B be used? Also is using "their" not ambiguous?

EducationAisle · Answer

B changes the meaning of the original sentence.

The original sentence is talking about the belief held by the peers of astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail.

B just talks "long-held belief" (and not the belief held by the peers of astronomers)

No,  their  is not ambiguous. The  rule  is:

When a pronoun appear as part of introductory modifier, the pronoun refers to the noun/noun-phrase immediately after the introductory modifier.

Since pronoun "their" appears as part of introductory modifier ("Even though many...solar system"), "their" would refer to the noun-phrase "astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail".

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  this aspect of introductory modifiers . Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  nidhihiremath ,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your queries, we believe we can resolve your doubts.

Option B alters the meaning of the sentence; Option A conveys that "the belief" was held by many of the two astronomers' peers, but the phrase "Contrary to the long-held belief" fails to convey that information.

Further, "their" is not ambiguous here for two reasons. Firstly, "their" is part of a modifying phrase that acts directly on "astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail", making it clear what "their" refers to. Secondly, "astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail" is the only logical referent for "their" in this sentence.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

VelvetThunder · Answer

I marked D; can someone tell me if my thinking is right?  GMATNinja

So my understanding is that in A, B and C options - the belief is being compared to the astronomers so these three are out.
Then between D and E - E is not in the right tense, especially with the continuous tense "being" so I went with D

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  VelvetThunder ,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through your reasoning, we are pleased to inform you that it is completely accurate.

Kudos.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

VerbalBot · Answer

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Unlike the belief held by many of their peers that our Earth and Sun

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Unlike the belief held by many of their peers that our Earth and Sun

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