Pronouns: Possessive poison? Careful.
On the GMAT, as long as meaning is clear, both object and subject pronouns may have a possessive noun as an antecedent.
Max.MayankG wrote:
Recent studies have shown that the antioxidants found in the acai berry boost immune cell function more effectively than almost any other fruit, making it one of the healthiest widely available fruits on the market.
A. Recent studies have shown that the antioxidants found in the acai berry boost immune cell function more effectively than almost any other fruit, making it one of the healthiest widely available fruits
FATAL: antioxidants are compared to fruit, and the logic is absurd* (see option C)
B. Recent studies have shown that the antioxidants found in the acai berry boost immune cell function more effectively than almost any other fruit, making them one of the healthiest fruits that is widely available
FATAL: them is a plural pronoun that is supposed to refer to the singular noun "berry," and the logic is absurd (see option C)*
C. Recent studies have shown that the antioxidants found in the acai berry boost immune cell function more effectively than those in almost any other fruit, which makes the acai berry one of the healthiest widely available fruits
FATAL: COMMA + WHICH may NOT refer to an entire clause, or to a verb (demonstrate).
Options A, B, and C convey absurd meaning. Results of studies are information. Information does not cause a fruit to be healthy.*
D. Because the acai berry’s antioxidants boost immune cell function more effectively than those in almost any other fruit, it is one of the healthiest fruits that is widely available. Correct. The construction may be unfamiliar, but compared to the other answers, whose errors are known to be absolutely incorrect, this option is better. It does not contain such errors. It makes sense.
E. Because the acai berry’s antioxidants boost immune cell function more effectively than the antioxidants found in almost any other fruit, they are one of the healthiest widely available fruits
FATAL: plural pronoun THEY may not refer to singular noun "acai berry."
*Unsound logic: Options A, B, and C contain absurd logic ("logical predication" per OAs).
Study results do not cause a fruit to be healthy. What causes this fruit to be healthy? Extremely effective antioxidants. Now we have D and E. No contest.
There are no typos in this question. The correct answer is D.I. The widely held belief that a pronoun may not ever refer to a possessive noun ("possessive poison") is incorrect for the GMAT.
In particular, GMAC will occasionally allow a subject or object pronoun to refer to a possessive noun.A decade ago, GMAC mentioned the "poison pronoun" rule once in an OE.
Even in that case, the two options were eliminated for other reasons.
GMAC has never explicitly mentioned the "rule" again. Furthermore, GMAC has published questions whose correct answers violate the alleged rule.
This
Manhattan Prep question resembles an official question about the poet E. B. Browning in which the subject pronoun "she" refers to a possessive noun.
That pronoun referent startled many in the industry who had doubted that GMAC would tolerate such a construction.
Their doubt had been strong—to the point of certainty. The question and the issue have created confusion.
Max.MayankG ,
arvindsiv ,
lary301254M7 ,
AkshdeepS - though incorrect, your reasoning resembles that of many test takers. A decent bit of research is required to recognize that my answers in blue are correct.
That said, this question is instructive in this regard: use POE. Eliminate options with errors that have no exceptions.
You will end up with what you think is the "least" wrong answer.
That situation may not satisfy you, but it is the only way to handle SC questions in which a rule about which you are unclear arises.
Fatal errors in this case: Option A compares antioxidants to fruit; Options B and E contain pronoun disagreement; Option C misuses COMMA WHICH; and options A, B, and C are logically absurd.
Comments from forum posters about the "possessive poison" rule:
Quote:
• OA is D but I believe "it" is used incorrectly in this choice. Any comments? As long as meaning is clear, GMAC occasionally will allow a pronoun to have a possessive noun as an antecedent.
• In choice D "it" refers back to possessive "berry's". That cannot be correct. The pairing of "it" with the antecedent "berry's" CAN be correct on the GMAT.
• D is incorrect - acai berry was never mentioned in the earlier part of the sentence, therefore, "it" cannot refer back to the fruit. "It" can and does refer to the fruit. The antecedent of "it" is the possessive noun, "berry's."
• Not satisfied with the OA. There may be a typo. Possessive noun "acai berry’s antioxidants" can't work as an antecedent to "it". There is no typo. The possessive noun "berry's" can be the antecedent of "it."
Rules that seem ironclad aren't always so. That circumstance can be very frustrating.
II. The content of the infamous (and apparently perishable) poison possessive rule on the GMATAccording to the "poison pronoun rule," subject and object pronouns
cannot refer to possessive nouns.
Some grammarians still hold firmly to that rule.
More than a decade ago, though, GMAC advertised that it would not follow the rule strictly in the OBJECT pronoun case (her, him, them).
GMAC used
the question HERE as early as 2007 in which an OBJECT pronoun referred to a possessive noun. That link is to a Question of the Day, in which the awesome and awesomely funny
GMATNinja did not need to discuss whether the objective case, "her," could refer to the possessive noun in "the goddess Bona Dea's" because the phrase in question was not underlined and
every option contained only "her." (That same official question is
here.)
GMAC's maneuver at that point was equivalent to a statement that object pronouns COULD refer to possessive nouns.
A handful of similar official questions reinforced that message about object pronoun referents.
Such reference is not common. But it is not forbidden.
Whether GMAC ever subscribed strictly to the "poison pronoun" rule in the SUBJECT pronoun case is not clear.
In 2005 or 2006, apparently on a GMAT paper test,
here, a possessive noun was allowed to stand for a subject pronoun:Frances Wright's book on America contrasted the republicanism of the United States with what she saw as the aristocratic and corrupt institutions of England.This paper test example probably was seen by very few and did not dissolve a fairly steadfast consensus.
In yet another official question even older than the Frances Wright question, in the non-underlined portion,
the word
he refers to
Scott Joplin's.
That OG 1988 question is here.
Until recently, many GMAT instructors believed that GMAC would
not allow a
subject pronoun to refer to a possessive noun.
In 2016, however, the
OG contained
a question about Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry, HERE.That is, in SC #138 of
OG 2016, GMAC tipped its hand on the issue of a subject pronoun referent.
SPOILER ALERT: The answer to an official question is given.
CORRECT: Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries SHE was considered the better poet.
GMAT instructors took note. Many of them observed that GMAC had "relaxed" its stance. At the least, GMAC had established that a subject pronoun COULD refer to a possessive antecedent.
I do not think that GMAC staged a revolution.
I think that GMAC test writers signaled that as long as the meaning of the sentence is clear, a subject pronoun
can refer to a possessive noun.
Can be acceptable does not mean
is always acceptable.In the EBB case just above, for example, there is only one woman to whom "she" can refer, namely, Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
The E.B. Browning question was not a mistake. The question continued to appear in OGs 2017, 2018, and 2019 (SC #805).
Conclusion? Note the shift and adjust your thinking just a little. We do not automatically reject an option based on what has often seemed like a rule without exceptions.
III.
Excellent sources may be wrong about this issue.Expert sources who say that pronouns cannot refer to possessive nouns are not the same people who write the GMAT.
With respect to the GMAT, the blanket possessive poison prohibition is incorrect.Typically such sources add one exception, namely, that possessive pronouns such as "her" (her demotion) can refer to possessive nouns such as "Mary's mistake."
In a conflict between an official and a non-official source, the official source wins.
The most recent edition of a book by a very popular and well-respected source for GMAT sentence correction
is
not accurate about what GMAC allows and forbids in this context.
See, for example, pages 119 and 194 of the latest edition.
(That book deserves its stellar reputation. A few inaccuracies? Eh.)
Sources on the web? Same deal. On the GMAT,
the "rule" that a possessive noun cannot be the antecedent of a pronoun, as this popular website asserts, HERE, is not absolute. The rule may not be a rule at all.
I emphasize "on the GMAT" because some well-respected sources adhere to the prohibition.
IV. SummaryOn the GMAT, as long as meaning is clear, both object and subject pronouns may have a possessive noun as an antecedent, so do not automatically reject such pairings. Do not accept them blindly, either.Sometimes okay does not equal always okay.
Correct: Because the acai
berry’s antioxidants boost immune cell function more effectively than those in almost any other fruit,
it is one of the healthiest fruits that is widely available
Answer D
P.S. "Logical predication" (meaning and causality) in Options A, B, and C, as I wrote
HERE, is nonsensical at worst and iffy at best.Study results cannot "cause" a fruit to be among "the healthiest" of available fruits.
Antioxidants can. See my comments in that post.
close
Updated on: 31 May 2021, 06:20
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wrong 
the acai berry’s antioxidants boost immune cell function more effectively than those in almost any other fruit, it is one of the healthiest fruits that is widely available 
