Since digital recording offers essentially perfect reproduction—on com

Hi guys,

i agree on the process of accumulation BUT to some extent.

The second part of the sentence aka transferring it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it are subordinate actions that the subject does during the main action: the accumulation.

In other words, you accumulate music through the three actions. If we assume that C is correct, even though it is under grammar standing point, we have two actions: accumulate on one hand, transfer and blah blah blah on the other hand, actually.

But I am seriously doubtful that in the real world we do not catch the sense or meaning of the sentence, in either case: B or C.

All in all, we are doing a debate on this because we have time and we learn from this. But in a test environment, in 60 seconds, you do not think at all to the process of accumulation. You pick the right one only and solely because B points out to the right antecedent, because is parallel and because indeed sounds good. That's it

Why is the subject "music" and not "collections"? I thought that I can simply ignore "of music" as it is a prepositional phrase.

Carcass wrote


Since ‘collections’ is the subject, we may reject A, B, D and E straightaway for using the wrong pronoun ‘it’.C is the only answer left, using the plural pronoun 'them' consistently.

Coming to the modified version:

Since digital recording offers essentially perfect reproduction – on compact discs, digital audiotapes, or digital videodiscs – audiophiles can accumulate music, transferring them from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging the sound quality.

music, transferring them from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging

music, transferring it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and no damage to

music, transfer it from one format to another, copy it, and digitally alter it with little effort and no damage to

music and transfer it from one format to another, copy it, and then digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging

music and transfer it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally alter it with little effort and no damage to


Now, the subject is changed to the singular 'music’. Therefore, the plural pronoun 'them' is irrelevant.

So let’s reject A. We can also eliminate D, E, and fouling on parallelism
Now left with B and C, We would have to take C to be superior, since it aptly considers the enlisted functions separate functions, unlike B, in which the acts of transferring, copying, and altering are erroneously taken to be subservient to the main function of accumulating. Therefore, C is the choice.

I would say neither "music", nor "collections" is the subject - "Audiophiles" is the subject. The structure of the sentence is as follows:

1. Main clause: Audiophiles can accumulate vast collections of music. (Subject: Audiophiles, verb: can accumulate, object: vast collections of music)
2. Subordinate clause: Since digital recording offers essentially perfect reproduction - on compact discs, digital audiotapes, or digital videodiscs -
3. Present participle modifier for "Audiophiles": transferring..., copying... and digitally altering...... ( A present participle modifier can modify the entire preceding clause or the subject of the preceding clause - in this case, the subject "Audiophiles" of the previous clause is modified).

Now the pronoun issue:

In the first case "them" is the correct pronoun, since plural "collections" is referred to. C is the correct answer.
In the modified case "it" is the correct pronoun, since singular "music" is referred to. B is the correct answer.

Since digital recording offers essentially perfect reproduction - on compact discs, digital audiotapes, or digital videodiscs - audiophiles can accumulate vast collections of music, transferring them from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging the sound quality.

a. music, transferring them from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging

b. music, transferring it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and no damage to

c. music, transferring them from one format to another, copy them, and digitally alter them with little effort and no damage to

d. music and transfer it from one format to another, copy it, and then digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging

e. music and transfer it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally alter it with little effort and no damage to

Its between B and C. We can eliminate C because it has meaning issue as well.

C) music, transferring them from one format to another, copy them, and digitally alter them with little effort and no damage to

Replace them with collections of music and it doesnt make sense to say digitally alter collections of music with little effort and no damage to sound quality. Logically altering collection can't even damage the sound quality.

GMATNinja generis KarishmaB gmatexam439 egmat

Can anyone help with pronoun ambiguity - it - in OA (B). Should we use them to refer to a collection of music

Since digital recording offers essentially perfect reproduction
—on compact discs, digital audiotapes, or digital videodiscs—

audiophiles can accumulate vast collections of [u]music, transferring it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and no damage to the sound quality

I believe transferring , copying and altering are coma+ verb-ing modifiers that show how audiophiles accumulate vast amount of music
and we are trying to maintain a parallel structure with stem - can accumulate. (can accumulate by x, y and z)

adkikani , although I understand the urge to have perfect command of rules, in a question in which elimination is as easy as it is in this case,
please do not worry about pronoun ambiguity.

"them" would be used to refer to "collectionS" of music (the sentence says collections, plural)
"it" would be used to refer to "music"

My view of pronoun ambiguity? Let it be the VERY last reason you eliminate (or choose) an answer.
Literally. The very last.

You can eliminate the other four answers in no time flat because they have glaring parallelism errors.
You can perform this elimination with zero reference to the issue of whether B has pronoun ambiguity.

Yes, you have identified one set of items that must be parallel.
Grammar requires parallelism in other parts of the sentence, too.

These items must be parallel:

1) verbs: transferring, copying, altering / (transfer, copy, alter)
2) adverbial modifiers: little [u]effort, no damage
3) pronouns: it, it, it / or them, them, them


Split #1: verb-ing parallelism
Eliminate C, D, and E. Their verbs are not parallel:
C) transferring, copy, alter
D) transfer, copy, altering
E) transfer, copying, alter

Split #2: pronoun parallelism
Eliminate option A) them, it, it

More issues - parallelism between effort and damage:
A and D have the not-parallel "effort" and "damaging."

ANSWER B (check: parallelism errors? Nope. Your doubt is pronoun ambiguity?
See analysis below. The pronoun "it" in B comprehensibly and logically refers to "music."
Is any other sentence even remotely correct? No?
The answer is B.)

Analysis of pronoun ambiguity in B?
In my opinion, this sentence is not going to win any awards for elegant prose.
But the sentence is the correct answer.

Answer B is correct
1) because GMAC says so;
2) because "it" as the pronoun for "music" is logical and meaningful; and
3) because all the other answers have 100% incorrect answers.

I am not confused in the slightest by what "it" should refer to. "It" refers to music.
How do I know that "it" refers to "music"? Context.

Here are my rules for pronoun ambiguity on the GMAT:
-- in context, does the pronoun have a sensible and decipherable meaning?
-- is there a noun that matches the pronoun's intended meaning?
-- does the noun agree in quantity and sex? (plural/singular, female/male)
-- are there ANY other issues that can eliminate options? Yes? Use those other issues instead of pronoun ambiguity.
-- is the pronoun a dummy or placeholder such as the pronoun in "It rained a lot"? [This group of exceptions is very small]

Although the pronoun "it" for "music" may bother you because it seems to conflict with rules from some sources (those with which I agree included):
-- is the meaning of IT clear from the context? (Yes. We know that this "it" thing can be changed in various ways with ease and without damage.)
-- does IT have a logical antecedent? (Yes. That logical antecedent is "music.")
-- do the noun and pronoun "match"? Yes. Both are singular sexless nouns.

Takeaway? The other four answers are flagrantly incorrect.
Check B for glaring errors. None?
Mark it. Walk away. Spend your time studying just about anything except pronoun ambiguity.

Did I mention that I and many others believe that pronoun ambiguity should be the LAST reason you reject or select an option?

I hope that helps.

This question is a real pain in the ass because intuitively I think the antecedent of them is "collections...of music", but you need to consider the meaning of the parallel lists and eliminate for other grammatical issues to arrive at the correct answer:

Since digital recording offers essentially perfect reproduction—on compact discs, digital audiotapes, or digital videodiscs—audiophiles can accumulate vast collections of music, transferring them from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging the sound quality.

Split 1 - the antecedent must be "music" because you can't transfer/ copy/ alter "collections" in the manner described, so the pronoun must be "it"
*Secondly, there are inconsistencies in the use of pronouns - the pronouns move between plural "them" and singular "it" when referring to the same subject.
(A) music, transferring them from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging
(C) music, transferring them from one format to another, copy them, and digitally alter them with little effort and no damage to

Split 2 - violation of parallelism - can't have participles parallel with verbs
(C) music, transferring them from one format to another, copy them, and digitally alter them with little effort and no damage to
Transferring (participle)..., copy (Verb),... digitally alter (adverb-verb)
Participles can't be parallel with verbs.

(D) music and transfer it from one format to another, copy it, and then digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging

Transfer and copy - base form verbs
altering and damaging - participles.

Participles can't be parallel with verbs.
(E) music and transfer it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally alter it with little effort and no damage to
Transfer (Verb)...,copying (participle), digitally alter (adverb-verb)
Participles can't be parallel with verbs.

(B) music, transferring it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and no damage to

"The biggest problem in this question is that this is from GMATPREP" - what is this supposed to mean?

(A) music, transferring them from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging
pronoun isuue and not damaging isn't the right use of tense

(B) music, transferring it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and no damage to
correct parallelism and pronoun use

(C) music, transferring them from one format to another, copy them, and digitally alter them with little effort and no damage to
Copy isn't the right tense along with alter

(D) music and transfer it from one format to another, copy it, and then digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging
parallesim error and not damaging tense issue

(E) music and transfer it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally alter it with little effort and no damage to
parallelism error
Hence IMO B

Not true my friend !

The sentence in Option C still maintains parallelism. "transferring them from one format to another" can be thought of modifier.

Sentence, however, does not make sense meaning wise and Hence C is wrong

Hey AndrewN,

Have you seen this one? It took me by huge surprise. Comma + verb-ing phrases modify the preceding clause, but Sayantan above has said that they are modifying the noun Audiophiles instead.

I have never seen a sentence that has used such modification. So, I am not sure how to absorb the concept in this question. Or should I consider it an anomaly and ignore it?

Hello, PyjamaScientist. I have seen it now. It took me 1:57 to select what ended up being the correct answer. I followed the parallelism more than anything else, because I thought either them or it could work as a pronoun to refer back to collections of music. To answer your query, I agree with both generis and sayantanc2k above, the latter on the notion that a participle at the end of a sentence may refer to the subject of the previous clause. We see this sort of writing all the time in print, but it is true that many times on the GMAT™, the participle seems to refer to the entire clause. For further reading on participles, I would recommend this entry from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).

Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew

I actually did not bother for pronouns but focused on parallelism issues.

The one that can give you trouble is actually A here but you can see that it has a problem towars the end with the verb.

B is the only one that maintains the parallelism. It may be not the best sentence ever seen, though it is better than the other four.

Sometimes is better to "live to fight another day" than to obsess on this minor matter when you have a clear (at least if you observe carefully) parallelism problem in the other 4.

I still think that having a strict rule-based approach makes you too rigid in your thinking through SC, so you need to be careful, here you're not applying mathematical formulas.....

GMATNinja Could you please help?

A pretty thorough explanation can be found in this post: https://gmatclub.com/forum/since-digita ... l#p2103392. Check it out, and let us know if you still have questions!