NEW HERE? LEARN MORE
closeclose
Last visit was: 26 Apr 2024, 01:34 It is currently 26 Apr 2024, 01:34
Decision Tracker
My Rewards
New posts
New comers' posts

Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel

Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave

SORT BY:
Date
Kudos
Tags:
Find Similar Topics 
Show Tags
Hide Tags
User avatar
Vercules
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 23 Dec 2010
Status:Making every effort to create original content for you!!
Posts: 442
Own Kudos [?]: 5416 [5]
Given Kudos: 82
Location: United States
Concentration: Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship
Schools: Kenan-Flagler '15 (A) McCombs '15 (I) Tepper '15 (M) Kellogg '15 (I) HBS '15 (D) Wharton '15 (D) Stern '15 (WL) Simon '15 (A)
GMAT 1: 660 Q48 V34
GMAT 2: 750 Q49 V42
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User
Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave [#permalink] New post   02 Feb 2013, 10:23
5
Bookmarks
Expert Reply
00:00
A
B
C
D
E

Difficulty:

25% (medium)

Question Stats:

69% (00:59) correct 31% (01:12) wrong based on 213 sessions
Hide Show timer Statistics
Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave normally in public, should be declared insane; however its legal definition is someone who is unable to distinguish right from wrong.

(A) its legal definition is someone who is unable
(B) legally, it refers to a person who is unable
(C) it is legally defined as the inability
(D) the legal definition of insanity is the inability
(E) legally, they refer to someone who is unable
ShowHide Answer
Official Answer
D
User avatar
Vercules
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 23 Dec 2010
Status:Making every effort to create original content for you!!
Posts: 442
Own Kudos [?]: 5416 [2]
Given Kudos: 82
Location: United States
Concentration: Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship
Schools: Kenan-Flagler '15 (A) McCombs '15 (I) Tepper '15 (M) Kellogg '15 (I) HBS '15 (D) Wharton '15 (D) Stern '15 (WL) Simon '15 (A)
GMAT 1: 660 Q48 V34
GMAT 2: 750 Q49 V42
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User
Re: Some people may believe that a person, who [#permalink] New post   03 Feb 2013, 08:10
2
Kudos
Expert Reply
prasannajeet wrote:
Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave normally in public, should be declared insane; however its legal definition is someone who is unable to distinguish right from wrong.

(A) its legal definition is someone who is unable- Pronoun ref not correct
(B) legally, it refers to a person who is unable- Pronoun ref not correct
(C) it is legally defined as the inability-wordy
(D) the legal definition of insanity is the inability-Correct
(E) legally, they refer to someone who is unable - Pronoun must be singular

Please correct me if I am going wrong somewhere........................


Yes prasannajeet, you are correct. In GMAT if you see an underlined part starting with a pronoun, it is highly probable that the sentence is testing pronoun issues.

As far as the explanation is concerned

(A) contains a meaning error "its legal definition is someone" the definition can not be someone.
(E) Clearly contains a pronoun number error.

Choices (B), (C) and (D) are not exactly grammatically incorrect, however (D) conveys the meaning without any ambiguity and hence the correct answer choice.

Both (B) and (C) have the ambiguous pronoun "its".

Vercules
User avatar
prasannajeet
Manager
Manager
Joined: 26 Feb 2012
Posts: 79
Own Kudos [?]: 109 [0]
Given Kudos: 56
Location: India
Concentration: General Management, Finance
WE:Engineering (Telecommunications)
Send PM
Re: Some people may believe that a person, who [#permalink] New post   02 Feb 2013, 10:31
Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave normally in public, should be declared insane; however its legal definition is someone who is unable to distinguish right from wrong.

(A) its legal definition is someone who is unable- Pronoun ref not correct
(B) legally, it refers to a person who is unable- Pronoun ref not correct
(C) it is legally defined as the inability-wordy
(D) the legal definition of insanity is the inability-Correct
(E) legally, they refer to someone who is unable - Pronoun must be singular

Please correct me if I am going wrong somewhere........................
avatar
ramanujanu
Intern
Intern
Joined: 09 Jul 2011
Posts: 7
Own Kudos [?]: 5 [0]
Given Kudos: 8
Send PM
Re: Some people may believe that a person, who [#permalink] New post   13 Feb 2013, 07:59
Is there a significance to the semicolon here. Is that a reason for the second independent clause to have the 'insanity' explicitly mentioned?
User avatar
Vercules
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 23 Dec 2010
Status:Making every effort to create original content for you!!
Posts: 442
Own Kudos [?]: 5416 [0]
Given Kudos: 82
Location: United States
Concentration: Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship
Schools: Kenan-Flagler '15 (A) McCombs '15 (I) Tepper '15 (M) Kellogg '15 (I) HBS '15 (D) Wharton '15 (D) Stern '15 (WL) Simon '15 (A)
GMAT 1: 660 Q48 V34
GMAT 2: 750 Q49 V42
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User
Re: Some people may believe that a person, who [#permalink] New post   13 Feb 2013, 09:29
Expert Reply
ramanujanu wrote:
Is there a significance to the semicolon here. Is that a reason for the second independent clause to have the 'insanity' explicitly mentioned?


Hi ramanujanu,

The word "insanity" is used in the second clause to remove any pronoun reference ambiguity. The importance of the semicolon is not very significant in this question. If we use "it" in the second clause then "it" will have no clear antecedent. In the first clause the word "insane" (an adjective) is used; however a pronoun "it" can not refer to an adjective. That's why we have to explicitly mention "insanity" (a noun) in the second clause.

Hope that helps,

Vercules
User avatar
greatps24
Manager
Manager
Joined: 22 Nov 2010
Posts: 202
Own Kudos [?]: 497 [0]
Given Kudos: 75
Location: India
GMAT 1: 670 Q49 V33
WE:Consulting (Telecommunications)
Send PM
Re: Some people may believe that a person, who [#permalink] New post   13 Feb 2013, 21:47
Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave normally in public, should be declared insane; however its legal definition is someone who is unable to distinguish right from wrong.

(A) its legal definition is someone who is unableIts should logically refer to Insane but the subject of previous clause is "a Person"
(B) legally, it refers to a person who is unablePronoun error
(C) it is legally defined as the inability Pronoun error
(D) the legal definition of insanity is the inabilityCorrect
(E) legally, they refer to someone who is unable..It changes the meaning
User avatar
maggie27
Manager
Manager
Joined: 25 Apr 2014
Posts: 77
Own Kudos [?]: 277 [0]
Given Kudos: 1474
Send PM
Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave [#permalink] New post   26 Sep 2014, 09:14
Hi Guys

I cant really follow whats the pronoun issue with B ? Is the "it" not "referring" to "insane"? Please guide
User avatar
L
CrackverbalGMAT
GMAT Club Legend
GMAT Club Legend
Joined: 03 Oct 2013
Affiliations: CrackVerbal
Posts: 4946
Own Kudos [?]: 7628 [0]
Given Kudos: 215
Location: India
Send PM
Re: Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave [#permalink] New post   25 May 2019, 20:15
Quote:
Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave normally in public, should be declared insane; however its legal definition is someone who is unable to distinguish right from wrong.

(A) its legal definition is someone who is unable
(B) legally, it refers to a person who is unable
(C) it is legally defined as the inability
(D) the legal definition of insanity is the inability
(E) legally, they refer to someone who is unable


The right answer is D. The thing/concept being defined is "insanity. Hence, if we use a pronoun, we should see the word 'insanity' before, so it's clear as to what we are replacing. Since it isn't there, the only option WITHOUT the pronoun ends up being the right one.

Therefore, D is the right answer.
avatar
B
mccraygmat0326
Intern
Intern
Joined: 25 Sep 2018
Posts: 13
Own Kudos [?]: 3 [0]
Given Kudos: 1
Send PM
Re: Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave [#permalink] New post   25 May 2019, 23:52
Shouldn’t there technically be a comma after however in the correct answer choice?

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
VerbalBot
Non-Human User
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Posts: 17227
Own Kudos [?]: 848 [0]
Given Kudos: 0
Send PM
Re: Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave [#permalink] New post   03 Jun 2020, 04:31
Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
GMAT Club Bot
gmatclubot
Re: Some people may believe that a person, who does not behave [#permalink]
03 Jun 2020, 04:31
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
6921 posts
GMATNinjaTwo
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
238 posts

Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group | Emoji artwork provided by EmojiOne
Main navigation
GMAT Resources
Partners
MBA Resources
www.gmac.com|www.mba.com | | GMAT Club Rules | Terms and Conditions