The constellation that includes the North Star has been know

The constellation that includes the North Star has been known by many names among different cultures, called “The Bear” in ancient Greece, “The Drinking Gourd” in parts of Africa, and “Star Girl and Her Seven Sky Brothers” among the Cheyenne people of North America

among different cultures, called
among different cultures; it was called
in different cultures, being called
in different cultures; including the title
in different cultures; it was called

Spoiler:
Doubt
In the question, "it" in choice E is ambigious whether it refers to Constellation or North Star, how to decide in such circumstances.

So u mean to say if in a sentence, "if" correctly refers to the subject of a sentence, then its fine, so if in the below sentence it was

In the 1980's the rate of increase of the minority population of the US was nearly as fast as it was in the 1970's


Based on this one can understand that IT refers to rate of increase, but even minority population is also a noun, yet it is not the primary subject hence IT does not refer to minority population.

If a pronoun such as IT in the subordinate clause, has 2 antecendents i.e. 2 nouns such as

Fishing is a sport and knitting is an art, hence john loves it. here it is ambigious as to whether it refers to Fishing or Knitting.

Am i correct in understanding this concept, pls explain.

In the 1980’s the rate of increase of the minority population of the United States was nearly twice as fast as the 1970’s.

(A) twice as fast as
(B) twice as fast as it was in
(C) twice what it was in
(D) two times faster than that of
(E) two times greater than

Bluerobbin I see. I need kudos for explaining this one !

Jim is working harder than Jack, as he wants the scholarship. ----> He (in subject position of first clause) is not ambiguous. It refers to Jim not Jack.

I can break the above sentence into 2 clause
Jim is working harder than Jack.
He wants the scholarship.

Now this will hint that this sentence is different. Do you have more than one clauses??

In the 1980's the rate of increase of the minority population of the US was nearly as fast as it was in the 1970's >>>> "it" is correct as it is comparing the "rate of increase"

2 mistakes in this sentence -
1. "as fast as" is redundant since you are using "increase" - rate of increase
2. Use DOUBLE,TRIPLE as verbs and TWICE ,THRICE for comparisons

Fishing is a sport and knitting is an art, hence john loves it. here it is ambigious as to whether it refers to Fishing or Knitting. >> Right on ! "it" is ambiguous. Break the sentence into three parts

Fishing is a sport
knitting is an art
John loves it ----> "it" (in the object position of clause 3) can refer to sport or to art. Hence ambiguous!

In the 1980’s the rate of increase of the minority population of the United States was nearly twice as fast as the 1970’s.
(A) twice as fast as
(B) twice as fast as it was in
(C) twice what it was in
(D) two times faster than that of
(E) two times greater than
IMO : C
In your example if you say "it" is referring to minority population then you are forgetting the preposition "of"
e.g Men of Rome that fought bravely
that refers to "Men" which is a noun before the preposition.

Thanks nusmavrik. Can you explain the implications of a preposition- as you mention
>> if you say "it" is referring to minority population then you are forgetting the preposition "of"

The results of the recognition of the importance of oral rehydration therapy [is/are] very encouraging to WHO ------> subject is "results". Hence the verb should be "are"

the rate of increase of the minority population of the United States was ----> subject is "rate" NOT minority population.

Men of Rome who fought bravely ...... ----> subject is "Men" NOT Rome

In the example :
In the 1980's the rate of increase of the minority population of the US was nearly as fast as it was in the 1970's >>>> "it" is correct as it is comparing the "rate of increase" between the two periods. However this sentence has redundancies as I have explained earlier.

Straight E..

there are three contenders...B,C and E..

as per Manhattan Sentence Correction Guide...'being' usage should be avoided in GMAT (C is out)...

between B and D....
B uses 'among'...now we don't know that only the cultures named in the sentence names the constellation by these names or there are others too..
so we use 'different'

The constellation that includes the North Star has been known by many names among different cultures, called “The Bear” in ancient Greece, “The Drinking Gourd” in parts of Africa, and “Star Girl and Her Seven Sky Brothers” among the Cheyenne people of North America.

The first thing to solve here is "in" VS "among". Here the winner is (IMO) "in", " North Star has been known by many names in/among different cultures": has been known (...) among is wrong.
Out A and B.
Now I can eliminate C easly, "COMMA +ING" modifies the preceding clause, in this case "being " refers to "North Star has been known by many names" (doesn't make sense).
D or E?

D) in different cultures; including the title
E) in different cultures; it was called

When we use ";", we must be aware that is connects two indipent phrases. In D "including" spoils this construct (D is not an indipendent phrase" including the title “The Bear” in ancient Greece ...")
IMO E

The constellation that includes the North Star has been known by many names among different cultures, called “The Bear” in ancient Greece, “The Drinking Gourd” in parts of Africa, and “Star Girl and Her Seven Sky Brothers” among the Cheyenne people of North America.

1 "among" implies that the different cultures shared names, so eliminate A and B. 2 "being called" is awkward so eliminate C 3 an independent clause should follow the semicolon and "the title" is redundant so eliminate D

(A) among different cultures, called
(B) among different cultures; it was called
(C) in different cultures, being called
(D) in different cultures; including the title
(E) in different cultures; it was called

The past tense "was called" is necessary because we are talking about ancient Greece.

Doesnt "in different cultures" also imply that the cultures shared the names?

This is my point of uncertainty here. If there are "many names" in different cultures, it is not at all clear that each culture used only one of the names.

Posted from my mobile device

I am still confused with the correct answer choice here. While the first part of the sentence says the constellation has been known by many names, the second part says it was called. Isn't there a tense issue here????

Even I have the same doubt here.
Experts help please
GMATNinja

There's no conflict between the two different tenses. The first part is in the present perfect. It's saying that over time, the constellation has been known by different names. This is a situation that continues to the present day. (For instance, those of us in the English-speaking world call it The Little Dipper or Ursa Minor.) The second part is listing some names the constellation has been called in the past. It's not necessary to establish that no one calls them that anymore, but the emphasis here is on past usage, and that's fine.

(As an aside, this sentence is mixing up two different constellations--Ursa Minor and Ursa Major--but that doesn't affect the grammar.)

i did not understand difference between among and in. I request someone to clarify.

Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

To clarify, it may help to think about how we use the word "between." "Among" is an equivalent word, except that it's normally used for groups of 3+ vs. only 2. So, for instance, we wouldn't say "This is pronounced differently between Mexico and Spain." We'd say "This is pronounced differently IN Mexico than IN Spain" or "This is pronounced differently in different countries." Similarly, we wouldn't say "This is pronounced differently among Mexico, Spain, and Cuba." We could say "This is pronounced in different ways in Mexico, Spain, and Cuba."

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.