Hi all,
The ladder must be placed against the guardrail firmly or else otherwise it will fall.



(A) or else otherwise it will fall: Incorrect. “or else” and “otherwise” mean the same thing. Usage of both the terms leads to redundancy error in the sentence.
(B) so as not to fall: Incorrect. Usage of idiom “so as to” is not proper here. Idiom “so as to” means “in order to”. This idiom is used to denote reason or the purpose of the action. However, this sentence talks about the contrary situation.
(C) or else they fall: Incorrect. Plural “they” has been used to refer to singular “ladder”.
(D) or else it will fall: Incorrect. Generally, the phrase “or else” is used to suggest an alternative.
(E) or it will fall: Correct.

Now, there is no ambiguity about the pronoun “it” in the correct answer choice. “it” grammatically and logically refers to “ladder” only. “The ladder” is in the subject position of the first clause so is “it” in the second clause. So grammatically “it” will refer to the subject of the preceding clause. Also, the only other noun preceding “it” is “the guardrail”. It is illogical to say that “guardrail” will fall because the sentence clearly mentions that “the ladder” is required to be put firmly. So the object that is unstable is the ladder. Hence, pronoun “it” has no ambiguity in this sentence.



1. A pronoun must agree in number with its antecedent.
2. A pronoun must refer to a LOGICAL antecedent.

Thanks.
Shraddha
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‘Or else’ is used to mean ‘if not’ here. As per that usage, D should be perfect, since the choice will mean that the ladder must be placed against the guardrail firmly if not it will fall. IMO choice E does not bring out the ‘if not’ factor so explicitly. Can we know why E is preferred over D? I deem brevity is not the sole reason.
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E is right in my opinion. we say "keep it safe or someone will take it", there is nothing wrong here. "keep it safe or else someone will take it" is also correct but unnecessary IMO.
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this time, we play for keeps

Hm... I've read something about that. If it is very obvious what 'it' refers to then 'it' is not ambiguous, even though 'it' could refer to both the ladder and the rail. Not 100% sure though.

+1 E for me.
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I will try answering this. My take is that 'or else' is adding redundency of words here for the same meaning of 'Otherwise'. As Gmat prefers 3 C's (per MGMAT), my pick is E, short crisp and doest change the sentence.
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B is incorrect because it wrongly implies some sort of intention on the part of the ladder. "So as to" implies consequences on the doer of the act.
D and E are both grammatically and logically correct but E is correct in fewer words and hence wins.

E is the right choice.
using both else and or is redundant

Hi Shraddha,

Could you please elaborate more on option D? Isn't option D giving us an alternative for "or else" phrase? The alternative being that the ladder will fall? I am not understanding this part correctly. Could you please shed some light on this? Would greatly appreciate it!