The push by rich countries to cut emissions have raised fears that it

Question

The push by rich countries to cut emissions  have raised fears that it is an attempt  to secure new markets for environmental technologies.

A. have raised fears that it is an attempt
B. have raised fears that they are trying
C. has raised fears that they are trying
D. has raised fears that it is their attempt
E. has raised fears that it is an attempt

ynk · Accepted Answer

It easy to narrow it down to C,D or E. (Because of the use of Have/Has).Push is singular and thus Has should be used.

Now my question is,why C is the right answer ?
They in C is not leading to pronoun ambiguity ?

Any in-depth explanation of why C is the right answer.

Max92W · Answer

My explanation

The push by rich countries to cut emissions have raised fears that it is an attempt to secure new markets for environmental technologies.

have  raised fears that it is an attempt -  The push... 'have' raised fears - wrong. Push is singular so you need to use has (also singular) 
 have  raised fears that they are trying -  Same as A 
has raised fears that  they  are trying -  'They' is plural so it could refer to either rich countries or emissions, therefore the antecedent is unclear 
has raised fears that it is  their  attempt -  'Their' is plural so it could refer to either rich countries or emissions. Same reason as C 
has raised fears that  it  is an attempt -  'It' is correct because there is only one singular subject. Therefore the antecedent is clear, and this is the correct answer

Kudos if explanation helped. Thnx.

shekyonline · Answer

The push by rich countries to cut emissions have raised fears that it is an attempt to secure new markets for environmental technologies.

have raised fears that it is an attempt
have raised fears that they are trying
has raised fears that they are trying- 'they' refers to 'rich countries '. NOT wrong.
has raised fears that it is their attempt
has raised fears that it is an attempt.NOT wrong.

..... that <push> is an attempt to secure new markets for environmental technologies. Indirect.
...... that <rich countries> are trying to secure new markets for environmental technologies. Direct.

Hence (c)

Nightmare007 · Answer

Isn't they in C is understood as Scientists .

Nightmare007 · Answer

I got it now after solving the question again. C changes the meaning . And yeah It is referring to the push.

.

DmitryFarber · Answer

This is not a great question, but the answer has to be C.

It doesn't make sense to say that "the push" has raised fears about itself. It should raise fears about the parties behind it or the potential consequences. This rules out D and E (and of course A and B are out for subject-verb reasons).

It's perfectly fine to use "they" when there are multiple plural nouns present, as long as it's clear what the intended antecedent is. A good rule of thumb is that if the GMAT gives you the option to insert the correct noun ("those countries"), then you should select that, since using the noun is never technically incorrect. However, if this option doesn't exist, it may be that the situation isn't considered ambiguous.

DmitryFarber · Answer

Nightmare007 , the antecedent to a pronoun must  always  be a noun that actually appears in the sentence. There's nothing wrong with "changing the meaning," since C has as much claim on being the correct sentence as any other. But we have to work with what we're given.

Arpitkumar · Answer

Subject : "push" - singular , will take singular verb "has" narrows it down to options C,D and E.
- Option C : Use of ambiguous pronoun "they " - WRONG.
- Option D : Use of ambiguous pronoun " their" - WRONG.
- Option E : Correct usage of pronoun "IT" referring to the subject "PUSH" . " The " push " is an attempt to by new countries to secure market for environmental technologies.

DmitryFarber · Answer

Arpitkumar  Answer choice E doesn't work for logical reasons: the push can't raise fears about itself. Also, be careful about being too quick to rule out answers based on pronoun ambiguity. The GMAT doesn't always consider a pronoun ambiguous just because there is more than one noun that it could apply to. We just need the meaning to be clear.

Arro44 · Answer

Hi guys,

did the question change?

Everyone talks about how C is the right answer, however, I chose E and got the "green light"...

Regards,
Chris

Arpitkumar · Answer

HI  DmitryFarber  , As much as I agree with you that one should not really be in a hurry to rule out answer options basis ambiguous pronouns , I feel since the subject in this particular question come out clear enough to be "Push" , for me it became easy to rule out C coz in my opinion Option C uses "they" as a pronoun referring to rich countries which is not the subject in this case.

Pls do correct me in case you think I still havent got it.

Thanks

DmitryFarber · Answer

There's no rule that says that the pronoun has to refer to the subject. When we're not clear on the antecedent, we may be more likely to go with the subject, but that's not an issue here. I can certainly say "I like puppies because they are soft" or "The softness of puppies is a key element of their appeal."

Arpitkumar · Answer

Got It  DmitryFarber  , Thanks a ton !

santorasantu · Answer

OA seems to be E, but the expert replies seem to point to the answer as C. Please help.

Gmatprep550 · Answer

Hi  DmitryFarber ,

Could you please explain why D is incorrect with little more details as I agree C is correct but not able to why their is incorrect,

I feel "Their attempt - rich countries attempt" so its correct.

Shreshtha55 · Answer

I still don't get it why E is wrong and C is right?
@e-gmat can you help?

Posted from my mobile device

Gmatprep550 · Answer

Hi  Shreshtha55 ,

It looks like you have tagged website instead of tagging moderator, Do you remember name of moderator or ID instead?

The push by rich countries to cut emissions have raised fears that it

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