To attract the most talented workers, some companies are offering a wider range of benefits, letting employees pick those most important to them. (A) benefits, letting employees pick those most important to them (B) benefits, letting employees pick the most important of them to themselves (C) benefits and letting employees pick the most important to themselves (D) benefits and let employees pick the most important to them (E) benefits and let employees pick those that are most important to themselves Question No.: SC 743 Talented Workers (A) CORRECT (B) Pronoun ( them, themselves ) (C) Pronoun ( themselves ); Sentence Structure ( and ) (D) Sentence Structure / Parallelism ( and ) (E) Pronoun ( themselves ); Sentence Structure / Parallelism ( and ) First glance The word benefits is the same in all five choices, but notice that some have a comma after and some do not. Something is going on with sentence structure. The two options are benefits , letting (signaling a comma -ing modifier) and benefits and (signaling a parallel sentence structure). Issues (1) Pronoun: them; themselves A glance down the end of the choices reveals a split: them or themselves ? Answer (B) also has two pronouns: both them and themselves . Start there. Logically, the pronoun them should refer to the benefits and the pronoun themselves should refer to the employees. Putting the two almost-identical pronouns so close to each other, though, creates an ambiguity; the reader has to think about which pronoun refers to which noun. In general, it’s not a good idea to use the same (or almost the same) pronoun to refer to two different nouns in the same sentence; it’s too confusing. Eliminate (B). Now, what about them vs. themselves in the other choices? Both are intended to refer to employees, but they aren’t interchangeable. Them is a “straight” plural pronoun used as an object in sentences, while themselves is reflexive; reflexive pronouns are used in two more specific situations. Object form: She made macaroni and cheese for them . Reflexive form #1 (refer back to earlier pronoun): They made macaroni and cheese for themselves . ( Themselves refers back—reflexively—to the first pronoun, they .) Reflexive form #2 (for emphasis): They ate the macaroni and cheese themselves after the kids binged on candy all afternoon. (You could remove the word themselves and the sentence would still make sense; you’re just emphasizing that they themselves ended up eating the mac and cheese.) In the given sentence, themselves is not referring back to an earlier pronoun; rather, it’s referring to the noun employees . It is also not used for emphasis; you can’t remove it and still have the sentence make sense, as in the example above. Eliminate choices (B), (C), and (E) for faulty use of a reflexive pronoun. (2) Sentence Structure: and Parallelism: and The initial split in the answers is between benefits , letting and benefits and . What’s the difference? Benefits, letting is a comma –ing modifier structure. The letting modifier refers back to the main clause (the main subject and verb of the sentence). By contrast, benefits and is a parallel structure. What do you think about these two sentences: Some companies have good benefits and employ lots of people. Some companies have good benefits, employing lots of people. The two structures mirror the structures in this problem—with one big difference. In the two sentences above, the benefits and structure is correct, not the benefits, employing structure. Why? Both pieces of information are about the companies, but the two pieces of information are separate from each other. It isn’t the case that, because these companies have good benefits, they therefore employ lots of people. Contrast that with the meaning of the sentence in this problem. In this case, the fact that the companies are offering a wider range of benefits is exactly what then allows the companies to let employees pick which benefits they want. In other words, the two pieces of information are related, so you do want a comma –ing structure to connect them: some companies are offering (lots of) benefits, letting employees pick which ones they want. Eliminate choices (C), (D), and (E) for faulty meaning. Answers (D) and (E) also change the form of the verb to let rather than letting , setting up the parallel structure some companies are offering…and let… While it isn’t absolutely required to put two parallel verbs into the same tense in all circumstances, it is the case that, if the two verbs are talking about events taking place simultaneously, it’s generally preferable to keep the two verbs in the same tense. Answer (C) is okay but eliminate answers (D) and (E) for switching tense even though the events are taking place simultaneously. The Correct Answer Correct answer (A) uses the regular object pronoun them to refer to employees. It also uses a comma –ing modifier structure to properly signal the connection between offering a wider range of benefits and letting employees pick those most important to them .

Last visit was: 19 Nov 2025, 05:08

It is currently 19 Nov 2025, 05:08

Toolkit

Sentence Correction (SC - EA only)

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

Request Expert Reply

Confirm Cancel

Nov 20
UCR MBA Impact - Live Q&A with UCR AdCom & Student
07:30 AM PST
-
08:30 AM PST
Learn what truly sets the UC Riverside MBA apart and how it helps in your professional growth
Nov 22
GMAT RC Masterclass
11:00 AM IST
-
01:00 PM IST
Do RC/MSR passages scare you? e-GMAT is conducting a masterclass to help you learn – Learn effective reading strategies Tackle difficult RC & MSR with confidence Excel in timed test environment
Nov 23
Conquer Algebra on the GMAT Focus Edition
11:00 AM IST
-
01:00 PM IST
Attend this free GMAT Algebra Webinar and learn how to master the most challenging Inequalities and Absolute Value problems with ease.
Nov 25
Try OnDemand GMAT Masterclass
10:00 AM EST
-
11:00 AM EST
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors.

Back to Forum

Create Topic

To attract the most talented workers, some companies are offering a wi

1 2 3 4 5

PLUTO

Joined: 08 Aug 2018

Last visit: 26 Feb 2019

Posts: 33

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 632

Location: India

Schools: LBS '21 (S) INSEAD Jan '19

GMAT 1: 720 Q49 V40 Verified score

GPA: 4

WE:Engineering (Energy)

Schools: LBS '21 (S) INSEAD Jan '19

GMAT 1: 720 Q49 V40 Verified score

Posts: 33

Kudos: 30

26 Sep 2018, 06:56

Kudos

Bookmarks

GMATNinja

I see different calls for help in at least three different posts, so I'll try to address everything in one big, fat explanation:

Quote:

(A) benefits, letting employees pick those most important to them

"Those" is just a plural pronoun here, so we should look for some plural noun that it can refer back to. "Benefits" makes sense, right? "...letting employees pick the benefits most important to them." So we're good there. (And for more on demonstrative pronouns, check out our Topic of the Week or our YouTube video about the many uses of "that.")

And yes, "benefits" is an object, but there's no reason why a pronoun can't refer back to an object. There's some weird myth going around about that, and I'm not sure where it's coming from. Pronouns can refer to subjects or objects.

"Letting" is used as a modifier here (click here for more on "-ing" modifiers), and that makes sense: "letting employees pick (the benefits) most important to them" is giving us more information about what happens when "companies are offering a wider range of benefits." So it makes sense for "letting" to be a modifier, not a verb. Keep (A).

Quote:

(B) benefits, letting employees pick the most important of them to themselves

"Themselves" is a reflexive pronoun. Correct uses of reflexive pronouns:

himself

themselves

But I don't think we can justify using "themselves" in the original sentence. Employees can pick the benefits that are most important to them -- but there's no need for the reflexive "themselves." (And for whatever it's worth: I can't think of another official GMAT question that draws any sort of distinction between reflexive and non-reflexive pronouns.) Also, I think it's a little bit confusing to have "them" refer to "benefits", while "themselves" refers back to "employees" -- but either way, (B) is out.

Quote:

I think I could live with the parallelism here: "letting" follows "and", so we need to find something that's parallel to "letting." How about "offering"? So "some companies are offering..." and "some companies are letting..." I guess that's OK, though I think the sentences works a little bit better if "letting" is a modifier, but I wouldn't automatically eliminate (C) because of that.

But the "themselves" is wrong again - "them" would be fine. Eliminate (C).

Quote:

(D) benefits and let employees pick the most important to them

Now there's a clear parallelism issue. "Let" is a verb, and I guess it could be parallel to "are offering" -- but if that's the case, why are they in different tenses? That can't be right. The only other option is "attract", and that would make any sense, either. Eliminate (D).

Quote:

(E) benefits and let employees pick those that are most important to themselves

Same parallelism error as in (D), and the same error with "themselves" as in (B) and (C).

So (A) wins.

Manhattan says that we can not use "those" in place of nouns unless we are starting new copy. That's why I disregarded Option A. Although it clearly links with the benefits.

MikeScarn

Current Student

Joined: 04 Sep 2017

Last visit: 01 Jun 2025

Posts: 275

Own Kudos:

1,280

[1]

Given Kudos: 227

Location: United States (IL)

Concentration: Technology, Leadership

Schools: Tuck '24 (WA) Harvard '24 (D) Kellogg '24 (WA) Wharton '24 (D) Haas '24 (D) Sloan '24 (D) Fuqua '24 (D) Booth '24 (M) Yale '24 (A$)

GMAT 1: 690 Q44 V41 Verified score

GMAT 2: 730 Q50 V38 Verified score

GPA: 3.62

WE:Sales (Computer Software)

Schools: Tuck '24 (WA) Harvard '24 (D) Kellogg '24 (WA) Wharton '24 (D) Haas '24 (D) Sloan '24 (D) Fuqua '24 (D) Booth '24 (M) Yale '24 (A$)

GMAT 2: 730 Q50 V38 Verified score

Posts: 275

Kudos: 1,280

[1]

25 Nov 2018, 13:56

Kudos

Bookmarks

SandhyAvinash

To attract the most talented workers, some companies are offering a wider range of benefits, letting employees pick those most important to them.

(A) benefits, letting employees pick those most important to them
(B) benefits, letting employees pick the most important of them to themselves
(C) benefits and letting employees pick the most important to themselves
(D) benefits and let employees pick the most important to them
(E) benefits and let employees pick those that are most important to themselves

Can't believe no one has made a thorough explanation for this one yet!

(A) To attract the most talented workers, some companies are offering a wider range of benefits, letting employees pick those most important to them.

I don't love it. But it's correct. The pronoun locations aren't beautiful IMO. But they are better than they are in Option (B)

Parallelism between "offering" and "letting" is good.

Pronouns: "those" refers to "benefits". "themselves" refers to "employees"

(B) To attract the most talented workers, some companies are offering a wider range of benefits, letting employees pick the most important of them to themselves.

"of them to themselves" looks nasty to me. But that doesn't necessarily mean its wrong.

Let's look at the pronouns: "them" and "themselves" Okay, if "them" refers to "benefits" and "themselves" refers to "employees" then the sentence will make sense. But the pronouns located after both of the nouns, so we can't be sure. Therefore we can rule the pronouns as ambiguous.

(C) To attract the most talented workers, some companies are offering a wider range of benefits and letting employees pick the most important to themselves.

This is the tricky one! -- "pick the most important to themselves" doesn't make sense here. "pick the most important... what?" Pick the most important benefits? Okay, that's what we want. But we need some kind of a referral word to clearly convey that we are talking about "benefits". A pronoun would be great. Perhaps 'those".

(D) To attract the most talented workers, some companies are offering a wider range of benefits and let employees pick the most important to them.

Parallelism Error! "offering" is not parallel with "let"

(E) To attract the most talented workers, some companies are offering a wider range of benefits and let employees pick those that are most important to themselves.

Parallelism Error! "offering" is not parallel with "let"

TheNightKing

Joined: 18 Dec 2017

Last visit: 20 Mar 2024

Posts: 1,139

Own Kudos:

1,302

Given Kudos: 421

Location: United States (KS)

GMAT 1: 600 Q46 V27 Verified score

Posts: 1,139

Kudos: 1,302

04 Dec 2019, 10:33

Kudos

Bookmarks

Quote:

Explanation:

Quote:

GMATNinja generis

Sorry for the tag!

A doubt came into mind when I was reading this explanation.

As per this explanation of choice C, the Parallelism is Okay but "themselves" is wrong. That's cool.

But let's say the option C was modified to "(C) benefits and letting employees pick the most important to them" then as per this logic it would be a correct choice?

Why I disagree is the meaning and modifier. From what I understood the employers are providing benefits and letting the employees pick them is a modifier (-ing form) modifying the entire phrase.

And option C is actually creating false parallelism by introducing an "and".

I hope I conveyed my doubt clearly. Just want to make sure my reasoning is okay here.

Thank you in advance!

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

Joined: 13 Aug 2009

Last visit: 18 Nov 2025

Posts: 7,443

Own Kudos:

69,783

Given Kudos: 2,060

Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors

Location: United States (CO)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46 Verified score

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Posts: 7,443

Kudos: 69,783

06 Dec 2019, 19:29

Kudos

Bookmarks

TheNightKing

Quote:

Explanation:

Quote:

Interesting question!

In general, I'm not convinced that it's great to invent hypothetical sentences when there are thousands of official answer choices we can learn from, I agree with you. "Offering" and "letting" would be parallel, but it would subtly change the meaning in a way that makes the sentence slightly less logical.

In the OA, as you noted, "letting" modifies the entire previous clause, providing additional information about what the company is offering, whereas in the hypothetical example, it seems as though "offering" and "letting" are two distinct things that don't necessarily have a direct relationship. So while I wouldn't say that this construction is wrong, it's still not quite as good as (A).

Nicely done!

TheNightKing

Joined: 18 Dec 2017

Last visit: 20 Mar 2024

Posts: 1,139

Own Kudos:

1,302

[1]

Given Kudos: 421

Location: United States (KS)

GMAT 1: 600 Q46 V27 Verified score

Posts: 1,139

Kudos: 1,302

[1]

06 Dec 2019, 19:34

Kudos

Bookmarks

Quote:

GMATNinja

Thanks! I know. I know. and I agree 100% to not invent hypothetical sentences.

It just came up in my mind when I was reading your explanation that stated Parallelism is acceptable but "themselves" is a problem.

P.S: Are you sure you want to be Online here on a Friday night?

I have to. I am taking the test in near future.

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

Joined: 13 Aug 2009

Last visit: 18 Nov 2025

Posts: 7,443

Own Kudos:

69,783

Given Kudos: 2,060

Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors

Location: United States (CO)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46 Verified score

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Posts: 7,443

Kudos: 69,783

06 Dec 2019, 19:55

Kudos

Bookmarks

TheNightKing

P.S: Are you sure you want to be Online here on a Friday night?

I have to. I am taking the test in near future.

Haha, my schedule has gotten all sorts of wacky the past couple of weeks, so I've been making up for lost hours at ugly times on weekend night. Once I finish up tonight, I'm going to ask my 2-year-old to hide my computer someplace where I can't possibly find it until Monday morning.

What could go wrong?

ballest127

Joined: 18 Aug 2017

Last visit: 27 Dec 2021

Posts: 114

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 599

Posts: 114

Kudos: 44

16 Dec 2019, 07:45

Kudos

Bookmarks

Hi GMATNinja,

Thank you for your explanation.

However, I have some doubt on B.
According to your explanation on B , I still quite do not understand.
Why the use of "... to themselves" is incorrect?

From my understanding, reflexive pronoun is used when the subject and the object of the sentence are the same.
So in B, Can it be interpreted "letting employees pick the most important of them to themselves" that
the employees "themselves" do pick the benefits to themselves" ?

Please help me.

Thank you.

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

Joined: 13 Aug 2009

Last visit: 18 Nov 2025

Posts: 7,443

Own Kudos:

69,783

[6]

Given Kudos: 2,060

Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors

Location: United States (CO)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46 Verified score

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Posts: 7,443

Kudos: 69,783

[6]

18 Dec 2019, 20:35

Kudos

Bookmarks

ballest127

Good question! Remember, we use a reflexive pronoun when the pronoun is the object of an action performed by the same subject. For example:

After watching in disbelief as J.R. Smith failed to call timeout, LeBron punched himself in the face.
Here, LeBron is both the one doing the punching and getting punched. (And later, perhaps, J.R. Smith will also come in for some corporal punishment.) Because LeBron is the object of the action he's performing, "himself" is appropriate.

But consider the following as well:

After watching in disbelief as J.R. Smith failed to call timeout, LeBron had to do some soul-searching and really consider what values were most important to him.
Notice that the pronoun "him" is used differently here. It's no longer the object of an action, but rather, part of a modifying phrase describing "values." In this case, we don't use the reflexive pronoun.

(B) is more like the latter case. Here, "important... to themselves" is describing the benefits. Because "themselves" isn't the object of an action, but rather, part of a modifier, the use of the reflexive is wrong.

I hope that helps!

dddmatsu

Joined: 18 May 2020

Last visit: 16 Nov 2021

Posts: 4

Given Kudos: 9

GMAT 1: 650 Q49 V31 (Online) Verified score

GMAT 2: 640 Q44 V35 Verified score

GMAT 3: 660 Q46 V35 Verified score

Posts: 4

Kudos: 0

25 May 2020, 22:54

Kudos

Bookmarks

A) pick THOSE MOST important to them

Question is, anything like "the most", "the best", "the largest", "the highest" should be only one among many others.

If the choice A is "pick those more important to them", it makes sense to me.

How can there be several or many "most" important benefits?

AndrewN

Volunteer Expert

Joined: 16 May 2019

Last visit: 29 Mar 2025

Posts: 3,502

Own Kudos:

7,511

Given Kudos: 500

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 3,502

Kudos: 7,511

26 May 2020, 14:15

Kudos

Bookmarks

dddmatsu

Hello, dddmatsu. It is common in English to compare different categories or groups and use the superlative form to refer to the one at the top of the heap. We see this in the expression, Save only those items/things that are most important to you, for instance, if someone were shouting instructions to another who was running into a burning building or one on the verge of collapse. It is understood to mean that there might be some items (whether high in monetary or sentimental value), rather than a single one, that hold a particularly high value to a person, perhaps those that could not be replaced if lost: a pet, a letter from a beloved but deceased relative, or a trophy collection. Rather than draft up a list to decide upon the single most important thing to a person, that individual may instead think of different items as belonging to different tiers of importance.

In the sentence at hand, anyone who has ever dealt with insurance packages understands this grouping concept perfectly. It might be the case that three separate packages of benefits were offered, and those most important to the potentially insured would have to be considered.

Plan A: Dental with a $50 deductible, Medical with a $50 deductible

Plan B: Medical with an $85 deductible, Vision with a $15 deductible

Plan C: Dental, Medical, and Vision with a $200 deductible

Does the person value Dental coverage or not? Vision? Maybe Plan B, in the fine print, indicates a higher level of Medical care than that which Plan A offers, permitting some sort of cosmetic procedure that the other, Plan A, does not. Maybe one of the plans offers coverage for a domestic partner while another covers only a spouse, or one covers children while another does not. You see where I am going with this, I hope. There could be any of a number of factors to consider, but since the individual ultimately needs to choose a single plan, the group of benefits, or those, most important to that person would necessarily weigh into his or her decision.

I hope that helps. If you have further questions, feel free to ask. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

sarath2020

Joined: 24 Jul 2020

Last visit: 11 Apr 2023

Posts: 4

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 23

Posts: 4

Kudos: 1

24 Jul 2020, 07:40

Kudos

Bookmarks

In option A, is the word "those" creating ambiguity?
why the word "those" cannot refer to "Employees" in the sentence rather than "benefits"?

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

Joined: 13 Aug 2009

Last visit: 18 Nov 2025

Posts: 7,443

Own Kudos:

69,783

Given Kudos: 2,060

Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors

Location: United States (CO)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46 Verified score

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Posts: 7,443

Kudos: 69,783

21 Aug 2020, 12:35

Kudos

Bookmarks

sarath2020

In option A, is the word "those" creating ambiguity?
why the word "those" cannot refer to "Employees" in the sentence rather than "benefits"?

The pronoun "those" could technically refer to "employees" - but would that make any sense? Are the companies letting the employees pick the employees that are most important to them? Of course not. The companies are letting the employees pick the BENEFITS that are most important to them.

Remember, as discussed in this video, pronoun ambiguity is NOT an absolute rule on the GMAT.

I hope that helps!

GMATGuruNY

Tutor

Joined: 04 Aug 2010

Last visit: 18 Nov 2025

Posts: 1,344

Own Kudos:

3,796

Given Kudos: 9

Schools:Dartmouth College

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 1,344

Kudos: 3,796

07 Sep 2020, 14:49

Kudos

Bookmarks

To clarify my earlier post about the usage of themselves:

After speaking to the employees, the CEO and CFO chose the most pleased with themselves.
Here, most pleased refers to employees.
As a result, the usage of themselves conveys the following meaning:
THE EMPLOYEES were MOST PLEASED WITH THEMSELVES.
In other words:
The employees were most pleased with THE EMPLOYEES.
The sentence in red does NOT convey that the employees were pleased with the CEO and CFO.
To convey this meaning, we could say the following:
The CEO and CFO chose the employees who were most pleased with THEM.

C: Some companies are offering a wider range of benefits and letting employees pick the most important to themselves.
Here, most important seems to refer to benefits.
As a result, the usage of themselves conveys the following meaning:
THE BENEFITS were MOST IMPORTANT TO THEMSELVES.
In other words:
The benefits were most important to THE BENEFITS.
This meaning is nonsensical.
For this reason, any option with themselves can be eliminated.

TheUltimateWinner

Joined: 23 Feb 2015

Last visit: 15 Nov 2025

Posts: 2,489

Own Kudos:

2,387

Given Kudos: 1,987

Concentration: Finance, Technology

Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23

Posts: 2,489

Kudos: 2,387

19 Sep 2020, 04:44

Kudos

Bookmarks

Quote:

Request Expert Reply:
Hi honorable experts,
MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, GMATGuruNY, VeritasPrepHailey, BrightOutlookJenn, AjiteshArun
I know, I should not make any creativity of the official correct choice-it's bad. But, I'm doing it to know the 'things' perfectly.
Q1: Will there be any problem if someone replace the word 'employees' with 'them'?
Q2: What's the reason NOT to keep the preposition 'to' before 'pick'?
Q3: In A, 'those most important' makes sense? Should not it be like 'those ARE most important'?

DmitryFarber

Manhattan Prep Instructor

Joined: 22 Mar 2011

Last visit: 08 Nov 2025

Posts: 3,020

Own Kudos:

8,563

[1]

Given Kudos: 57

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT Focus 1: 745 Q86 V90 DI85 Verified score

Posts: 3,020

Kudos: 8,563

[1]

30 Sep 2020, 01:04

Kudos

Bookmarks

TheUltimateWinner

Q1: Will there be any problem if someone replace the word 'employees' with 'them'?

Yes, that would be questionable. Although we can figure out what "them" should refer to, it's confusing to use a plural pronoun right after a clause with two plural nouns, neither of which is the intended antecedent. In other words, when we read "companies are offering benefits," and then we see "them," it takes a bit of work to go back and connect this pronoun to the earlier "workers." It's better to just make the meaning clear.

Q2: What's the reason NOT to keep the preposition 'to' before 'pick'?

We don't use the infinitive with "let." You let someone do something; you allow them to do it.

Q3: In A, 'those most important' makes sense? Should not it be like 'those ARE most important'?

No. "Those" is the object of a verb, not the subject: "employees pick those." Therefore, "those" should not have a verb. We could introduce a verb by linking with "that": "those that are most important to them." However, the meaning is clear enough as presented.

Sumi1010

Joined: 21 Aug 2018

Last visit: 19 Jan 2025

Posts: 300

Own Kudos:

696

Given Kudos: 20

Location: India

Posts: 300

Kudos: 696

11 Oct 2020, 11:29

Kudos

Bookmarks

Dear Experts,
I am able to eliminate all other choices but I am not convinced with the grammar of OA.
Eliminations:
B,C,E - For reflexive pronouns such as Themselves, subject and the object should be the same. Companies (subject) aren't offering benefits for themselves but for employees.
D: Present continuous || Simple present - Not correct

Companies are offering a wider range of benefits...
How? ...
letting employees pick ....

Verb+ing modifiers describes it well and refers to companies (subject of the last clause).

However, I see "letting employees pick those most important to them" incorrect.
THOSE refers to the benefits - ThOSE (here) is a demonstrative pronoun (acts as adjective). How can THOSE be used alone here?

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

Joined: 13 Aug 2009

Last visit: 18 Nov 2025

Posts: 7,443

Own Kudos:

69,783

Given Kudos: 2,060

Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors

Location: United States (CO)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46 Verified score

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Posts: 7,443

Kudos: 69,783

04 Nov 2020, 21:20

Kudos

Bookmarks

Sumi1010

"Those" can certainly act as an adjective. For example,

"Those muffins look tasty."
But "those" can also be used as a regular ol' pronoun that can indeed stand alone. For example,

those

the muffins

We have something similar in choice (A). For more on that, check out this explanation.

Irising

Joined: 06 Jul 2020

Last visit: 16 Mar 2021

Posts: 11

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 74

Posts: 11

Kudos: 4

16 Dec 2020, 09:50

Kudos

Bookmarks

Can someone please explain what's the difference between comma and the word "and"? In other words, if everything is the same, what's the difference between "benefits, letting..." and "benefits and letting"?

szubham

Joined: 21 Oct 2020

Last visit: 19 Feb 2021

Posts: 6

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 15

GMAT 1: 610 Q48 V25 Verified score

GMAT 2: 710 Q49 V38 (Online) Verified score

GPA: 3.27

Products:

GMAT 2: 710 Q49 V38 (Online) Verified score

Posts: 6

Kudos: 3

[1]

16 Dec 2020, 10:43

Kudos

Bookmarks

Irising

An expert can probably tell you what and whatnots but if you ask me, although both are fine, comma + letting is finer because that is a natural progression from 'offering a wider range'

MBAB123

Joined: 05 Jul 2020

Last visit: 30 Jul 2023

Posts: 563

Own Kudos:

318

[2]

Given Kudos: 151

GMAT 1: 720 Q49 V38 Verified score

WE:Accounting (Accounting)

Products:

GMAT 1: 720 Q49 V38 Verified score

Posts: 563

Kudos: 318

[2]

16 Dec 2020, 23:52

Kudos

Bookmarks

Irising

1. Benefits, letting - here letting acts like a modifier and makes it clear that employees can choose their benefits.
2. Benefits and letting - this will be a parallelism thing and might create ambiguity in the meaning. Letting the employees choose what? Companies?Benefits?. Its not as good as the first option.

Hope this helps!

1 2 3 4 5

Moderators:

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

7443 posts

GMATNinjaTwo

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

231 posts

miag

188 posts

Prep Toolkit

Announcements

How the UC Riverside MBA Helps You Thrive Personally & Professionally

Thursday, Nov 20, 2025
10:30am NY / 3:30pm London / 9pm Mumbai

Master in Management, Finance, Business Analytics and more Master’s Programs!

Live Profile Evaluation Chat Session with ARINGO

Wednesday, November 19, 2025
09:00 am PDT | 10:30 pm IST
Location: GMAT Club Chat

Top GMAT Focus Debriefs

To attract the most talented workers, some companies are offering a wi

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

To attract the most talented workers, some companies are offering a wi

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards