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

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


"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).


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

Mike was proud of himself when he successfully surfed a 25-foot wave.
Bogdan and Souvik admired themselves in the mirror after crushing the GMAT.

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.


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).


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).


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

So (A) wins.

I still don't understand why themselves is wrong. I mean lets consider the following:
I did this to me : Correct?
I brought this on myself : Correct?

I am confused about how do we decide when to use reflexing and when not?

So your first example is incorrect. It should be, "I did this to myself." But your second example is correct. In both cases the subject is performing an action on himself or herself.

For more detail on why the "themselves" is problematic in the official example, check out this post and let us know if you still have questions.

I hope that helps!

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).

Hello,

In answer A, isn’t the part between commas a non essential modifier? When this modifier is removed it makes no sense to say :

To attract the most talented workers letting employees pick those most important to them.

can you please help ? What’s wrong in my approach ?

Thank you

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GMATNinja , could you elaborate on the parallelism with 'and' here? I thought the two elements do not necessarily need to be in the same tense (e.g. there was another question that says something like "The army of Terra-Cotta warriors is 2000 years old and took 36 years to complete).

Yet you questioned why the tenses here are different. Is there a contextual clue that one should take into account when evaluating whether this kind of parallelism should have the same tense? Thank you!

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


"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).


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

Mike was proud of himself when he successfully surfed a 25-foot wave.
Bogdan and Souvik admired themselves in the mirror after crushing the GMAT.

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.


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).


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).


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

So (A) wins.

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).


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

So (A) wins.

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

As "those" is plural, is there a possibility that it can refer to the plural noun "companies" and so this sentence is ambiguous? Can someone please explain this?

Hi experts!

I'm convinced of the reasons we use to eliminate BCDE, but I'm still struggling with A :

In answer A it says 'those most important' and I assume that there's an omitted 'that are' between 'those' and 'most'. If this is true, then we get 'those that are most important', right? (just like in answer E)

My question is, I think there should always be a 'the' (or a possessive) before a superlative adj./adv.

For example : the highest mountain, my best friend...

And here it should be 'those the most important', isn't it ?

Why and when should the 'the' be omitted?

Thanks in advance!

In A, them can refer back to so many things, so isn't them in A ambiguous?

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

When I did this question, I thought there was an ambiguity problem in the use of 'them':

...letting employees pick those most important to them (to the employees)

or

...letting employees pick those most important to them (to the companies)

Reading the replies I saw that it wasn't the case. Can someone please explain the error in my reasoning?