Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of

Question

Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of nuances of the languages people speak, their use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices provides clues to the mental state or social status.

A. Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of nuances of the languages people speaks, their use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices provides clues to the mental state or social status.

B. Though we are seldom if ever aware of them, Molly Ireland argues, the nuances of one's language — such as the use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices — provide clues to one's mental state or social status.

C. Although we are never aware of the nuances, people's language — Molly Ireland argues — provide clues to their mental state or social status through the linguistic choices such as the usage of personal pronouns, articles or contractions.

D. If we are ever aware of the nuances of people's language, their usage of personal pronouns, articles and contractions, we would have understood one's mental state or social status — as argued by Molly Ireland.

E. Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of it, nuances of one's language — such as its use of personal pronouns, articles as well as contractions, among few other linguistic choices — provides clues to his or her mental state or social status.

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

Dear sivasanjeev , I am happy to help. :-)

A. Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of nuances of the languages people speak, their use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices provides clues to the mental state or social status. The parallelism of the list is faulty here --- it's unclear where the objects of the preposition " of " end and the subject of the verb " provides " begins. Furthermore, why is this very singular, if the subject appears plural. This one has fatal flaws and cannot be correct. B. Though we are seldom if ever aware of it, Molly Ireland argues, nuances of people's language — such as their use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices — provide clues to their mental state or social status. This one offsets the list of nuances with dashes: a clever structure. Good SV agreement. Good parallelism. This one is promising. The only problem is the use of the pronoun, referring to an antecedent in the possessive. Can we use a noun in the possessive as the antecedent for a pronoun in the possessive? This is a controversial point of grammar: grammatical conservatives (myself included) would say "no," but grammatical liberals would say "yes." The GMAT SC tends to be very conservative in its choices, and I have never seen this structure as part of a correct answer on the GMAT SC. This is, in my opinion, the only un-GMAT-like aspect of this otherwise strong question. C. Although we are never aware of the nuances, people's language — Molly Ireland argues — provide clues to their mental state or social status through the linguistic choices such as the usage of personal pronouns, articles or contractions. What's awkward about this is --- it's now unclear what the "nuances" are, and it's unclear whether the list at the end of the sentence constitutes them. Furthermore, this one has a very roundabout structure --- " through the choice of ..." = very passive and indirect. This one is incorrect. D. If we are ever aware of the nuances of people's language, their usage of personal pronouns, articles and contractions, we would have understood their mental state or social status — as argued by Molly Ireland. Hmm. A logical mistake. If we aren't aware of the nuances, then we won't understand their mental state, but from there, it's a large leap to say that understanding the nuances would be enough to understand their mental state. Because of this logical leap, a change in meaning from the original, this is wrong. E. Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of it, nuances of people's language — such as its use of personal pronouns, articles as well as contractions, among few other linguistic choices — provides clues to the people's mental state or social status. This is another logical mistake, and the mistake concerns the pronoun within the dashes. The " use of personal pronouns, etc . ..." that " provides clues " is not the general language itself, the abstract rules that everyone shares. That doesn't provide any clues about anyone. What provide clues are the way that one person makes one choice and another person makes another choice. In other words, the pronoun modifying "use" has to be the plural pronoun referring to "people". This is wrong. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

pqhai · Answer

Hello Mike & sivasanjeev.

I do not agree fully with the OA. " it " in B (Though we are seldom if ever aware of  it ,......) refers to what? I immediately crossed out B because of an unclear pronoun. B, however, blinked as OA.....How can B is the OA? Is this a good question to practice or should we ignore it?

Please advise.

Best!

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear pqhai , My friend, I completely agree with you. I hadn't noticed it, but that "it" is problematic --- it's not clear whether is has a proper referent in this sentence. I don't know what the source of this question is. It's very hard to write a good tight GMAT-like SC question, especially one in which the whole sentence is underlined. Good eye for detail, my friend. Mike :-)

pqhai · Answer

Dear Mike. Thank you for your clarification.

sivasanjeev · Answer

Hi Mike & Pqhai , 'It' can act as a placeholder and not have any antecedent. Can it not? Like the one in the below question? california-s-innovation-culture-and-abundance-of-engineering-165147.html

pqhai · Answer

Hi sivasanjeev

Your link is about "placeholder it" and I picked D without any hesitation (of course, D is OA). But that's not the case in your question. There are three cases we can use "placeholder it":  postpone infinitive subject, postpone That-clause subject and postpone infinitive or that-clause object.  Option B in your question, actually, does not refer to any one of the three cases mentioned previous.

Regards,

sivasanjeev · Answer

Thanks pqhai. Atleast I learnt when to use the placeholder. The question was given to me by a friend. Googling for the same, I found that the question is picked from an article from discovermagazine. Probably, this "it" refers to something from a previous sentence.

Nice catch, and I appreciate your time.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear sivasanjeev , I see pqhai gave an excellent description of the placeholder " it ." The " it " in the OA does not refer to the previous sentence: instead, it makes a simple pronoun mistake. Here's (B) , the OA: Though we are seldom if ever aware of it , Molly Ireland argues, nuances of people's language — such as their use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices — provide clues to their mental state or social status . The contrast, beginning with " though ," ties the sentence together, so it acts as a self-contained whole. Of what are we not aware, according to Molly Ireland? We are not aware of the " nuances of people's language ." The nuances are there, but (according to Ms. Ireland) typically we are not aware of them. We need the plural pronoun, not the singular pronoun. This version has no pronoun error: Though we are seldom if ever aware of them , Molly Ireland argues, nuances of people's language — such as their use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices — provide clues to their mental state or social status . On the GMAT, the verb " argue " still needs a " that ," so on this score, the OA sentence with the new pronoun is still not up to GMAT standards. Beware of any material from sources not adhering to the high standards of the GMAT. It's extraordinarily easy to write atrociously low quality SC practice questions, and the web is full of them. Doing low quality questions will not prepare you for the GMAT: in fact, they will confuse you. Here's a high quality SC practice question: https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3586 Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

WoundedTiger · Answer

Hello pqhai,

Can you share more information on  placeholder it  if you have or point to the relevant link. I did eliminate B because of no antecedent for it...

Thanks
Wounded

souvik101990 · Answer

Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of nuances of the languages people speak, their use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices provides clues to the mental state or social status.

A. Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of nuances of the languages people speaks, their use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices provides clues to the mental state or social status.

B. Though we are seldom if ever aware of them, Molly Ireland argues, the nuances of one's language — such as the use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices — provide clues to one's mental state or social status.

C. Although we are never aware of the nuances, people's language — Molly Ireland argues — provide clues to their mental state or social status through the linguistic choices such as the usage of personal pronouns, articles or contractions.

D. If we are ever aware of the nuances of people's language, their usage of personal pronouns, articles and contractions, we would have understood one's mental state or social status — as argued by Molly Ireland.

E. Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of it, nuances of one's language — such as its use of personal pronouns, articles as well as contractions, among few other linguistic choices — provides clues to his or her mental state or social status.

rsgmat720 · Answer

OA is B thanks for the post.
 https://gmatclub.com/forum/molly-ireland-argues-that-though-we-are-seldom-aware-of-165146.html

daagh · Answer

A. Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of nuances of the languages one speaks, their use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices provides clues to the mental state or social status. – plural ‘their’ refers to the singular ‘one’ 
 
B. Though we are seldom if ever aware of them, Molly Ireland argues, the nuances of one's language — such as the use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices —  provide clues to one's mental state or social status. – nuances ….. provide – SV error amended; correct choice. 
 
C. Although we are never aware of the nuances, people's language — Molly Ireland argues — provide clues to their mental state or social status through the linguistic choices such as the usage of personal pronouns, articles or contractions. –  ‘language’….provide – SV error. 
 
D. If we are ever aware of the nuances of people's language, their usage of personal pronouns, articles and contractions, we would have understood one's mental state or social status — as argued by Molly Ireland.---  the possessive pronoun ‘one’s’ has no referent. 
 
E. Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of it, nuances of one's language — such as its use of personal pronouns, articles as well as contractions, among few other linguistic choices — provides clues to his or her mental state or social status. --- ‘ Nuances …provides’--- SV error.

sairam595 · Answer

1. Postpone infinitive subjects
It is futile to resist temptation.

2. Postpone That-clause subjects
It gave us encouragement that we scored at all.

3. Postpone infinitive or That-clause objects

She made it possible for us to attend the movie.
She made possible our attendance at the movie.
She made our attendance at the movie possible.

Mahmud6 · Answer

In b, what does possesive pronoun one's refer? Moreover, it introduces a condition which was not present in question stem.

Option A is different from question stem.

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leanhdung · Answer

Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of nuances of the languages people speak, their use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices provides clues to the mental state or social status.

A. Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of nuances of the languages people speaks, their use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices  provides  clues to the mental state or social status.

B. Though we are seldom if ever aware of them, Molly Ireland argues, the nuances of one's language — such as the use of personal pronouns, articles or contractions, among many other linguistic choices — provide clues to one's mental state or social status.
--> correct.

C. Although we are never aware of the nuances, people's language — Molly Ireland argues —  provide  clues to their mental state or social status through the linguistic choices such as the usage of personal pronouns, articles or contractions.

D.  If  we are ever aware of the nuances of people's language, their usage of personal pronouns, articles and contractions,  we would have  understood one's mental state or social status — as argued by Molly Ireland.

E. Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of  it , nuances of one's language — such as its use of personal pronouns, articles as well as contractions, among few other linguistic choices — provides clues to his or her mental state or social status.

daagh · Answer

Mahmud6 wrote

As far as I see, 'if ever' in B is just a filler without conveying any sense of a conditional. It does not impact the sentence in any manner.

'One's' refers to a person's -- one is an indefinite and unspecified pronoun in this context. 'One's' does not refer to possessive form of the cardinal number 'one'

Option A is different from question stem. -- I agree.

techiesam · Answer

Sir,

In B,what "them" is refferring to? to nuances or to linguistic choices....

daagh · Answer

Techie 
Certainly to nuances. That one may not be aware of the fine points of one's language is reasonable. However, to say that one does not even know the use of personal pronouns, articles, or contractions is illogical. Then, how can he or she deal with so much of that language?

khyatikakkar · Answer

B Correct - 
A-nuances of the languages people speaks
SPEAKS is wrong. 
B-correct

C-people's language — Molly Ireland argues — provide
SV issue
should be provides
D-weird sounding to me= if we are ever aware"
E-nuances of one's language — such as its use of personal pronouns
ITS use? its refers to language's use rather than people's usage of the language.

Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of

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Molly Ireland argues that though we are seldom aware of

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