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605-655 (Medium)|   Pronouns|      
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applebus
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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been Updated on: 20 Aug 2015, 06:39
Originally posted by applebus on 19 Aug 2015, 00:13.
Last edited by applebus on 20 Aug 2015, 06:39, edited 1 time in total.
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A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

45% (medium)

Question Stats:

54% (01:12) correct 46% (01:25) wrong based on 365 sessions

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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been the subject of various arguments, each argument a carefully considered conclusion based on a particular moral outlook.


each argument a carefully considered conclusion based on a


all arguments carefully considered conclusions based on their


all the arguments carefully considered conclusions based on its


each argument is a carefully considered conclusion based on its


every argument is a carefully considered conclusion based on their

OA after discussion
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A
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dominicraj
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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been 19 Aug 2015, 04:06
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Hi,

I will go with A itself.

In each of the other phrases/clauses we dont have a proper antecedent for "its/their".

Also whichever option has "is" ie. D and E its a sentence connected to another sentence with a comma which is wrong.

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Dom.
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applebus
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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been 20 Aug 2015, 06:38
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dominicraj
Hi,

I will go with A itself.

In each of the other phrases/clauses we dont have a proper antecedent for "its/their".

Also whichever option has "is" ie. D and E its a sentence connected to another sentence with a comma which is wrong.

Regards,
Dom.
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Thank you
OA is A

But I still wonder why A is correct.

each argument a carefully considered conclusion based on a

There are 2 subjects highlighted above. Can you explain this problem?
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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been 20 Aug 2015, 11:31
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Hi,

The phrase starting with "each argument" is a modifier phrase. ie. it adds some more info to the clauses present before it.

In that sense trying to find a subject in this modifier phrase would be wrong IMO.

Regards,
Dom.
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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been 21 Aug 2015, 12:14
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Between A and D, I choose A. the underlined sentence is a modifier adding additional information about the each of the arguments made. If you use a pronoun here it may refer argument or conclusion which doesn't make any sense.
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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been 27 Apr 2017, 08:41
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GMATNinja, Can you please help here to understand how A is correct?

Choice C and E are definitely out. In choice C, its refers to all and in choice E, their modifies every.

Grammatically, All other seems OK.

Also I have a doubt in the given, non-underlined sentence -

The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been the subject of various arguments

This appears to be a complete independent clause, don't we need conjunction to join this with another clause?
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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been 29 Nov 2017, 09:17
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B,C,D,E - run-on sentences.

A is the clear winner
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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been 29 Nov 2017, 09:49
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@Mikemcgarry- can you please help as you did an article on On the White Bus. Please help us understand what is going on this sentence. Many thanks!
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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been 29 Nov 2017, 19:42
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KungFuGmat
@Mikemcgarry- can you please help as you did an article on On the White Bus. Please help us understand what is going on this sentence. Many thanks!
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Hi KungFuGmat,

Let me try

The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been the subject of various arguments, each argument a carefully considered conclusion based on a particular moral outlook.

each argument a carefully considered conclusion based on a - Noun + Noun Modifier modifying argument

all arguments carefully considered conclusions based on their - meaning error - arguments are not having their own particular moral books

all the arguments carefully considered conclusions based on its - Prounoun and meaning error

each argument is a carefully considered conclusion based on its - two ICs can not be separated by just a comma + meaning error

every argument is a carefully considered conclusion based on their - same as D
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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been 30 Nov 2017, 19:39
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RMD007
GMATNinja, Can you please help here to understand how A is correct?

Choice C and E are definitely out. In choice C, its refers to all and in choice E, their modifies every.

Grammatically, All other seems OK.

Also I have a doubt in the given, non-underlined sentence -

The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been the subject of various arguments

This appears to be a complete independent clause, don't we need conjunction to join this with another clause?
Show more

This would only apply to D and E, which are certainly wrong. None of the others present a second independent clause, so this isn't a concern. AS Kchaudhary points out, in the correct version, we just have a modifier that applies to "arguments."
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The existence of the soul, a controversial philosophic idea, has been 30 Aug 2021, 05:06
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