Although the pigeons are widespread, control of them is

Question

Although  the pigeons are widespread, control of them is important in places where their dropping start attracting  rats.

• the pigeons are widespread, control of them is important in places where their droppings start attracting 
• widespread, ways to control the pigeons are important in places where their droppings start attracting
• widespread, pigeon control is important in places where their droppings start attracting
• the pigeons are widespread, control of these is important in places where their droppings start attracting
• the pigeons are widespread, their control is important in places where their droppings start attracting

plz explain

daagh · Answer

The whole issue revolves around 1. Control of them 2. ways to control the pigeons 3. pigeon control 4. control of these and 5. their control  . Which one is most appropriate in terms of grammar, concision and clarity?.

B does somewhat distort the original meaning in that it talks about  ways to control  the pigeons rather than the control of pigeons. In C , the phrase  pegion control  gives a kind of color that pegion control is a specific kind of control . In D, the use of the demonstrative pronoun  these  without accompaniment is a problem.Between A.  control of them  and E.  their control , I can not find a big issue, but E is more direct, concise, and clear

mailnavin1 · Answer

Picked A, doesn't their control in E imply that the pigeons themselves are controlling.

Runner2 · Answer

just don't understand what wrong with A

daagh · Answer

Yeah, I agree. There is not much to desciminate between A and E, except on the feeble grounds of directness, less wordiness and so on. 
I wouldn’t know whether such wafer-thin gaps count on the D-day.

kraizada84 · Answer

E is correct because of proper construction

kapac · Answer

Control of them  seems to be very awkward but doesn't leave us unsure about the real sense of the sentence. On the other hand,  their control   is much more clear in structure, but abstolutely ambiguous. Since the meaning is more important than the concision, I'll go with  A  !

Alterego · Answer

It came down to 'C' or 'E'. I chose 'C' in the end. 'E' still seems awkward to me. Not sure what "..their control" means in the sentence.

brt · Answer

Even I was stuck between A and E and I choose A, because their control may imply the control the pigeons have, while control of them implies controlling the pigeons as a whole group.

infowarf · Answer

The original sentence is 1. wordy 2. ambiguous in terms of pronouns. B & C have modifier error as widespread modifies not pigeons explicitly. D bears the same problems as A does, and only E has no ambiguity as both pronouns are the same and in no case they may refer to rats.

Although the pigeons are widespread, control of them is

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Although the pigeons are widespread, control of them is

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