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gauravraos
Joined: 07 Aug 2016
Last visit: 24 Sep 2021
Posts: 89
Given Kudos: 76
Location: India
Concentration: Marketing, Operations
Schools: Rotman '19 NTU '18 HEC Montreal '20 XLRI GM"18 HKUST '19 (D) IIMB SMU '18 Schulich Sept 18 Intake Queen's 19 NUS '20 Simon '21 Madison '21 (M) ISB '20 (I) BYU'21 (A)
GMAT 1: 690 Q48 V35
GPA: 4
WE:Engineering (Consulting)
Products:
Schools: Rotman '19 NTU '18 HEC Montreal '20 XLRI GM"18 HKUST '19 (D) IIMB SMU '18 Schulich Sept 18 Intake Queen's 19 NUS '20 Simon '21 Madison '21 (M) ISB '20 (I) BYU'21 (A)
GMAT 1: 690 Q48 V35
Posts: 89
Updated on: 19 Jul 2021, 12:23
Originally posted by gauravraos on 30 May 2017, 14:08.
Last edited by Bunuel on 19 Jul 2021, 12:23, edited 1 time in total.
Last edited by Bunuel on 19 Jul 2021, 12:23, edited 1 time in total.
Edited the question.
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E
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:
58% (01:25) correct
42%
(01:32)
wrong
based on 1002
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
HIV virus – the virus that causes AIDS – does not seem to transmit easily from person to person, though in China it has infected the family members and health care personnel taking care of them.
A. it has infected the family members and health care personnel taking care of them
B. it has infected the family members and health care personnel who had taken care of them
C. the virus has infected the family members and health care personnel who have taken care of them
D. the virus had infected the family members and health care personnel who took care of victims
E. it has infected the family members and health care personnel taking care of victims
A. it has infected the family members and health care personnel taking care of them
B. it has infected the family members and health care personnel who had taken care of them
C. the virus has infected the family members and health care personnel who have taken care of them
D. the virus had infected the family members and health care personnel who took care of victims
E. it has infected the family members and health care personnel taking care of victims
12 Jan 2020, 16:07
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Here we have another Sentence Correction that seems to divide popular opinion, which is good to see in terms of sparking a lively discussion. For my part, I did opt for (E) for reasons I will outline below. I hope that my thoughts may serve to help others who happen upon the question.
a) though in China the virus has infected the family members...
b) though in China AIDS has infected the family members... (This would make sense, except that AIDS is mentioned within a parenthetical that is defining the subject HIV virus.)
c) though in China a person has infected the family members... (A person could infect other people, but you never refer to a person using the pronoun it.)
d) though in China China has infected the family members...
That last one makes no sense at all, and the grammar makes it clear, then, that it refers to virus. The only concern I have about answer (A) is them at the end of the sentence. If we just focus on the tail-end of the sentence, the underlined portion, we have an independent clause that is open to interpretation:
e) it has infected the family members and health care personnel taking care of the family members.
f) it has infected the family members and health care personnel taking care of the personnel.
There is no reason to believe that some health care personnel in contact with sick people could not also take ill and be treated by other health care personnel, even if HIV is a more extreme example of a spreadable virus. In short, we have two plural groups of people in the clause who could receive treatment, and ambiguity leads to problems in SC questions. If you are not ready to concede the point, perhaps under the impression that personnel is a collective noun and must be referred to as a singular entity (when it can, in fact, go both ways), that is fine, just put this answer choice on hold and see what else you can eliminate in the meantime. Yellow light.
If you were still on the fence between (A) and (E), consider them side by side and look to argue against one choice or the other, focusing on the differences between them:
I hope that helps. If anyone else has questions, please let me know. Good luck with your studies.
- Andrew
gauravraos
Analysis: First off, I have no problem with it. Why? Because if you look at each noun in the sentence--virus, AIDS, person, China--and replace it with each option, nothing makes sense except for virus as a logical referent. Try it:
a) though in China the virus has infected the family members...
b) though in China AIDS has infected the family members... (This would make sense, except that AIDS is mentioned within a parenthetical that is defining the subject HIV virus.)
c) though in China a person has infected the family members... (A person could infect other people, but you never refer to a person using the pronoun it.)
d) though in China China has infected the family members...
That last one makes no sense at all, and the grammar makes it clear, then, that it refers to virus. The only concern I have about answer (A) is them at the end of the sentence. If we just focus on the tail-end of the sentence, the underlined portion, we have an independent clause that is open to interpretation:
e) it has infected the family members and health care personnel taking care of the family members.
f) it has infected the family members and health care personnel taking care of the personnel.
There is no reason to believe that some health care personnel in contact with sick people could not also take ill and be treated by other health care personnel, even if HIV is a more extreme example of a spreadable virus. In short, we have two plural groups of people in the clause who could receive treatment, and ambiguity leads to problems in SC questions. If you are not ready to concede the point, perhaps under the impression that personnel is a collective noun and must be referred to as a singular entity (when it can, in fact, go both ways), that is fine, just put this answer choice on hold and see what else you can eliminate in the meantime. Yellow light.
gauravraos
Analysis: We have not fixed the issue of the ambiguous them at the end of the sentence, but the more glaring issue is the past perfect had taken that does not follow the correct timeline of events. This choice is saying that health care personnel had taken care of either family members or other personnel prior to such persons having become infected with HIV. Are we to assume that the people who contracted HIV were being treated for something else beforehand? That is a leap of faith for a Sentence Correction problem. If them did not strike you as being grounds for elimination, then I hope the past perfect would persuade you instead. Red light.
gauravraos
Analysis: This option replaces it with the virus and fixes the past perfect issue from the previous answer choice, swapping it out for a matching present perfect in have taken. Speaking to the latter point, if we are meant to interpret the treatment as an ongoing action, as the present perfect is used to indicate, then I would prefer who have been taking care of them instead. The difference between the former and the latter is that in the former, some of the personnel could be said to have left the hospital (or wherever these HIV-infected people have received treatment) but still been leading lives away from the premises, whereas in the latter, it is clear that the personnel are still in the process of helping the patients on the spot. It is a subtle difference, but something worth pointing out nonetheless. Apart from such a trifle, we still have them front and center that we are going to have to confront sooner or later. Compared to option (A), specifically taking care of them versus who have taken care of them, I see the latter as a weaker, more open-ended version. That is, the extra words add nothing in the way of clarity. I would feel comfortable tossing this one aside. Red light.
gauravraos
Analysis: Of note is that, as in the previous answer choice, we have replaced it with a perfectly clear the virus. Although I would argue that it was clear enough, I would look elsewhere to test this choice if I were unsure about the pronoun, rather than automatically confining the answer to the trash heap for redundancy. But the next part slides into the past perfect again, had infected, and now we are reaching further back into the past than what event, exactly? We have not gotten any past event up to this point in the sentence, making the past perfect seem a bit off. If the sentence continued with something like it had already infected... by the time..., then I would be okay with a past perfect usage, but that does not occur here. The virus is spreading, and furthermore, the health care workers are taking care of the afflicted. As written, the sentence in choice (D) is indicating that not only the family members, but also the personnel were already infected with the HIV virus when these workers were brought in to take care of people. The meaning of the sentence is unclear or distorted, and therefore the answer choice does not work. Red light.
gauravraos
Analysis: We are back to it, but for reasons discussed above, that is a non-issue. There is an ongoing action of the HIV virus spreading that is indicated by the present perfect has infected. The only other feature of note is that, as in choice (D), the ambiguous them has been swapped out for victims, making it clear that the health care workers have been treating the afflicted and becoming infected themselves. I see no obvious red flags, and just as importantly, I have no misgivings about a lack of clarity. Whether victims refers to family members, personnel, or some general group is beside the point. The personnel are treating anyone infected with HIV. Green light.
If you were still on the fence between (A) and (E), consider them side by side and look to argue against one choice or the other, focusing on the differences between them:
gauravraos
It is hard to argue that (A) presents a clearer picture than (E), namely whom the medical team is taking care of. For that reason, (E) wins out. If you were uncomfortable with (E) but settled on something else you knew was wrong, then spare yourself the trouble in the future--Oh, I knew that one!--and just cast aside anything you can definitely disprove.
I hope that helps. If anyone else has questions, please let me know. Good luck with your studies.
- Andrew
17 Jan 2020, 06:25
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Dear Friends,
Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
Choice A: In Option A, we see a case of pronoun ambiguity as the pronoun "them" has no antecedent. Thus, Option A is incorrect.
Choice B: Option B suffers from the same pronoun ambiguity that Option A. Moreover, this option incorrectly employs the past perfect tense in the verb phrase "had taken". Thus, Option B is incorrect.
Choice C: Option C suffers from the same pronoun ambiguity that Options A and B do. Thus, Option C is incorrect.
Choice D: Option D incorrectly employs the past perfect tense in the verb phrase "had taken". Additionally, its use of "the virus" is somewhat redundant as the pronoun "it" serves a perfectly valid replacement. Thus, Option D is incorrect.
Choice E: Option E avoids pronoun ambiguity, maintains proper tense usage, through the verb phrase "taking care", and is quite concise. Thus, Option E is correct.
Hence, E is the best answer choice.
It should be noted here that "taking care", the present continuous tense, is the correct verb form to use in this context as the meaning of the sentence is that the virus has infected those currently engaged in providing care to HIV victims. The past perfect form of the verb is incorrect, here, as there is no other event that took place before it.
To understand the concept of “Avoiding Pronoun Ambiguity on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):
To understand the concept of the “Past perfect tense and the use of Had” on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
gauravraos
Choice A: In Option A, we see a case of pronoun ambiguity as the pronoun "them" has no antecedent. Thus, Option A is incorrect.
Choice B: Option B suffers from the same pronoun ambiguity that Option A. Moreover, this option incorrectly employs the past perfect tense in the verb phrase "had taken". Thus, Option B is incorrect.
Choice C: Option C suffers from the same pronoun ambiguity that Options A and B do. Thus, Option C is incorrect.
Choice D: Option D incorrectly employs the past perfect tense in the verb phrase "had taken". Additionally, its use of "the virus" is somewhat redundant as the pronoun "it" serves a perfectly valid replacement. Thus, Option D is incorrect.
Choice E: Option E avoids pronoun ambiguity, maintains proper tense usage, through the verb phrase "taking care", and is quite concise. Thus, Option E is correct.
Hence, E is the best answer choice.
It should be noted here that "taking care", the present continuous tense, is the correct verb form to use in this context as the meaning of the sentence is that the virus has infected those currently engaged in providing care to HIV victims. The past perfect form of the verb is incorrect, here, as there is no other event that took place before it.
To understand the concept of “Avoiding Pronoun Ambiguity on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):
To understand the concept of the “Past perfect tense and the use of Had” on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
