Russell & Carmody, LLC, and Rutledge, Inc., merged in 2012 to create R

Question

Russell & Carmody, LLC, and Rutledge, Inc., merged in 2012 to create Russell, Carmody and Rutledge, Inc.,  and they are now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area .

(A) and they are now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area
(B) it is now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area
(C) and they are now the most successful public relations firms in the metro area
(D) which is now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area
(E) and it is now the most successful public relations firms in the metro area

AkshdeepS · Answer

The original sentence has a clear "Pronoun Ambiguity" error as it uses "They" to tell us about the most successful PR firm.

Now, In choices A (They), B (It), C (They), and E(It), we have pronoun ambiguity because "they" and "it" may refer to any of the plural or singular noun presented in the first Independent clause.

In choice D, we are using Relative pronoun (Restrictive Pronoun) "WHICH" to correctly modify the NOUN (Carmody and Rutledge, Inc) immediately before the comma. This makes the meaning clear.

(A) and  they  are now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area

(B)  it is  now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area

(C) and  they  are now the most successful public relations firms in the metro area

(D) which is now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area
  
(E) and  it is  now the most successful public relations firms in the metro area

Hence (D) is clear winner.

KanishkM · Answer

Okay so 3 merged to give one brand, which is now the most famous one

With this intent 
Lets first eliminate A and B

Out of B, D and E 
(E) and it is now the most successful public relations firms in the metro area
E can be removed, due to firms, singular plural mismatch

B) it is now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area
It does not correctly refer to the nearest noun.

(D) which is now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area
Which, is correctly referring to the Noun, Russell, Carmody and Rutledge, Inc

Archit3110 · Answer

reason D is correct : 
Russell & Carmody, LLC, and Rutledge, Inc.,  merged i n 2012  to create Russell, Carmody and Rutledge, Inc., 
merged ; means 1 company is being now formed, so singular pronoun to be used; option B has it , but referrant of it is an error here so D is correct

smlprkh · Answer

I don't think there is any error in E.

2 companies merged to become one, therefore, "it" is referring to the newly merged company. I don't see any pronoun ambiguity

E has the following structure Independent Clause, Conjunction Independent Clause (nothing wrong with that).

Can someone tell me what I am missing?

Archit3110 · Answer

smlprkh  ; use of  and  is incorrect in E ;  and  is used as a conjuction b/w two complete sentences , in this particular sentence usage of and is not required , secondly 'it' is causing pronoun referent error as its not clear to what is it really referring to..

Shreshtha55 · Answer

Why B is wrong? Can anyone explain me?

Posted from my mobile device

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Shreshtha, B is, what's called, a  run-on  sentence: two  Independent  clauses connected by only a  comma .

Run-on sentences are always  incorrect . Let's take an example.

Would the following sentence be correct:

I dance, I sing.

I am sure you would appreciate that there is  something  missing here. One way to fix it would be:

I dance, and I sing.

Or

I dance and sing .

B is similar to the sentence:  I dance, I sing .

Following are the two Independent clauses in B that are connected  only  by a comma:

i) Russell & Carmody, LLC, and Rutledge, Inc., merged in 2012 to create Russell, Carmody and Rutledge, Inc., 
ii) it is now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area

Run-on sentences are quite  frequently  tested on GMAT. It's important that you develop a good understanding of this structure.

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  run-on sentences , their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

guhancr7 · Answer

The subject of the sentence is the single company- Russell, Carmody and Rutledge Inc
So, the singular subject requires a singular verb.

Eliminate  options A and C since they use the plural term 'are' for the singular term - Russell, Carmody and Rutledge Inc

Eliminate E  since it uses the plural term 'firms'

Eliminate B  since the underlined portion by itself is an independent clause so it requires a fanboy(and in this case) after the comma.

Option D doesn't contain any S-V agreement error and correctly uses 'which' to modify the company.

The correct answer is option D.

Give a kudos if this explanation helped you.

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

D. This sentence-correction question involves a commonly tested pronoun reference problem. Although the sentence initially refers to two separate companies, it then states that they merged into one firm, so the correct pronoun to use when referring to only one company is it. Therefore, you can eliminate Choices (A) and (C). Choice (E) contains the proper pronoun, it, but refers to the new company in the plural, firms, so you can cross that one out as well. You’re left with Choices (B) and (D), but Choice (B) creates a comma splice because it’s an independent clause.

Russell & Carmody, LLC, and Rutledge, Inc., merged in 2012 to create R

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Russell & Carmody, LLC, and Rutledge, Inc., merged in 2012 to create R

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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My Rewards