The players were often punished by the referee’s lack of alertness who

Question

The players were often punished by the referee’s lack of alertness who penalized  all those who were involved in fighting, regardless of who had instigated it.

(A) The players were often punished by the referee’s lack of alertness who penalized

(B) The referee’s lack of alertness often caused him to penalize

(C) The players were punished by the lack of alertness of the referee who penalized often

(D) Lacking alertness, the referee’s choice was to penalize often

(E) His lack of alertness to brutality often caused the referee to penalize

Source:  Master GMAT

saarthakkhanna04 · Answer

Can some provide the explanation for this question

Chethan92 · Answer

A & B has possessive pronoun and cannot refer back to who or him. 
Hence A & B can be eliminated.
Option D lacking alertness refers to the referee's choice. This is wrong as it is the referee who is lacking alertness not his choice. Eliminate D.
Between C and E, C is better.

C should be the answer.

Cheeku2023 · Answer

IMO it is B because the subject and object are correctly placed. Subject is 'referee's lack of alertness' and object is penalised players. The sentence makes sense even if 'players' isn't mentioned.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

The original confuses two sources of punishment, the  “referee’s lack”  and the referee himself, resulting in awkward use of  “who” and needless use of both “punished”  and  “penalized.” (C)  better manages to link  “referee”  and  “who,”  but it still requires both  “punished”  and  “penalized.” (D)  and  (E)  change the meaning,  (D)  by implying that the referee is conscious of his  “lack,” (E)  by adding  “brutality.”

The correct answer is (B).

pikaso · Answer

why C is wrong.. it is the only choice where pronoun who refers back to referee

The players were often punished by the referee’s lack of alertness who

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The players were often punished by the referee’s lack of alertness who

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