Pronouns: Confusion!!

Question

HI

I am facing problems with pronouns in SC. When it comes to pronouns like which & that: I know they refer to the closest noun. But i face difficulty in recognizing the antecedent of it, they, etc.... when do they refer to the subject of main clause and when do they refer to the closest noun.
I am a not from a English speaking background but I have had all my education in English, but i face problems understanding the meaning of the sentences wen they are accompanied with lots of commas and pronouns. I have my exam in 10 days. Please help.

I will try to explain better with an example, so that you know exactly where I am facing problem:

Because there are provisions of the new maritime code that provide that even tiny islets can be the basis for claims to the fisheries and oil fie lds of large sea areas. they have already stimulated international disputes over uninhabited islands.

(A) Because there are provisions of the new maritime code that provide that even tiny islets can be the basis for claims to the fisheries and oil fields of large sea areas, they have already stimulated: I KNOW THAT... 2 THAT sound wrong... but y I have no idea. IT just isnt seeming right to my ear. ALso, I know that provide will be followed by THAT. second problem is how to identify what they is referring to in this sentence... closest noun fisheries and oil fields of large sea areas??? or provisions of new maritime code??
(B) Because the new maritime code provides that even tiny islets can be the basis for claims to the fisheries and oil fields of large sea areas, it has already stimulated : It refers to the code right??? but it is so far away from it?? how do i know that it isnt referring to oil fileds 
(C) Even tiny islets can be the basis for claims to the fisheries and oil fields of large sea areas under provisions of the new maritime code, already stimulating
(D) Because even tiny islets can be the basis for claims to the fisheries and oil fields of large sea areas under provisions of the new maritime code, this has already stimulated: in this qs... this seems wrong.. but when does this refer to the ause and when will it refer to the closest noun? the closest noun?
(E) Because even tiny islets can be the basis for claims to the fisheries and oil fields of large sea areas under provisions of the new maritime code, which is already stimulating: which is supposed to refer to the closest noun... so code is correct... which always refer to the closest noun right?

i hope i could explain my problem
waiting for your reply.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear NGGMAT , I'm happy to respond. :-)

First of all, here's a couple blogs you may find helpful. https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-pronoun-traps/ https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-sente ... agreement/ https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-sente ... and-logic/ The GMAT loves to concoct incorrect answer choices that are loaded with pronoun ambiguity. That's precisely what is happening this question. (A) Because there are provisions of the new maritime code that provide that even tiny islets can be the basis for claims to the fisheries and oil fields of large sea areas, they have already stimulated The " that provided that " is a little awkward, but technically, it is correct, and if everything else were right, this could be part of a correct answer. The " they " is highly problematic. Logically, we can deduce that " they " should refer to " provisions ," but grammatically, the antecedent is ambiguous, and could refer to " islets " or " fisheries " or " large sea areas ." The pronoun " they " is a complete 100% disaster in this answer choice, and this is precisely why this answer choice is wrong. (B) Because the new maritime code provides that even tiny islets can be the basis for claims to the fisheries and oil fields of large sea areas, it has already stimulated This is a very subtle point: rhetorical unity . If there are two clauses, and if a pronoun is the subject of the second clause, and if the subject of the first clause is more-or-less the main topic of the sentence, then the pronoun unambiguously refers to that first subject. See: https://gmat.magoosh.com/lessons/919-focus-on-a-topic In other words, as long as the sentence has a clear focus on a single topic, that single topic is the subject through all the clauses of the sentence. This is very typical for a well-written sentence. (D) Because even tiny islets can be the basis for claims to the fisheries and oil fields of large sea areas under provisions of the new maritime code, this has already stimulated The word " this " is a disaster here. The word " this " can only refer to a noun, a clear & unambiguous noun antecedent. The word " this " can NEVER refer to a verb or to the action of a clause as a whole. That usage does happen in colloquial English, but it is wrong 100% of the time on the GMAT. That's why this answer is wrong. (E) Because even tiny islets can be the basis for claims to the fisheries and oil fields of large sea areas under provisions of the new maritime code, which is already stimulating Here, you are correct: the " which " correctly refers to the noun it touches, the " maritime code ." This one does not have any pronoun problems, but unfortunately, it has other serious problems. The verb tense " is ... stimulating ," present progressive, is a little unusual. Also a very subtle problem --- splitting the two words in the verb with an adverb: not 100% wrong, but in poor taste. The BIG problem with (E) is that it commits the famous missing-verb mistake. There's no main clause in this version: only modifiers with nothing to modify! See: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... b-mistake/ Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

NGGMAT · Answer

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear NGGMAT , Let's look at the whole sentence with option (D) in place: (D) Because even tiny islets can be the basis for claims to the fisheries and oil fields of large sea areas under provisions of the new maritime code, this has already stimulated international disputes over uninhabited islands . Part of the problem here is that when " this " is used on its own as a pronoun, say in ordinary speech, it would be accompanied by pointing or some other demonstrative gesture to clarify the referent. When it is used abstractly, rhetorically, it is often used for emphasis in colloquial speech, and in colloquial speech, the referent can be an action, a clause, etc. " The married mayor had a romance with a 19-year-old. This is unacceptable! " That would be an exemplary sentence of colloquial usage of " this ," but in formal writing, it is quite rare to use " this " by itself as a pronoun. The pronoun " this " is singular, so it can't refer to a plural antecedent " claims " --- we would need the plural pronoun " these ." Perhaps it refers to the " maritime code ," but equally well it could be following the colloquial usage, referring to the entire action of the clause preceding the comma. As a general rule, on the GMAT, if " this " appears by itself as a pronoun, chances are very good that the answer choice in which it appears is wrong. The word " this " can also appear as a noun modifier, and that would be perfectly correct. For example, In 1965, this author published her masterpiece, although this novel won the Pulitzer only in 1993 . Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

NGGMAT · Answer

Dear Mike

Thanks a lot. I am writing what i undrestood below, just so you can check whether my understanding is correct.

A. We have  "they"  in the choice....  "they"  is plural and can refer to provisions (which seems like the main subject of clause one) or it can also refer to fisheries, oil fields or large sea areas. therefore this is correct.
B. This choice has "It"  as the subject of second clause. It is singular so logically it refers to maritime code (subject of main clause)... there is no ambiguity as  "It"  cannot refer to fisheries, oil fields or large sea areas, as these are plural.
C. Has no Pronoun error, but in this choice, the second clause is starting with  "already stimulating" , which is a Verb-ing form... and distorts the meaning of the sentence.
D. Uses  "This"  which is wrong as is singular so it can refer to plural "claims" but can refer either to the "maritime code," or to the entire action of the clause preceding the comma. 
E. no pronoun error, but verb is missing.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear NGGMAT , In (A) , the fact that " they " can refer to multiple possible antecedents is a BIG problem. This is the problem of pronoun ambiguity. If the pronoun doesn't have a clear and unambiguous antecedent, then on the GMAT it is 100% wrong. In (B) , you are right, the singular " it " cannot refer to plural antecedents, and the subject-subject link is what is most important in establishing its antecedent. In (C) , true, no pronoun error, because there's no pronoun. It is not very helpful to refer to this as the " -ing form of the verb " or the " Verb-ing form ," because this form has three completely different functions: 1) as part of the progressive tenses of full verbs: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-verbs ... ive-tense/ 2) as a participle https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/participle ... -the-gmat/ 3) as a gerund https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... d-phrases/ Those three have completely different functions and uses, and it can breed a tremendous amount of confusion to lump them all together as " Verb-ing forms ." I would strongly advise against using that term at all. Here, " stimulating " is a participle. Part of the problem is that the implicit tense changes, because a participle always reflects the tense of the verb in the main clause. That changes the meaning, because it implies that the " stimulating " hasn't already been happening. In (D) , the word " this " does appear to refer to the entire action of the clause before the comma, which would be a very common use in colloquial English. Once again, this is 100% wrong on the GMAT. The word " this ," as a pronoun on its own, rarely is correct on the GMAT. In (E) , yes, a missing verb. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

Pronouns: Confusion!!

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