When airline carriers are able to impose a significant fare

I will go with A for clarity.

can we say that using 'it' creates ambiguity for the second 'it' in the not underlined part and also the reason of eliminating E.

Your observations are point on. Do refer to the official explanation for choice (E).

Dear All,

I agree with choice (A). The official explanation is as follows:

The meaning of the original sentence is clear: If passengers are not deterred by a significant fare increase, the airline industry must be doing well. The original sentence also uses concise language ("price-sensitive passengers") to make its point. Additionally, the pronoun "it" in the original sentence clearly refers to the fact that passengers are not deterred by a significant fare increase.

(A) CORRECT. This choice is correct as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) This choice incorrectly replaces the concise phrase "price-sensitive passengers" with the wordy alternative "passengers who are price-sensitive."

(C) In this choice, the pronoun "it" is used initially to refer to a fare increase. In the non-underlined
portion of the sentence, a second "it" is used to refer not to a fare increase, but to the fact that a fare increase does not deter price-sensitive passengers. The use of the pronoun "it" is incorrect in this answer choice as it causes the antecedent to be unclear for the second "it" in the non-underlined portion of the sentence. Also, "acting as a deterrent" is unnecessarily wordy, and the use of the term "may raise" suggests that the airlines are being given permission to increase their fares.

(D) In this choice, the pronoun "it" is used initially to refer to a fare increase. In the non-underlined portion of the sentence, a second "it" is used to refer not to a fare increase, but to the fact that a fare increase does not deter price-sensitive passengers. The use of the pronoun "it" is incorrect in this answer choice as it causes the antecedent to be unclear for the second "it" in the non-underlined portion of the sentence. Also, the use of the term "may raise" suggests that the airlines are being given permission to increase their fares.

(E) In this choice, the pronoun "it" is used initially to refer to a fare increase. In the non-underlined portion of the sentence, a second "it" is used to refer not to a fare increase, but to the fact that a fare increase does not deter price-sensitive passengers. The use of the pronoun "it" is incorrect in this answer choice as it causes the antecedent to be unclear for the second "it" in the non-underlined portion of the sentence.

Here "it" is a pronoun in non underlined portion and as per my understanding it must refer back to an antecedent.

explanation says:
"it" in the original sentence clearly refers to the fact that passengers are not deterred by a significant fare increase.

I think it refers to "a significant fare increase "

Although 'A' is the answer, this problem breaks a cardinal GMAT rule: there should be at least one difference at the beginning and the end of the underline.

In C, D and E, the two it’s have to mean the same thing, which is not the case.
The meaning of the original sentence is clear: hence A

can anybody tell me the difference between ''significant fare increase'' and ''fare increase significantly'' ?

Hello zhanbo

Though i understood option A is best among all. But it is really hard to see IT is referring to any singular noun here. is IT referring to price increase? if yes then price increase is an encouraging sign for the health of the airline industry does not make sense to me.

please clarify my understanding.

thanks and regards

After spending more than 3 minutes, I did end up choosing (A), but I think the use of "it" in the un-underlined part is rather sloppy.

We are trained to always find an appropriate antecedent for pronouns such as "it". The only possible antecedent for "it" is "a significant fare increase". While the clause "a significant fare increase is an encouraging sign for the health of the airline industry" can be defended to a certain degree, we know, as the OA states, "it" actually means "Carriers' ability to hike prices without losing customers". We could not find the proper antecedent for it, a fact that should be a very good reason to eliminate (A).

The only difference between (A) and (B) are between " price-sensitive passengers" and "passengers who are price-sensitive". (A) is shorter. Shorter is better.
In (CD), there is definitely no precedent for "it" in "it acting".
In (E), "it" in "it deterring" can refer to "a significant fare increase". But, strictly speaking, "its" should be used. because "deterring many price-sensitive passengers" is a noun / gerund.

So, in the end, I guess option (A) is the best option among five, but I would eliminate it in an actual GMAT test question.

Hello kadamhari825,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe we can help resolve your doubt.

In Option A, "it" is a placeholder pronoun, a pronoun that refers to a "that/who/whether" clause; here "it" refers to the "that" clause "that airline carriers are able to impose a significant fare increase without deterring many price-sensitive passengers".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Can someone please explain in details with some other examples the use of the pronoun "it" in the nonunderlined part. Feeling lost ...
Thanks in advance...

Do check the question from kadamhari825, and then two replies to it, one of which is from me.

I remain convinced that the "it" in the nonunderlined part is not used appropriately to the standard of GMAT test.

(This question seems to be sourced from ManhattanGMAT CAT Verbal Free Online)

How to choose between Option A & B, both of them literally have the same meaning. So why prefer A over B?

I have seen in many other questions that the correct answer is of type B, hence I choose B.

For essentially the same meaning, A is shorter than B. Shorter is better.