Over the past few years, banks have systematically raised th

[aditya8062]

Over the past few years, banks have systematically raised their old fees and invented new ones that are harder and harder for consumers to avoid.

(A) banks have systematically raised their old fees and invented new ones that are harder and harder for consumers to avoid

(B) banks are systematically raising their old fees and inventing new ones that become harder and harder for consumers to avoid.

(C) banks systematically raising and inventing new ones make them harder and harder for consumers to avoid

(D) as banks systematically raised their old fees and invented new ones, avoiding them becomes harder and harder for consumers

(E) as banks have systematically raised their old fees and invented new ones, it is becoming harder and harder for consumers to avoid them.

this is a gmat prep question .i can attach the image if u want
OA is A
i have the following doubt :
Ron in one of your post i read that object pronouns cannot refer to the subject of the clause .
i am talking about the following question where u had explained that "them " is not ambiguous

The Sports Medicine Programs of the Olympic Training Center, a complex where final try outs are held for athletes representing the US in the Olympics, is geared toward enhancing athletes' performance and toward their preparation for international competition.
A.) is geared toward enhancing athletes' performance and toward their preparation
B.) is geared to enhance the performance of athletes and to prepare them
C.) are geared to enhance athletes performance and their preparation
D.) are geared toward the enhancement of athletes' performance and toward preparing them
E.) are geared toward enhancing the performance of athletes and preparing them

Ron u had given the following reasoning as why "them " is not wrong in the above mentioned question (blue color )

"them" is not ambiguous. first, consider the following:
you should stop looking at you in the mirror.
that's wrong, right? right. the reason? if you have a verb whose subject and object are the same entity (called a 'reflexive verb'), then the object has to have the ending -self/-selves.
hence, the correct version:
you should stop looking at yourself in the mirror.

--

first, completely ignore the appositive modifier ('a complex where ... olympics'), which is just noise that doesn't affect the surrounding grammar at all. if you do so, you'll notice that 'programs' is the subject. were it also the object, it would have to manifest as themselves.

therefore, 'them' is not ambiguous (only possible referent remaining = athletes)
now my doubt is why "them" is ambiguous in the top most question (red color ) in choice E
i had choosen option E. also if "them " is not ambigous then what is wrong in E ? how option A IS BETTER THAN E?

PS : i dont intend to question OA

[tim]

you've posted two questions that we need sources for, and you've also posted in the wrong forum if these are indeed GMAT prep questions. please repost in the correct forum, with evidence to back up your claimed source for the problem(s)..