While depressed property values ca

[RAHULS852]

Hi Sage/ Manhattan Expert,

Apart from pronoun (their) error in choice B is use of "in that" right in this choice ?
X is Z in that Y --> this is a qualifier; it implies that "Y" is the only certain way in which X is Z.

example:

My brother and I are alike in that we both have a quirky sense of humor
--> CORRECT
this sentence means that my brother and i share the same quirky sense of humor, but that we may (or may not) differ in any other aspect of our personalities

In choice (C) I am not able to understand meaning issue.
Because Homeowner's equity can plunge or disappear, depressed property values are potentially devastating for homeowners.
What am I missing here ?

Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Nice job analyzing the way language works and thinking up your own examples. However, I don't quite agree with you that

X is Z in that Y --> this is a qualifier; it implies that "Y" is the only certain way in which X is Z

It seems to me that in your (good) example - My brother and I are alike in that we both have a quirky sense of humor - 'in that' is used to give an explanation or justification for the previous claim. Some more examples can be found here: https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/in_that

If you interpret 'in that' to mean simply 'for the reason that', then the meaning of answer choice B is okay. However, I think it's telling that the OA doesn't include that phrase: it seems more cumbersome than using 'because' or simply, as the correct answer choice does, stating the reason and allowing the reader to make the logical connection.

[RAHULS852]

Thanks Sage for your clarification.

If you interpret 'in that' to mean simply 'for the reason that', then the meaning of answer choice B is okay.

As per above bold part meaning of choice (C) would be also okay.
Am I right Sage ?

Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Sure, I think that the use of 'because' is okay in answer (C). However, C has a classic example of pronoun ambiguity due to the parallel construction. If you say 'they do something, because their something', then the reader is encouraged to think that the 'they' and the 'their' are referring to the same noun, a consequence that is absurd in this case.

[RAHULS852]

Thanks Sage for confirmation.

Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

You're welcome.

[JohnW717]

Hi,

I am still confused with Answer C - "for homeowners they are potentially devastating, because their"

Can the first "they" refers to homeowners and second "their" refers to the homeowners as well?

Can someone please explain this? Thanks a lot!

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

I'm not sure I fully understand your question. This is a rare example of pronoun ambiguity on a GMAT problem. The issue with answer C is that, logically for the meaning of the sentence, 'they' refers to 'depressed property values' and 'their' refers to homeowners. However, when we read the sentence we might get mixed up into thinking that 'their' refers to 'depressed property values' as well.

The issue is not so much that the pronoun could be ambiguous (after all, almost every pronoun could be ambiguous), but that the grammatical structure and logical structure of the sentence point in different directions. If you write "they can be devastating, because their..." we expect the two pronouns to be referring to the same thing.

I would caution any student not to use pronoun ambiguity to solve problems unless, like here, there's really no other way.

[JbhB682]

Hi Experts - I keep reading in this forum and multiple other forums that in B and C: they and their HAVE to refer back to the same antecedent [depressed property values]

I don’t believe there is any such rule per the Manhattan SC guide (it is only a preference only per my undertanding, not a rule). Below is what the book says with screenshot

Per Page 114, SC guide 6th edition :
Pronouns of the same class (they , their, them) should preferably refer to the same antecedent but it is not a rule
Screenshot : https://ibb.co/XZNW1gG

Thus I dont believe their because of grammar rules is forced to refer to depressed property values

[JbhB682]

This is my analysis on C :

C is not gramatically wrong. A is just much cleaner. Reason why C is not gramatically wrong include

-- their does not have to refer to the same antecedent as "They" does.
-- their could refer to : large investor OR the homeowner. From a meaning perspective, one can assume their is referring to 'homeowner'
-- While is not a parallel marker in option C but the preposition ('for homeowners') - is uncessarily in the middle rather than at the end of the 2nd clause.

Given A is just much cleaner (A avoids a second pronoun completely, 'for homeowners' is placed closer to the noun modifier [Equity can plunge or even disappear] -- A > C

Thoughts ?

[TiffanyB]

Hello jbhB682,

You have presented a solid analysis. Your goal on any SC problem is not to identify the correct answer, but rather to eliminate answer choices until you only have one remaining. This may sound like a minor difference, but it's sometimes difficult to choose the correct answer. Particularly when only two answer choices remain, it's often easier to compare and see which is better.

In this case, you identify a couple of important issues.

1. The sentence structure created by opening with "While." While is technically a conjunction and we would expect the sentence structure to be "While X, Y." X and Y should be independent clauses and are most likely opposing - or at least somewhat conflicting - ideas. For example, "While I enjoy vacationing, I haven't been on vacation in years because I haven't been able to take time off work."

Structure: While [X], [Y] --> While [I enjoy], [I haven't].

We see this structure in A: While...[property values can hurt...investors], [they are...devastating for homeowners]. However, this structure is not seen in C, which is problematic.

2. Pronouns.

While it may not be a "rule" that pronouns of the same class must have the same referent, they almost always will have the same referent. So frequently, in fact, that you might want to simply consider this to be a rule.

This is true because when assessing pronouns, you're most commonly looking for issues with agreement and clarity. Issues with agreement arise when pronouns don't match their referents in number (e.g., Five ducks swam in the pond and then went to its nest). Issues with clarity arise when you're not certain which noun (referent) a pronoun is or should be referring to.

In answer choice C, there are several plural nouns to which "their" could be referring. This is not ideal because it hinders the clarity of the sentence.

Finally, "property values" functions grammatically as a subject and "they" functions as a subject. If "their" refers to homeowners, it would be ideal if "homeowners" was grammatically parallel to "their," as well. However, that is not the case: "homeowners" functions as the object of a preposition and "their" functions as as subject. This grammatical parallelism gives us more reason to believe that "their" refers to property values, although logically that makes little sense.

Ultimately, A is simply a better choice than C.

Tiffany Berkebile
Manhattan Prep GMAT Instructor