Zoo's Lions

[KK]

I came across this question in CAT

Rather than confining the animals to cages, the zoo's lions currently live in an environment that it specially designed to mimic their natural habitat.

The correct answer choice is
the zoo is currently housing its lions in an environment that it specially designed to mimic their natural habitat.

My question is regarding pronouns, here both it and its is referring to zoo and their is referring to animals, i understand that. But isnt the use of their is ambiguous there as it may refer to zoo also....i am not sure, if i need to look at that.

Please help, just getting confused here.

Thanks in advance
Kuleen

[esledge]

In the future, please post all of the answer choices for the benefit of other users.

"Their" cannot refer to "zoo" for 2 reasons:
1. Zoo is singular and their is plural. The only plural noun that "their" could refer to is "animals" or "lions" (same thing in this case).
2. "It" and "Its" are used to refer to "zoo." Once you use "it" to refer to "zoo" you need to stick with that pronoun for "zoo." Conversely, since "it" is already used for "zoo" you cannot later use "it" to refer to some other singular thing ("habitat," for example).

[kramacha1979]

Rather than confining the animals to cages, the zoo's lions currently live in an environment that it specially designed to mimic their natural habitat.
A the zoo's lions currently live in an environment that it specially designed to mimic their natural habitat.
B the zoo designed a special environment for its lions in which the animals currently live in a mimic of their natural habitat.
C the zoo is currently housing its lions in an environment that it specially designed to mimic their natural habitat.
D the zoo's lions currently live in a special environment that the zoo designed to mimic their natural habitat.
E the zoo currently houses their lions in a special environment designed to mimic their natural habitat.

OA C

In wrong choice D
the zoo's lions currently live in a special environment that the zoo designed to mimic their natural habitat.

IS their considered a pronoun w poor antecedent or is it ok w the too close exception rule i.e their can't refer to zoo b/c it's too close ?
How close is too close ?

Thanks

[RonPurewal]

IS their considered a pronoun w poor antecedent or is it ok w the too close exception rule i.e their can't refer to zoo b/c it's too close ?
How close is too close ?

hmm?

"their" is plural.
"zoo" is singular, and is thus automatically disqualified as the antecedent. you can ignore it completely.

[avinashsbajaj]

I was stuck between 2 ans choices - B and C; ended up picking the wrong ans option B.

When I read the explanation, it is only said that B has more wordy phrases. Can someone please describe more in detail as how to differentiate between B and C. I am sure there must be more differentiating factors that I am not able to see now.

Thanks in advance!
Avinash

[rini_iitd]

"Currently live in the mimic of ".mimic is used as an adjective here rather than a transitive verb

[RonPurewal]

"Currently live in the mimic of ".mimic is used as an adjective here rather than a transitive verb

well, actually it's being used as a noun.

this is why it's incorrect. basically, this choice is using "a mimic" where it actually means "an imitation". that is not a proper use of "mimic".

there is a noun "mimic", but that noun means "a person or animal who imitates others".

[wang.wayne]

Can we say that "housing" is parallel to "confining"?

[tim]

It's better in this case to think of "confining ... to" as parallel to "housing ... in", but you're essentially right..

[kaankoc89]

c'mon guys

C the zoo is currently housing its lions in an environment that it specially designed to mimic their natural habitat.

how the [expletive deleted] we know "it" refers to zoo, can easily refer to environment..since environment cant "design" this AC is wrong also..

i overlooked "their" and chose E but this option is wrong also..

[ivy]

c'mon guys

C the zoo is currently housing its lions in an environment that it specially designed to mimic their natural habitat.

how the [expletive deleted] we know "it" refers to zoo, can easily refer to environment..since environment cant "design" this AC is wrong also..

i overlooked "their" and chose E but this option is wrong also..

The antecedent is clearly "zoo", because 'environment' is inside prepositional phrase.

it is almost certain that a pronoun outside a prepositional phrase will not reach into a prepositional phrase for an antecedent. exceptions to this are so rare (and obvious in context) that i would consider it safe to adopt this as a general operating principle for SC problems..

[ivy]

"Currently live in the mimic of ".mimic is used as an adjective here rather than a transitive verb

well, actually it's being used as a noun.

this is why it's incorrect. basically, this choice is using "a mimic" where it actually means "an imitation". that is not a proper use of "mimic".

there is a noun "mimic", but that noun means "a person or animal who imitates others".

I referred to dictionary.com to clarify my understanding of the meaning of noun 'mimic'. It states that noun 'mimic' is 'a copy or imitation of something'. So, if we consider the meaning right, then we cannot eliminate option B on the point given by Ron. But Ron can never be wrong. And I am a big fan! :) So, is dictionary.com a reliable source to prepare for GMAT?

Option B incorrectly states that 'the zoo designed a special environment'. In fact, the zoo specially designed an environment. So, there's a change in meaning. Am I right?

I came across this question in CAT

Rather than confining the animals to cages, the zoo's lions currently live in an environment that it specially designed to mimic their natural habitat.

The correct answer choice is
the zoo is currently housing its lions in an environment that it specially designed to mimic their natural habitat.

There should not be article 'the' before animals as we have not talked about 'animals' before. What do you say?

And how can zoo design an environment? Should not it be 'zoo authority' [or to be accurate, 'the authority of zoo' (as zoo is not an adjective)] or something?

Thanks very much! :)

[tim]

kaankoc89, DO NOT use that word on our forums. If you cannot use appropriate language, you are not allowed to post here. To answer your question, the fact that the environment logically can't design something is what precludes "it" from referring to the environment. Even if we were to allow the environment to design the environment, we would have to alter the word order and use "itself" rather than "it"..

Ivy, in this case the rule I brought up doesn't apply, because the phrase starting with "that" actually modifies "environment", so we are already deep inside the prepositional phrase and therefore are not reaching INTO the prepositional phrase to find "environment". The real reason "it" can't refer to "environment" is described in the previous paragraph..

As for the definition of "mimic", Ron used the primary definition, which even shows up as primary in your link. The secondary definition is rarely if ever used in real life (or on the GMAT)..

The zoo is an institution composed not only of the physical plant but also the administrators who oversee the plant. The question is using "zoo" because they can and because it's more convenient than using a more convoluted phrase to describe the same thing..

When you ask "what do you say" about the use of "the" at the beginning of the sentence, I say that there is no such rule as the one you suggest.. :)

[ivy]

Even if we were to allow the environment to design the environment, we would have to alter the word order and use "itself" rather than "it"..

How can we alter the word order and use 'itself' rather than 'it' to make 'environment' an antecedent of pronoun?

Ivy, in this case the rule I brought up doesn't apply, because the phrase starting with "that" actually modifies "environment", so we are already deep inside the prepositional phrase and therefore are not reaching INTO the prepositional phrase to find "environment". The real reason "it" can't refer to "environment" is described in the previous paragraph..

Oh yes, you're absolutely right. Great explanation! :)

The zoo is an institution composed not only of the physical plant but also the administrators who oversee the plant. The question is using "zoo" because they can and because it's more convenient than using a more convoluted phrase to describe the same thing..

God, I am still confused. :P I am not able to find any source which says that zoo is an institution composed not only of the physical plant but also the administrators who oversee the plant. Can you provide me with correct definition of word 'zoo'?

Thank you very much! :)

[tim]

actually, no, i'm not going to define "zoo" for you, because that's not the real issue here. i will leave it up to you to prove that there is something WRONG with my interpretation of what a zoo is. remember, in SC the burden of proof is on you to prove that an answer choice cannot be correct..