OG 12-6(代词指代)

abjure

In late 1997, the chambers inside the pyramid of the Pharaoh Menkaure at Giza were closed to visitors for cleaning and repair due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing on the walls.
A. due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing
B. due to moisture that tourists had exhaled, thereby raising its humidity to such levels that salt from the stone would crystallize
C. because tourists were exhaling moisture, which had raised the humidity within them to levels such that salt from the stone would crystallize
D. because of moisture that was exhaled by tourists raising the humidity within them to levels so high as to make the salt from the stone crystallize
E. because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing

Agreement; Parallelism
Th e plural subject chambers requires plural
pronouns. Th e sentence explains a causal sequence:
visitors’ breath introduced moisture that caused
salt to crystallize, which caused the chambers to
be closed for cleaning and repair. Th e phrase due to
makes this causal sequence somewhat ambiguous,
seeming to suggest that the repairs were due to
humidity from visitors’ breath.
A Due to is an imprecise expression of the
causal connection between the tourists’
breath and the closing of the museum for
cleaning; the singular pronoun its does not
agree with the plural antecedent chambers.
B It is not at all clear what the reference is for
the pronoun its; fungus was growing should
be parallel to salt … was crystallizing (not
would crystallize) because it is another eff ect
of the humidity.
C Th e pronoun them seems to refer to tourists,
which is nonsensical; the entire construction
is awkward and wordy; would crystallize is
not parallel to was growing.
D Once again, them seems to refer to tourists;
the entire construction is awkward, wordy,
and ambiguous; crystallize is not parallel to
was growing.
E Correct. Th e causal sequence is clear, and
them clearly refers to chambers.
Th e correct answer is E.

其他解释没有问题。
og上解释说CD两个选项中的 them指代tourists，那么E为什么不是指代tourists？。
大家有没有解决代词指代问题好的方法论。。。万分谢谢

sodalight

还是不懂。。。为什么E的就不能指代tourists 呢？ 求解答啊。 CD倒是懂了

-- by 会员 sodalight (2012/9/16 15:02:16)

In late 1997, the chambers inside the pyramid of the Pharaoh Menkaure at Giza were closed to visitors for cleaning and repair due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing on the walls.

E. because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing
指代模糊本身就是不是一个绝对性的错误。
其实我们结合这题把正确选项E先提干，  The Chambers....   were closed ....becasue  mositure had raised the humidity (with them)  such levels that........
这样你 "with them" 作为modifer修饰主干， 在主干只有唯一语义和语法正确的指代对象就是“chambers”， 至于“vistors” 因为它放在另外一个modifer “by tourists” 里面， 所以对于代词指代模糊影响相对其他错误选项较小。

-- by 会员 abjure (2012/9/18 9:15:49)

3Q!

DUKB24

何必纠结呢。。。

都没做出split


花时间纠结这种extremely subtle difference，还不如好好理解下全句想要表达的合理句意，实战过于纠结pronoun ambiguity 会挂，平时也是。。。。


to LS 的LS

abjure

还是不懂。。。为什么E的就不能指代tourists 呢？ 求解答啊。 CD倒是懂了

-- by 会员 sodalight (2012/9/16 15:02:16)

In late 1997, the chambers inside the pyramid of the Pharaoh Menkaure at Giza were closed to visitors for cleaning and repair due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing on the walls.

E. because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing
指代模糊本身就是不是一个绝对性的错误。
其实我们结合这题把正确选项E先提干，  The Chambers....   were closed ....becasue  mositure had raised the humidity (with them)  such levels that........
这样你 "with them" 作为modifer修饰主干， 在主干只有唯一语义和语法正确的指代对象就是“chambers”， 至于“vistors” 因为它放在另外一个modifer “by tourists” 里面， 所以对于代词指代模糊影响相对其他错误选项较小。

sodalight

还是不懂。。。为什么E的就不能指代tourists 呢？ 求解答啊。 CD倒是懂了

vegentle

谢谢分析

暮湘寒

强大。。。

制约与平衡

(C) because（ tourists were exhaling moisture, which had raised the humidity within them to levels such that salt from the stone would crystallize）
which引导的非限定性定语从句，作为前句话的补充说明，them在这里很自然就是指代tourists
(D) because of moisture that was exhaled by tourists raising the humidity within them to levels so high as to make the salt from the stone crystallize
tourists后面跟着raising引起的修饰成分，是修饰tourists，所以them就很自然指代tourists
(E) because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing
这里them不能指代tourists，因为tourists这个结构exhaled by tourists是moisture的定语，修饰moisture，因此them不能指向tourists；另外because与前面一个句子有紧密的逻辑关系，因此them就是指代第一句话里的Chambers。

-- by 会员 AmyGMAT (2010/5/29 1:10:44)

太牛了！！！！
我也想了好长时间都没有想出来。

请问一下C选项的非限定定语从句如果理解成是对moisture的解释说明，也可以说them在这里很自然就是指代tourists吗？

tracy2009

E 中的them不指代 tourists的原因：
1)从语法上来说  tourists 在介词词组by tourists里， 代词不能指代介词词组里的名词。
2)从逻辑上来说， them如果指代tourists， 则变成 moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within tourish.逻辑不通。 所以them只能指代chambers

fs112788

谢谢AmyGMAT的分析