Because the 2009 swine flu was caused by the H1N1 virus – the same strain of influenza that had caused the massive 1918 flu pandemic – was why researchers were convinced that it had the potential of killing many millions of people, especially children and the elderly.
A. Because the 2009 swine flu was caused by the H1N1 virus – the same strain of influenza that had caused the massive 1918 flu pandemic – was why researchers were convinced that it had the potential of killing many millions of people, especially children and the elderly.
B. Caused by the H1N1 virus, the same strain of influenza that caused the massive 1918 flu pandemic, researchers were convinced that the 2009 swine flu could potentially kill many millions of people, and in particular children and the elderly.
C. The H1N1 virus, the same strain of influenza caused the massive flu pandemic of 1918, also caused the 2009 swine flu; therefore, researchers were convinced that it had the potential of killing many millions of people, children and the elderly included.
D. Because the 2009 swine flu was caused by the H1N1 virus – the same strain of influenza that caused the massive flu pandemic of 1918 – researchers were convinced that it had the potential to kill many millions of people, particularly children and the elderly.
E. Researchers were convinced that the 2009 swine flu – which could potentially cause the killing of millions of people, including children and the elderly – was caused by the H1N1 virus, the same strain of influenza that had caused the massive flu pandemic of 1918.
B. Caused by the H1N1 virus, the same strain of influenza that caused the massive 1918 flu pandemic, researchers were convinced that the 2009 swine flu could potentially kill many millions of people, and in particular children and the elderly…….Improper modification. The choice says researchers were caused by virus.
C. The H1N1 virus, the same strain of influenza caused the massive flu pandemic of 1918, also caused the 2009 swine flu; therefore, researchers were convinced that it had the potential of killing many millions of people, children and the elderly included. ------ a run-on sentence; the subject H1N1 has two verbs ‘caused Influenza and also caused’.
D. Because the 2009 swine flu was caused by the H1N1 virus – the same strain of influenza that caused the massive flu pandemic of 1918 – researchers were convinced that it had the potential to kill many millions of people, particularly children and the elderly. Correct choice. The problem of two verbs is overcome by converting the first part into a sub-clause.
thanks daagh. i was down to choice D and E. i decided to go with choice E cause D sounded redundant to me.
"...it had the potential to kill many millions of people"
i thought it would be better to use either many people or millions of people.
E didnt seem to have any redundancy but i can see the other errors you've stated.
I agree cent percent. D could have been a lot more crisp.
It in D refers to what ? Swine Flu or H1N1 Virus.
E remove the clause with which and read it sounds clear.
Isnt the "It" in option 'D' ambiguous? Its not clear whether it refers to Swine Flu or the Virus?
This one tripped me up but I think I got it.
E. Researchers were convinced that the 2009 swine flu – which could potentially cause the killing of millions of people, including children and the elderly – was caused by the H1N1 virus, the same strain of influenza that had caused the massive flu pandemic of 1918. - tense is way off, '-which could potentially kill millions of people' - this pandemic already happened it can't potentially do something it already did its action.
Pronoun ambiguity is a real pain on the GMAT. For a while we thought that every pronoun had to have a clear referent, but then we saw that the GMAT sometimes uses pronoun ambiguity and calls the answers containing it correct.
You're right . . . we only have two possible singular nouns for "it" to refer to--the flu and the virus. You can try each one as a replacement for "it" and see which one logically fits. The people are actually being killed by the flu, not necessarily the virus, since other people may have been exposed to the virus and not gotten sick. Thus, the GMAT would probably think that this is not particularly ambiguous. As long as you have clear cut reasons to get rid of other answers I think you can feel comfortable choosing this answer.
The takeaway is to be careful using pronoun ambiguity to make eliminations. Try to get rid of more obvious grammar problems first.
In choice D, why don't we use past perfect to describe the event in 1918 as past tense can't describe 2 events that happened at different time in the past?
and why is pronoun "it" not ambiguous since it can refer to both swine flu and H1N1 virus?
Both the events are not connected. the events are clearly shown by the years.