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Fossils of the arm of a sloth found in Puerto Rico in 1991, and dated at 34 million years old, made it the earliest known mammal of the Greater Antilles Islands.

Understand the meaning of the sentence and determine the logical antecedent

Per the sentence:
Certain fossils were found in Puerto Rico in 1991 and are 34M years old.
The presence of these fossils indicates that sloth is the earliest known mammal of GA islands.
Thus, it will only make sense if “it” refers to “sloth”.

Determine if there are any other antecedents that can be referred to by this pronoun

Since pronoun “it” is singular, here are the possible antecedents – the singular nouns
• Arm
• Sloth
Notice here that both nouns play similar roles in the sentence – they describe the fossils. Thus, structurally they are at the same level in the sentence. Thus, even though it does not make logical sense for “it” to refer to “arm” since arm cannot be the mammal, structurally it still creates an ambiguity.

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Select the Correct Answer Choice

Since the pronoun analysis shows an apparent pronoun ambiguity, we will eliminate the answer choice based on other more objective errors:

• Choice A – Incorrect – comma  + and used to combine two verb-ed modifiers – found… & dated…
• Choice B – Incorrect – SV-Number Error – Plural noun fossils: Singular verb has been dated.
• Choice C – Incorrect – SV-Number Error – Plural noun fossils: Singular verb was found.
• Choice D – Correct – The pronoun ambiguity error has been corrected by replacing the pronoun with the antecedent to eliminate the pronoun usage altogether.
• Choice E – Incorrect – SV-Number Error – Plural noun fossils: Singular verb was dated.

Take away Message

So in this sentence, we went purely by the meaning and decided the logical antecedent for the pronoun. Then we looked for other possible references that could be made to determine if there is any scope of ambiguity.

1. Understand the meaning of the sentence and determine the logical antecedent – “it” logically refers to “sloth”
2. Determine if there is ambiguity in pronoun reference:  Find if the pronoun can refer to any other noun – Arm is one more singular noun.  “arm” structurally plays the same role as the logical antecedent – sloth.  Thus, there is pronoun ambiguity.
3. Determine correct answer – By using other errors – SV number error in this case, all choices except Choice D are eliminated.Choice D is the correct answer.  It no longer has pronoun ambiguity error because the pronoun has been replaced with the noun/antecedent – sloth.

Where can you get more information?

The basics of pronoun are covered in detail in the “pronouns” concept file available for e-GMAT users in the SC free trial.  You can access this trial by logging in the e-Gmat website.
Review this post to find the detail of the framework for pronouns.
Other official questions are also analyzed using the pronoun framework.

Loved the solution? Take a free trial to get unlimited access to concept files, live sessions, and practice questions. For any strategic advice for GMAT or MBA Admissions, write to us at acethegmat@e-gmat.com. We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on GMATClub with more than 2400+ reviews