77. Although aspirin irritates the stomach, it can be avoided if the aspirin tablet is given a coating that will not dissolve until the tablet reaches the intestine.
(A) Although aspirin irritates the stomach, it
(B) The irritation of the stomach caused by aspirin
(C) The fact that aspirin causes irritation of the stomach
(D) Aspirin causes stomach irritation, although it
(E) Aspirin irritates the stomach, which
Can someone please explain why the answer is B instead of D?
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- gter
- RonPurewal
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Pronouns such as 'it' most commonly point to the SUBJECT of the preceding clause; you can think of this as a special case of 'parallelism' if that helps.
Looking at choice D, then:
Best-case scenario: The pronoun is ambiguous, referring to either 'aspirin' or 'stomach irritation'. Still wrong.
Worst-case scenario: The pronoun can be taken to refer to 'aspirin', the subject of the preceding part. Then the sentence becomes ridiculous ('aspirin can be avoided if you do this, and then that, to the aspirin tablet').
Although choice B is a bit wordy, it gets rid of the pronoun issue completely, and it has the correct subject ('irritation... can be avoided').
Looking at choice D, then:
Best-case scenario: The pronoun is ambiguous, referring to either 'aspirin' or 'stomach irritation'. Still wrong.
Worst-case scenario: The pronoun can be taken to refer to 'aspirin', the subject of the preceding part. Then the sentence becomes ridiculous ('aspirin can be avoided if you do this, and then that, to the aspirin tablet').
Although choice B is a bit wordy, it gets rid of the pronoun issue completely, and it has the correct subject ('irritation... can be avoided').
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