SC: Pronoun "this, that, these and those"

[ashwin_srao]

Hi All,
In the MGMAT SC guide I saw this rule that pronoun "this, that, those and these" are generally incorrect on GMAT use "it, they, them" instead...so I tend to disqualify any answer that contains any one of the above mentioned pronoun...but I think I am wrong atleast with the use of pronoun "those" which is quite extensively used in the GMAT...could you please clarify...

Thank you very much

[RonPurewal]

Hi All,
In the MGMAT SC guide I saw this rule that pronoun "this, that, those and these" are generally incorrect on GMAT use "it, they, them" instead...so I tend to disqualify any answer that contains any one of the above mentioned pronoun...but I think I am wrong atleast with the use of pronoun "those" which is quite extensively used in the GMAT...could you please clarify...

Thank you very much

you can't use those four as STANDALONE pronouns.

they can be used as relative pronouns, if they are attached to modifiers and are parallel to constructions elsewhere in the sentence.

see here for more:
post47588.html#p47588

--

i'll note that i've seen one official problem, in GMAT PREP, as a single exception to this rule; that problem used "these" as a standalone pronoun.

[ilyana777]

What are "standalone" pronouns? are they personal pronouns (it, they, them) or demonstrative pronouns (this, that, those, these) that stand alone? As in sentence:
I will never buy these shoes; they are too expensive. All I can afford now are those.

If I understand correctly, a sentence like the one above won't be acceptable on the GMAT, will it?

Thanks!

[jnelson0612]

A standalone pronoun can stand by itself in place of a noun without another noun next to it. For example:

The shoes are made of leather and they are expensive.

Here, "they" is a standalone pronoun. It can stand in for "shoes" without another noun following the word "they".

Compare that to:
These shoes are expensive.

Here, I can't say "These are expensive." These what? These shoes, these cars, these houses? This is an example of a pronoun that cannot stand by itself. I have to put the noun behind the "these".

[ParthJ26]

Hi Instructor.

But will the following be acceptable on the GMAT?

1. These are my shoes.

2. This is my car.

Best,

Parth Jain

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

You won't see sentences like that on GMAT, as those sentences are in the style of spoken English.

[JbhB682]

A standalone pronoun can stand by itself in place of a noun without another noun next to it. For example:

The shoes are made of leather and they are expensive.

Here, "they" is a standalone pronoun. It can stand in for "shoes" without another noun following the word "they".

Compare that to:
These shoes are expensive.

Here, I can't say "These are expensive." These what? These shoes, these cars, these houses? This is an example of a pronoun that cannot stand by itself. I have to put the noun behind the "these".

Hi Jamie -

Is the following accurate (Source : made up) ?

The eggs at this market are fresher than those at the other market

I think this may be wrong because I don't see a noun following the word "those" ?

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

The eggs at this market are fresher than those at the other market.

This sentence is fine. The word 'those' is simply standing in for 'the eggs'. It's clear what the pronoun 'those' is referring to, and this sort of comparison construction is very common in GMAT sentence correction. It's not the case that you always have to put a noun behind 'these', 'those', etc.

[KanishkaA690]

Hi Instructors,

Quoting an example from the MGMAT guide to understand the use of demonstrative pronouns to create a copy.

The incidence of disease among men is higher than that among women.
that = the incidence of disease
that is modified by among women to indicate how it is different from the earlier part.

Question
Many a times it's even possible to drop the that but not in the above eg.
The incidence of disease among men is higher than among women (incorrect)

However the same runs in
The costs of running xyz are the same as for running abc.
No need to use those to stand in for costs of running.

Can you help to identify and differentiate these 2 situations.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Please can you help me out by citing the sources of your examples?

I think of it in this way: 'that' or 'those' is used to make a "copy" of a noun. We can leave it out when there's no risk of misunderstanding the sentence. To be honest, the example 'The incidence of disease among men is higher than among women.' sounds okay to me, although I might need to think about it further.