SC Question Bank; Question 15 - Mozart

[chen_daniel112]

At age four, Mozart's father began taking him on tours of the capitals of Europe, in order to demonstrate his musical talents.

C) Mozart began accompanying his father on tours of the capitals of Europe, to demonstrate his own musical talents
D) Mozart began accompanying his father on tours of Europe's capitals, to demonstrate his musical talents

I narrowed it down to C and D.

In D, does not 'his' correctly refer to Mozart, the clear subject of the sentence? I'm having a hard time determining when some pronouns are not ambiguous due to 'structure of the sentece' vs. true amguity. Here it seems clear that Mozart is the subject.

[sajag.arora]

Hi,

It has to be C.

D) Mozart began accompanying his father on tours of Europe's capitals, to demonstrate his musical talents

You cannot identify referent of "his" here

[APARIDA]

In several forums, I have read that in a sentence, a pronoun, irrespective of how many times it occur in the sentence, can refer to only one antecedent.

If my understanding is correct, then there is no issue with D.

I do not think anyone will disagree that the first "his" points to Mozart. If that is true, then the second "his" must logically refer to Mozart.

Anyone with a different thought?

[makesh.nair]

I also agree with Aparitha...

[esledge]

Yes, if a pronoun is used multiple times in a sentence, it should have the same antecedent every time...but just because that should be the case doesn't mean you trust that it is the case.

I don't think (D) is a terrible answer. I agree with you that the first his definitely refers to Mozart, and the second his probably does too, simply because of the repetition. But as a GMAT test-taker, I wonder:

(1) What if the intended meaning is that the tours were to demonstrate the father's talents? That's certainly possible, and it would imply that the second his wrongly has a different antecedent from the first his, i.e. both a grammar error and ambiguity.

(2) What if the intended meaning is that the tours were to demonstrate the younger Mozart's talents? Well, then maybe the second his is OK, but his own in choice C is still better because it clarifies the intent.

Always remember that you should pick the best of the answers offered. If there's the slightest possible doubt in one choice, but no doubt in the other, play it safe.

[chitrangada.maitra]

I might be over thinking this but don't options C & D alter the meaning slightly?

The original sentence, it says 'Mozarts's father is taking him'. options C & D imply that it is Moart's decision to accompany his father. Are we not suppose to stay faithful to the original intent?

At age four, Mozart's father began taking him on tours of the capitals of Europe, in order to demonstrate his musical talents.

Mozart's father began taking him on tours of the capitals of Europe, in order to demonstrate his musical talents
Mozart's father began taking the boy on tours of the capitals of Europe, to demonstrate his musical talents
Mozart began accompanying his father on tours of the capitals of Europe, to demonstrate his own musical talents
Mozart began accompanying his father on tours of Europe's capitals, to demonstrate his musical talents
Mozart's father began taking him on tours of the capitals of Europe, to demonstrate the boy's musical talents

[tim]

every single word you change, in any sentence ever, changes the meaning. please don't fall into the trap of assuming you have to adhere to the meaning of the original. not only is grammar far more important than meaning, but if the original sentence is wrong then you HAVE to change the meaning, even if only slightly..

[ivy]

Starting at age four, Mozart's father began taking him on tours of the capitals of Europe, in order to demonstrate his musical talents.
- Mozart's father began taking him on tours of the capitals of Europe, in order to demonstrate his musical talents
- Mozart's father began taking the boy on tours of the capitals of Europe, to demonstrate his musical talents
- Mozart began accompanying his father on tours of the capitals of Europe, to demonstrate his own musical talents
- Mozart was accompanying his father on tours of Europe's capitals, to demonstrate his musical talents
- Mozart's father began taking him on tours of the capitals of Europe, to demonstrate the boy's musical talents

I am still confused between option C and option D. :P
How does second occurrence of pronoun 'his' refer to Mozart in option D? And why does not second occurrence of pronoun 'his' unambiguously refer to Mozart in option C? How can introduction of word 'own' make such a difference?
And isn't 'began' in option D redundant after having modifier 'Starting at age four' at the start of the sentence? Shouldn't 'Mozart began accompanying' be replaced with 'Mozart accompanied'?

Thank you very much! :)

[tim]

Okay, between C and D, would you at least agree that "his own" makes it 100% clear that we are referring to Mozart? That makes "his own" preferable in this case. As for the "began accompanying" versus "accompanied", i agree that "accompanied" would be fine, but that doesn't show up in any of the options..

[ivy]

Okay, between C and D, would you at least agree that "his own" makes it 100% clear that we are referring to Mozart? That makes "his own" preferable in this case.

Yes, right! :)

As for the "began accompanying" versus "accompanied", i agree that "accompanied" would be fine, but that doesn't show up in any of the options..

'was accompanying' shows up in option D. So, that makes option D preferable to option C. :(

So, what should be chosen between option C and option D? And why?

I am sorry to bother you again and again.

Thanks in advance! :)

[tim]

"was accompanying" is a totally different verb tense from "accompanied" and "began accompanying" (both of which are in simple past). Thus you now asking a VERY different question from the one you asked earlier. "was accompanying" is definitely less desirable here because of the unnecessarily complicated verb tense. As for which option is preferable between D and C, I fail to understand what you are asking, because this issue has been thoroughly covered above. Can you tell me what you disagree with in the previous discussion?

[wallstreetcat]

Hi,

I'm still torn on this one for a few reasons:

C) Mozart began accompanying his father on tours of the capitals of Europe, to demonstrate his own musical talents
** "of the capitals of Europe" seems to go against concision and seems awkwardly worded versus the more concise D) choice

D) Mozart began accompanying his father on tours of Europe's capitals, to demonstrate his musical talents
** Like others have said, assuming the first "his" refers to Mozart, it can be implied the second his does since the ambiguity isn't extremely obvious
** Tack on the concision aspect - the replacement of "of the capitals of Europe" with "Europe's capitals" - this seems like a stronger sentence...

Again, I'm not sure how this may come up on the actual exam, but both are extremely close and the additional clarification of "own" seems to be overshadowed by the awkwardness "of the capitals of Europe".

Would anyone agree?

[tim]

okay, let me help clear this up for you so you won't be unsure about this or any similar question: just don't worry about concision! :) if you ignore concision, you will no doubt agree with me that C is the better option. and if there is ANYTHING AT ALL that makes C a better option, it trumps concision because concision always takes last place. every second you spend studying concision or worrying about it on an answer choice is time that could almost certainly be better spent elsewhere. concision just doesn't show up often enough to make it worth dealing with..

[ANKITK248]

Do 'Europe's capitals' and 'the capitals of Europe' play any role in this question?

[tim]

Neither of those is wrong, so you should not use that distinction to make a decision here. The real takeaway here is that not every split creates an incorrect option.