use of them in Q6 of OG12

[pellucide]

This question is modeled after Q6 from OG12. I apologize for the rusty imitation. Please bear with me. I have several questions about this.

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In the winter of 1991, the high rise buildings in the city were closed to visitors for cleaning due to used tissues left by the visitors, which filled its garbage cans to such levels so that spill-over trash was staining the carpets and smell was coming from the cans.

A.due to used tissues left by the visitors, which filled its garbage cans to such levels so that spill-over trash was staining the carpets

B.due to used tissues that tourists had left, thereby filling its garbage cans to such levels that spill-over trash would stain the carpets

C.because tourists were leaving used tissues, which had filled the garbage cans within them to levels such that spill-over trash would stain the carpets.

D. because of used tissues that were left by tourists filling the garbage cans within them to levels so high as to make the carpet stain from the spill-over trash

E. because used tissues left by tourists had filled the garbage cans within them to such levels that spill-over trash was staining the carpets
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A.due to used tissues left by the visitors, which filled its garbage cans to such levels so that spill-over trash was staining the carpets
In this choice, can which refer to visitors ? I think it cannot refer to visitors, because visitors are humans. So am I correct in assuming which refers to used tissues.
This choice is incorrect for other reasons. (due to, such levels so that, its, etc).

B.due to used tissues that tourists had left, thereby filling its garbage cans to such levels that spill-over trash would stain the carpets
In this choice , had left is not incorrect, is it ?
This choice is also incorrect for other reasons. (due to, its, parallelism etc).


C.because tourists were leaving used tissues, which had filled the garbage cans within them to levels such that spill-over trash would stain the carpets.
In this choice, Am I correct to think the verb tenses are correct ? This choice is also incorrect for other reasons(levels such that, parallelism, etc.)


D. because of used tissues that were left by tourists filling the garbage cans within them to levels so high as to make the carpet stain from the spill-over trash
This is also an incorrect choice. The explanation for this choice in OG12 says, them seems to refer to tourists. I have a hard time understanding that explanation. Choice E is also structured in a similar fashion. However, according to OG12 the use of them in choice E does not cause any problem. Can any instructor comment on this.

E. because used tissues left by tourists had filled the garbage cans within them to such levels that spill-over trash was staining the carpets
E is the correct answer

[RonPurewal]

A.due to used tissues left by the visitors, which filled its garbage cans to such levels so that spill-over trash was staining the carpets
In this choice, can which refer to visitors ? I think it cannot refer to visitors, because visitors are humans.

correct...

So am I correct in assuming which refers to used tissues.

... incorrect.

the best interpretation here is that "which" just doesn't have anything at all to stand for, and is therefore wrong.

from what we've seen:
* "which" can stand for a preceding NOUN;
* "which" can stand for a preceding NOUN + PREP PHRASE.
we haven't seen anything else in the official materials.
here, "used tissues" is followed by a participial modifier (i.e., not just a prepositional phrase), and so is ineligible for "which".

This choice is incorrect for other reasons. (due to, such levels so that, its, etc).

B.due to used tissues that tourists had left, thereby filling its garbage cans to such levels that spill-over trash would stain the carpets
In this choice , had left is not incorrect, is it ?

nope, that's fine.

C.because tourists were leaving used tissues, which had filled the garbage cans within them to levels such that spill-over trash would stain the carpets.
In this choice, Am I correct to think the verb tenses are correct ?

no. "were leaving" is parallel to "were closed", creating the false impression that both of those things were happening at the same time.
if this verb is going to have a tense, then that tense should be the tense that is employed in choice (b).
notice that, in the correct answer, "left" doesn't have a tense at all - it's just a participle modifier.

D. because of used tissues that were left by tourists filling the garbage cans within them to levels so high as to make the carpet stain from the spill-over trash
This is also an incorrect choice. The explanation for this choice in OG12 says, them seems to refer to tourists. I have a hard time understanding that explanation.

well ... about 10% of the OG explanations are total crap, so that's probably part of that 10%.

pronoun ambiguity is not necessarily an error!
see here
post40400.html#p40400


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by the way -- in the future, if you are going to make a long post like this one, with lots of questions, please do not include extraneous comments (such as "this choice is incorrect for other reasons X, Y, and Z").
if your questions are embedded in the middle of a bunch of irrelevant discussion, it's quite hard to find them.