Q54. GMAT Verbal - (SC) - meeting

Q. The meeting will begin only after everyone takes their seats.

A. begin only after everyone takes their seats
B. begin only after everyone takes his or her seat
C. only begin after everyone takes their seats
D. begin only after everyone takes their seat
E. only begin after everyone takes his or her seats

PLEASE PROVIDE YOUR REASONING AND NOT JUST THE ANSWER CHOICES.

Difficulty Level : Moderate
Time to Solve : <70 secs

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B .. use of only seems it's modifying everyone's taking seat .. not the beginning of meeting .. and pronoun their doesn't go with everyone ..

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Nurul Hai

The meeting will begin only after everyone takes their seats.

1) everyone - > singular
Pronoun shd be singular as well
2) singular noun object - seat not seatsHence B

B. begin only after everyone takes his or her seat

IMO B – 30 Secs

a.) Incorrect: For 2 reasons


· Singular noun “everyone” doesn’t agree with the plural pronoun “their”.

· The sentence is asking everyone to take their “seats” (plural object “seats” = more than one seat). How can someone sit in more than one seat simultaneously?


b.) Correct:

· Singular noun “everyone” agrees with the singular pronoun “his or her”.

· Singular object (“seat”) agrees with singular subject (“everyone”)


c.) Incorrect: For 3 reasons

· Singular noun “everyone” doesn’t agree with the plural pronoun “their”.

· The sentence is asking everyone to take their “seats” (plural object “seats” = more than one seat). How can someone sit in more than one seat simultaneously?

· “only” is being used as an adverb to modify the verb “begin”. In essence, “only” is telling the reader when the meeting will “begin”. The adverb should be placed after the verb it is modifying so the correct structure is, “begin only” not “only begin”.


d.) Incorrect: For 1 reason


· Singular noun “everyone” doesn’t agree with the plural pronoun “their”.

e.) Incorrect: For 2 reasons


· The sentence is asking everyone to take his or her “seats” (plural object “seats” = more than one seat). How can someone sit in more than one seat simultaneously?

· “only” is being used as an adverb to modify the verb “begin”. In essence, “only” is telling the reader when the meeting will “begin”. The adverb should be placed after the verb it is modifying so the correct structure is, “begin only” not “only begin”.

Hence B is correct.

OA is in fact B

Great explanation, rkandell. The most important thing here is that the pronoun "his or her" must agree with "everyone." The use of "seat" also makes logical sense here in agreeing with "his or her."

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B