Sentence Correction

Constructed with the finest Italian marble, the floor of the church is its greatest attraction and is more attractive to tourists than are its ornate stained-glass windows.

(A) attraction and is more attractive to tourists than are its ornate stained-glass windows

(B) attraction, itself more attractive to tourists than are its ornate stained-glass windows

(C) attraction, itself more attractive to tourists as are its ornate stained-glass windows

(D) attraction, being more attractive to tourists than its ornate stained-glass windows are

(E) attraction as it more is attractive to tourists than are the church's stained-glass windows

A?

Nice question..

Let's first straightaway take out E. The placement of "is" incorrect else it would have been a close one.. not to mention it also suffers from "what does it refer to?"..

I took out A too.. "its" . what does "its" refer to? floor or church??

Left with B, C and D

D suffers with similar ambiguity..

In the end I think this question is about Reflexive Pronouns i.e. itself, myself, oneself and the likes.. Reflexive pronouns should be used only when they refer back to another word in the sentence.

Based upon that, I like B and C, coz in both of them "itself" refers to floor. Because we are talking about floor of the church and the pronoun immediately after this phrase is "itself".. so that refers to floor.

Since we are comparing, "than" is better.. and so I would go with option B

IMO B

see logitech's post here -

https://www.beatthegmat.com/constructed- ... 12230.html

niraj_a wrote:see logitech's post here -

https://www.beatthegmat.com/constructed- ... 12230.html

thanks buddy.. Just read it..

He writes and I quote: "I truly believe that ITS refer back to FLOOR"

that's wrong.. "its" refers back to church and not floor.

He was corrected by Karthi S and his response was that he is not convinced.

So I would still go by the explanation that I have given above. If B is not correct, please try to negate it and give reasons why it isnt so.

dumb.doofus wrote:Nice question..

Let's first straightaway take out E. The placement of "is" incorrect else it would have been a close one.. not to mention it also suffers from "what does it refer to?"..

I took out A too.. "its" . what does "its" refer to? floor or church??

Left with B, C and D

D suffers with similar ambiguity..

In the end I think this question is about Reflexive Pronouns i.e. itself, myself, oneself and the likes.. Reflexive pronouns should be used only when they refer back to another word in the sentence.

Based upon that, I like B and C, coz in both of them "itself" refers to floor. Because we are talking about floor of the church and the pronoun immediately after this phrase is "itself".. so that refers to floor.

Since we are comparing, "than" is better.. and so I would go with option B

IMO B

In B, as you said correctly said, pronoun 'itself' refers to 'floor'. So the possessive pronoun 'its' after 'itself' should also refer to 'floor', which doesn't make sense here (floor's windows..)

If you meant that in B the second 'its' refers to 'church' then A is also correct because in A also second 'its' would refer to 'church'.

What I mean is that if it is not clear whether (second) "its" refers to floor or church then that clarity is missing in both A and B.