Sentence Correction

The library has decided to charge their borrowers for the original purchase cost of overdue items after one month instead of allowing borrowers' fines to accumulate indefinitely.


(A) has decided to charge their borrowers

(B) has decided their borrowers should charge

(C) deciding to charge their borrowers

(D) deciding to charge its borrowers

(E) has decided to charge its borrowers

karthikpandian19 wrote:The library has decided to charge their borrowers for the original purchase cost of overdue items after one month instead of allowing borrowers' fines to accumulate indefinitely.


(A) has decided to charge their borrowers

(B) has decided their borrowers should charge

(C) deciding to charge their borrowers -

(D) deciding to charge its borrowers

(E) has decided to charge its borrowers

(A) has decided to charge their borrowers - Their is wrongly referred to Library (which is singular)

(B) has decided their borrowers should charge - change the meaning as it says that the borrowers should charge not the library

(C) deciding to charge their borrowers - decision is done in the past. SO wrong tense usage

(D) deciding to charge its borrowers - same problem as above

(E) has decided to charge its borrowers - has decided (correct tense) its (correct pronoun which refers back to library)

OA E

There is only one error in this sentence; the subject of the sentence is the singular noun "library." Although the library may seem to be a plural entity because it contains a multitude of objects and people, it is considered a single, collective entity here. Changing the plural possessive pronoun "their" to the singular possessive pronoun "its" will fix this sentence.

Choice E is correct. This choice addresses the pronoun-antecedent disagreement in the original sentence. "The library" is singular and should therefore take the singular possessive pronoun "its" instead of the plural possessive pronoun "their."

Choice B is incorrect because the phrase "their borrowers should charge for" is illogical. The phrase "charge for" means "to demand money for." In this case, the library, not the borrowers, is "charging for" the overdue items.

Choice C transforms the sentence into a fragment. The main verb of the sentence cannot be the participle "deciding," which is a type of verbal and does not act as a verb. Also, the error in pronoun-antecedent agreement is retained.

Choice D transforms the sentence into a fragment. Although the error in pronoun-antecedent agreement is corrected here, the main verb of the sentence cannot be the participle "deciding," which is a verbal and does not act as a verb.

Choice E is correct.

karthikpandian19 wrote:The library has decided to charge their borrowers for the original purchase cost of overdue items after one month instead of allowing borrowers' fines to accumulate indefinitely.


(A) has decided to charge their borrowers

(B) has decided their borrowers should charge

(C) deciding to charge their borrowers

(D) deciding to charge its borrowers

(E) has decided to charge its borrowers

@karthikpandian16:
You post many sentence corrections on the site and I've enjoyed them. However, I was wondering if yhou could let us all know the source.

Thanks

I have registered with Grockit GMAT earlier and now studying with Knewton GMAT, so i will be posting some interesting questions from these

alex.gellatly wrote:@karthikpandian16:
You post many sentence corrections on the site and I've enjoyed them. However, I was wondering if yhou could let us all know the source.

Thanks

I think that Kartik... that the OA clearly is E. This is a simple subject verb agreement sentence...

Thank You.