MGMT CAT: According to Italy's top anti-Mafia prosecutor

[Misha]

According to Italy's top anti-Mafia prosecutor, the ailing mobster came to take refuge in Corleone, a town famous because of the "The Godfather" and near to those he most trusted.
(A) the ailing mobster came to take refuge in Corleone, a town famous because of "The Godfather" and near to those he most trusted
(B) famous because of "The Godfather," the ailing mobster came to take refuge in Corleone, a town near to those he most trusted
(C) the ailing mobster, famous because of "The Godfather," came to take refuge in Corleone, a town near to those he most trusted
(D) near to those he most trusted, the ailing mobster came to take refuge in Corleone, a town famous because of "The Godfather"
(E) Corleone, famous because of "The Godfather," was the town that the ailing mobster came to
take refuge in because it was near to those he most trusted

The original sentence is correct. "Famous because of 'The Godfather'"and "near to those he most trusted" correctly modify "a town," which modifies Corleone. Noun modifiers must be next to the nouns that they describe. This choice contains no other errors.

(A) CORRECT. This answer choice is correct as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) This choice contains a modification error; "famous because of 'The Godfather'" incorrectly describes the prosecutor. Noun modifiers modify the closest available noun.

(C) This choice contains a modification error; "famous because of 'The Godfather'" incorrectly describes the mobster. Noun modifiers modify the closest available noun.

(D) This choice contains a modification error; "near to those he most trusted" incorrectly describes the prosecutor. Noun modifiers modify the closest available noun.

(E) The modification is correct in this choice. "Famous because of 'The Godfather'" correctly modifies "Corleone". However, this sentence is unnecessarily wordy, "was the town that the ailing mobster came to take refuge in" is much less concise than "the ailing mobster came to take refuge in Corleone" without making the meaning clearer.
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(A) is correct, but (C) sounds better to me. Don't get the incorrect noun modification here in the explantion. Why can't "famous because of 'The Godfather'" describe "mobster"?

[SakiBomb25]

that's not the original intent of the sentence. By modifying that the mobster was made famous by the Godfather, it changes the meaning of the sentence, rather than sticking to the original intent. That is why C is incorrect.

[Misha]

Ahh, makes sense SakiBomb25, much thanks!

[JonathanSchneider]

Thanks, sakibomb25 - nice explanation!

[JonathanSchneider]

PS This is a great example as to why you don't want to just use your ear -- make sure you eliminate what you can based on the actual rules first!

[guoliang23]

I have a question regarding the pronoun "those" in "...near to those he most trusted." Here "those" refers to "town". According to the Strategy Guide Page 83, "If you must change number, repeat the noun". I think we should use "the towns" instead of "those".

What's more, is the pronoun "he" ambiguous? Is it possible that "he" refers to "prosecutor"?

[JonathanSchneider]

You bring up an interesting point re: "those," but I would say that this word actually has no referent, as it refers instead to "the people" that the mobster most trusted. While I can't recall any published GMAT problem with this usage, the fact that "those" has no specific referent here doesn't strike me as overtly wrong. "Them" would be wrong, of course, but "those" sounds clear enough for me; but again, I'm not sure this would pass on the actual test. Of course, the word "those" is in each answer choice here, so you're not really splitting on that, which is probably why no one has brought it up before.

As for "he," no, that word is clear enough. It is a subject pronoun, and "mobster" is the nearest subject. Also, we are describing the town, and we know that the town was chosen by the mobster, and so it is clear. You may be trying a bit too hard in regards to pronoun clarity rules. There are times when there are multiple singular nouns but the antecedent is nevertheless clear, and this is such a case. In each instance, there might be some different reason for why the clarity is present, which leads me to caution you that the rules are more like patterns ... and ultimately SC is more of a fine art than a science.

[keviny224]

As for A, is that "because of “The Godfather” " parallel with that near to those he most trusted?