A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive an

[rschunti]

A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program, per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as in the nation as a whole.
A) per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as
B) annual per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs to about 60, more than twice as great as that
C) California's annual per capita consumption of cigarettes declined from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as the drop
D) California has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that
E) California has seen annual per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as that

I know following errors in choices:-
Choices A,C and E are wrong due to per capita and per person(both can not ber used and is redundant). I am not able to pinpoint correct answer between "B" and "D". Pls can you explain?

[RonPurewal]

this is a very common error, so be sure that you can recognize it at once.

this sentence starts with a 'headless modifier' (headless in the sense that it doesn't have a subject). in sentences starting with such modifiers, the modifier MUST modify the noun immediately following the comma.

so, choice b implies that 'per-capita consumption of cigarettes' initiated the nation's most comprehensive antismoking program (clearly an absurdity). choice d, by contrast, correctly states that california initiated the program.

notice that the same consideration also eliminates choice a (which states that consumption initiated the program) and choice c (which states that CA's consumption initiated the program).

[guest612]

hi ron. i came down to choices D & E. Can you please tell whether the placement of annual in choice E is what makes it incorrect and makes D the better answer?

[jwinawer]

The problem with E is not the placement of "annual", but the failure to include a word like "drop". The modifier (the part after the comma) is "more than twice as great as that". But what is more than twice as great as what? It is not the number of packs which is more than twice as great, but the drop in the number of packs. Because this is not stated in E, it is wrong.

[judyyang8888]

hi, Ron,

Could you explain why the verb here is "decline" not "declines"? Thanks

the correct sentence is :

A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program, California has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that in the nation as a whole.

[morningdew123]

Hi Moderators...
Let me know if my reasoning is correct...

A) per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as -
i) "drop" is compared to "in the nation". Is it not an incomplete parallelism?

B) annual per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs to about 60, more than twice as great as that - "that" has no antecedent.

C) California's annual per capita consumption of cigarettes declined from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as the drop - I know there are other issues with this answer choice but kindly explain does "more than twice as great as the the drop" modifies only "60" or the whole preceding clause. The same question holds for B and E.

[morningdew123]

hi, Ron,

Could you explain why the verb here is "decline" not "declines"? Thanks

the correct sentence is :

A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program, California has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that in the nation as a whole.

Because of the use of "has seen"...

[RonPurewal]

hi, Ron,

Could you explain why the verb here is "decline" not "declines"? Thanks

the correct sentence is :

A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program, California has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that in the nation as a whole.

Because of the use of "has seen"...

yep.

if you still don't see how this works, use the same sort of construction in a much simpler context:

i watched my favorite team won --> incorrect
i watched my favorite team win --> correct

[ankitp]

Ron ,
In D - Is "a drop more than twice as great as that"
consider an abstract noun modifier which modifies the preceding clause.

Much thanks

[vjsharma25]

Isn't "per capita consumption " and "packs per person " redundant in the wrong answer choices?

I think answer choice "E" is wrong not because it doesn't contain "drop" but because of the reason cited above.Because "more than twice as great as that" can refer to a abstract number in my opinion.Please correct me if I am wrong in assuming this.

[RonPurewal]

Ron ,
In D - Is "a drop more than twice as great as that"
consider an abstract noun modifier which modifies the preceding clause.

Much thanks

yes.

[RonPurewal]

Isn't "per capita consumption " and "packs per person " redundant in the wrong answer choices?

yes. (that point was addressed in the initial post on this thread, but it's worth mentioning again, i suppose)

I think answer choice "E" is wrong not because it doesn't contain "drop" but because of the reason cited above.

(emphasis mine)
the highlighted words in your post seemed to indicate that you think there can only be 1 error in an incorrect answer choice!
if you really do think that, you need to start un-thinking that right now -- lots and lots and lots of answer choices have multiple things wrong with them.

and, no, the modifier portion of choice (e) is definitely wrong -- in fact, it's wrong in two different ways!
* first, since the choice doesn't say "drop", the modifier seems to refer to the immediately preceding figure (i.e., the actual consumption rate of 60 packs per person, not the drop). if this choice weren't surrounded by other choices that give the correct meaning, it would be absolutely impossible to tell that this modifier is supposed to be talking about the drop.
* second, since the choice lacks the noun "drop", the pronoun "that", occurring later in the modifier, doesn't refer to anything at all. (note that this pronoun would have to stand for the word "drop" for this modifier to make any sense)

here's an analogy:
if i write
last summer my weight increased from 200 lbs to 220 lbs, more than twice as much as my little brother's
--> anyone and everyone reading this sentence is going to interpret it as "my little brother weighs less than 110 lbs"; absolutely nobody is going to infer "my brother gained 10 lbs or less over the course of that summer".
same thing here.


Because "more than twice as great as that" can refer to a abstract number in my opinion.Please correct me if I am wrong in assuming this.[/quote][/quote]

[vjsharma25]

I forgot to take "that" into consideration while analyzing the answer choice.

I do think that an answer choice may be wrong because of more than one specific reason.My thinking is based on your so many invaluable posts.

[RonPurewal]

I forgot to take "that" into consideration while analyzing the answer choice.

I do think that an answer choice may be wrong because of more than one specific reason.My thinking is based on your so many invaluable posts.

ok.
make sure you're aware that the modifier in choice (e) is already incorrect, independently of the pronoun "that" (which represents another error); it is clearly (incorrectly) attached to the immediately preceding statistic, just as in my example with "220 lbs" above.

[vjsharma25]

Actually you got me on this.
I now recognize that "that" is altogether another error. I was combining it with the modifier initially :)