GMAT Test Question (SC - comparisons)

[vikas.tarachandani]

Yes it is a GMAT prep question.

After correcting typos the question is as under:

Exceeding even the figures predicted by the most optimistic financial analysts, the automobile company had earnings in the first quarter that more than doubled the previous quarter.

a) company had earnings in the first quarter that more than doubled
b) company earned more than double in the first quarter what they were in
c) company had first quarter earnings that more than doubled those in
d) company's earnings in the first quarter were more than double
e) company's earnings in the first quarter were more than double those of


I have a doubt.

It is mentioned in one of the replies:

A company doesn't exceed figures - the company's earnings exceed figures. A, B, and C are all wrong for this reason.


I agree about A and B, but "C" does talk about earnings.

As such comparison of "company had first quarter earnings" with "those in the previous quarter" appears to be okay.

Is the problem in case of option C in "Those In".


(Highlight for OA) OA is E

yeah, that could have been explained a little more precisely.

more precisely:
this sentence starts with the modifier "Exceeding even the figures predicted by the most optimal financial analysts..."
this is an initial participial modifier, which automatically modifies the immediately following subject. therefore, the immediately following subject must be something that can actually "exceed figures".
therefore, if the following subject is just the company, that's wrong; the following subject has to be some other figure(s).
according to this consideration, the first three choices are all wrong.

also, we can eliminate choices (a) and (d) on the grounds that they end with "double(d) the previous quarter". if taken literally, these constructions don't make any sense; you can't double a quarter.

Hi Ron,

I reached to the answer by exactly the same logic u have used, but I have doubt abut the word 'of'.

As per parallelism, shouldn't 'company's earnings in the first quarter were more than double those of ' be 'company's earnings in the first quarter were more than double those in '?

Thanks in advance.

[jlucero]

As Ron said, it's surprising that they would make the switch here (and it is possible that this is not a GMAT Prep question, but something that has been posted elsewhere and assumed to be GMAT Prep), but given the more egregious errors of a wrong opening modifier and a bad comparison, only E has the correct meaning represented.

[supratim7]

Sorry for going back to this old thread.. Got a small query/doubt..

this sentence starts with the modifier "Exceeding even the figures predicted by the most optimal financial analysts..."
this is an initial participial modifier, which automatically modifies the immediately following subject. therefore, the immediately following subject must be something that can actually "exceed figures".
therefore, if the following subject is just the company, that's wrong; the following subject has to be some other figure(s).

Does this mean following construction is incorrect?

"Exceeding even the figures predicted by the most optimal financial analysts, the automobile company earned in the first quarter more than double that it earned in the previous quarter."

Dear tutors, pls help on this. Thank you.

Re-posting my question.
Thanks

[jlucero]

Tim,

Correct. Even though you can say a company exceeded it's expectations for earnings, the company can not exceed figures. That's the issue in A/B/C.

[supratim7]

Thank you Joe.

In essence, you are saying that "Exceeding even the expectations ..." CAN modify "the automobile company" BUT "Exceeding even the figures ..." CAN NOT modify "the automobile company". Am I right??

Many thanks | Supratim

[tim]

that sounds right..

[RakshithG27]

Please remember to use the correct subject when posting: the first 5-8 words of the question itself.

Between D and E, the only difference is "those of" at the end of E (absent from D). So you ask yourself "what is being compared here?" The earnings in one quarter to the earnings in another quarter. The earnings to the earnings. So I have to mention both sets of earnings, even if I use some sort of pronoun or other referent the second time (which is what the test usually does).

D says the "earnings were more than double the quarter" - that's not the right comparison.
E says the "earnings were more than double the (other) earnings" - that's the right comparison.

In the other example you gave, you've got "earnings in X were two times more than in Y" - that one's okay because I've got something in the second part that refers to the first part: parallelism indicates earnings in X were more than (earnings) in Y.

You can't use the same reasoning for this problem. Try it: D would read the "earnings in the first quarter were more than double (earnings) the previous quarter. Where's the "in"?

Ron,

A small doubt.

What is the difference between 'earnings in X were double those of Y' and 'earnings in X were twice those of Y'. Is the latter even correct? I always get confused between 'Double X' and 'Twice X'. Is there a hard and fast rule?

Thanks in advance.

[RonPurewal]

'twice' would be fine there, too... but that issue isn't relevant to the problem at hand. (all five choices contain some form of 'double'; 'twice' does not appear at all.)