One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years

by **gtd** Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:47 am

One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born in 1975.
(A) of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born
(B) of four babies is now born to a mother whose age is thirty or older, compared to just one of six babies who were born
(C) baby in four are now born to mothers aged thirty or older, compared to just one in six
(D) baby in four is now born to a mother aged thirty or older, compared with just one in six
(E) baby in four is now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared to just one in six

OA is D. Why is E wrong please

by **Guest** Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:24 am

Classic Compared with vs Compared to example.

Two things that are similar are compared, hence usage of compared with

Not sure as Why A is ruled out ...Maybe Ron/Stacey can give more insights

by **Junaid** Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:32 pm

I would choose D because the reference is to one baby and not four. So the singular 'born to a mother' should be used rather than 'born to mothers' (as in E).

by **cutlass** Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:58 am

Notice the split in 'is/are'. Since we are talking about one baby, 'is' is right, hence ruling out A.

by **RonPurewal** Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:56 am

the subject is 'one baby'.
one baby has one mother.

choice (e) is wrong because it implies that one baby can have 'mothers' (plural).

nb: the fact that 'one in baby in four' is a statistic that actually represents a large number of babies (25% of all of them) is irrelevant; grammatically, we're still talking about literally one baby.

by **Banerjee** Sat Aug 09, 2008 1:41 pm

Ron - I have a question here.

If choice (E) were to be rephrased as "baby in four is now born to a mother aged thirty years or more, compared to just one in six", what would be the correct answer choice? I feel that it still should be (D), because 'compared to' doesn't fit in here where the sentence refers to differences instead of similarities. Please assist in helping me understand the corrsect usage.

Thanks.

by **RonPurewal** Tue Aug 19, 2008 3:33 am

Banerjee Wrote:Ron - I have a question here.

If choice (E) were to be rephrased as "baby in four is now born to a mother aged thirty years or more, compared to just one in six", what would be the correct answer choice? I feel that it still should be (D), because 'compared to' doesn't fit in here where the sentence refers to differences instead of similarities. Please assist in helping me understand the corrsect usage.

Thanks.

that would be a tough call; it would turn entirely on idiomatic usage (namely, "compared with" vs. "compared to"). i've seen both of those expressions in common usage, and the gmat may well consider both of them correct; i have yet to see any hard-line evidence favoring either one exclusively over the other.
also, although i don't have a good reason why, i'm quite sure that "aged 30 years or more" would be considered awkward usage, especially vis-Ã -vis the more conventionally acceptable form "aged thirty years or older". you can call this idiomatic usage if you want; i don't have any better reason for it other than that i've seen the preference in common usage.

by **herogmat** Wed Aug 18, 2010 2:09 am

What is wrong with option B ? Is it only wordiness that kills this option ?

by **RonPurewal** Mon Sep 20, 2010 5:49 am

herogmat Wrote:What is wrong with option B ? Is it only wordiness that kills this option ?

the biggest problem in (b) is
whose age is thirty or older

your AGE can't be OLDER than 30; that is a redundant (and therefore incorrect) construction.
the following two options are legitimate:
* your age is over 30
* you are older than 30
see the difference? an age can't be old.

for similar reasons, you can't say "his speed/rate was faster..." or "its price was more expensive..."

be on the lookout for this redundancy; the incorrect combination of "speed/rate" and "faster" has appeared on at least two different official problems that i have seen.

by **texcoffier** Fri Sep 30, 2011 6:37 am

Could someone explain why "one baby IN four" is correct?
I would say "One baby (out) of four".

by **RonPurewal** Sat Oct 15, 2011 4:34 am

texcoffier Wrote:Could someone explain why "one baby IN four" is correct?
I would say "One baby (out) of four".

i'd think either of these would be acceptable.

(i hope you are not making the mistake of thinking that there is exactly one correct way in which things can be written.)

One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years

One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years

Re: One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years

Re: One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years

Re: One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years

Re: One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years