The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close

[tankobe]

wait a minute - if this is a gmatprep problem, where did you get an 'answer key'?

Ok, guys, so what's going on here? As Ron says, GMATPrep does not provide explanations, so what answer key are we talking about? Is this not really a GMATPrep problem? Or are you referring to an explanation for this problem that you found elsewhere?
Remember that this thread is for GMATPrep problems!

1# the turth is simple: this question is really from the GMATPrep test 2(i have seen it in the software), but there is a same one in OG10, #251. so you know what the answer key refers to.

2# some guys put the quetion with number, so we may think it is not a GMATPrep problem since GMATPrep problems do not have a number. but this deducing may just reflect part of turth. some students,in order to beat all the problems in GMATPrep, decode the software(i don't whether the bahavior is illigal), and then GMATPrep problems have a number and a code.
as well as taking the test in GMATPrep, i also spend some of my time to work out the GMAT questions in the decoded material(unlike a collection, it is really free of any error and typo; actually i have put several posts to correct the errors and typos in threads of these forum)
as to this question: the number is 146 and the code is (32521-!-item-!-188; #058&007141).

stephen!

[krishnakumarhod]

Hi Ron,

Could you please provide an example to clarify ... with adjectival and adverbial phrases...

X has more money now than when the stock market crashed
X has more money now than in 1988
X has more money than he had in 1988


are these all correct.... ???

thanks in advance -

i don't think the gmat would like any of these constructions all that much.

first two: the gmat would probably ding these for not changing the tensed verb. when you have a parallel structure, the common parts (here, "has ... money") are assumed to apply equally to both parts of the structure; applying that principle here leads to the conclusion that the present tense (has) is being applied to both halves of the parallel construction, including the second half (which is obviously a past event).

in other words: the second sentence expands as "x has more money now than he has in 1988". that's wrong.
the same type of thing applies to the first sentence - again, the second half needs a verb that's fixed in the past tense.

the third part seems fine, although there's something slightly undesirable about it (i can't put my finger on it exactly).

Hi Ron/Stacey

I know this is an old thread but i am sorry i cant keep my hands off it.

I read your above explanation then applied the same to the official answer but it did not make sense either.Please correct me

The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction;
its numbers are now five times
greater than
its numbers are -->(This should be were right?) when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970’s.

[mschwrtz]

krishnakumarhod, you're right that the OA doesn't fit the general rule for such cases.

When I first saw this question, I didn't much like a couple of features of A, but they seemed more the sort of errors associated with wrong answers than the sort really dispositive, so I worked from other splits to eliminate B-E.

I would have preferred "its number are fives times greater now than when," because then only the times "now" and "when" would be compared. But we have to work with what they give us.

[Tinks]

This is OG 10 ques no 251

one concern about parallelism: should choice "its numbers are now five times greater than" be "its numbers are now five times greater than those"? thanks

linguistically correct answer:
no, because 'when the use of ddt was...' is, or at least can be interpreted as, an adverb phrase (not an adjective phrase).
if the descriptive phrase placed there were an adjective phrase (or were being interpreted as one, at least), you'd want 'those' to assure a parallel construction.

functional answer:
no, because none of the five choices contain this construction. :)

[mschwrtz]

Thanks Tinks, a couple of other users also pointed this out.

[s.ashwin.rao]

Hi Ron,
Sorry for pulling out an old thread. You said above that greater > more, this makes me think, what about Higher would Higher have preference over greater or more?

Also what would be the preference for lower, less, fewer?

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,
Sorry for pulling out an old thread. You said above that greater > more, this makes me think, what about Higher would Higher have preference over greater or more?

this is highly idiomatic and absolutely impossible to generalize.

there are some words to which one or the other just can't be applied. (for example, a person can have "greater strength" but not "higher strength".)
there are other words for which the two give substantially different meanings. (for instance, "a greater power" would most likely refer to a worldly power such as a national or corporate authority, while "higher power" usually refers to some sort of divine being.)
etc.
unfortunately, like other idioms, this is the kind of thing that needs to be learned on a case-by-case basis.

Also what would be the preference for lower, less, fewer?

"fewer" is for countable nouns. "less" is for uncountable nouns. "lower" is generally used either for physical heights (e.g., a lower elevation) or for numerical quantities (e.g., a lower score).

in general, this forum is not the best place on the internet for questions as general as this one; this forum is mostly intended for specific questions that are directly related to gmat problems.
for a question as general as this one, you can simply google a search term such as "less vs fewer" and find about 100000 different results that explain the topic in much greater detail than we could here.

[himanshu.m1986]

Ron/Stacey
In E extinction, now with numbers five times greater than

can "now" be used as a modifier..If yes then what would it modify???
Someone here posted that now is prepositional modifier and would modify extinction

[namnam123]

Ron,

I've found one case from PERP. As you mentioned above, is "will soar to a level more than one-third higher than " also right? the OA is B.

If current trends continue, by the year 2010 carbon emissions in the United States will soar to a level more than one-third higher than were those in 1990, according to official projections.
(A) Same
(B) will soar to a level more than one-third higher than that
(C) would soar to a level more than one-third higher than it was
(D) would soar to a level more than one-third higher than those
(E) would soar to a level more than one-third higher than they were

[/quote]

in above sentence.

why "it" in C is wrong?, why "that" in B is correct, pls, help explain

[RonPurewal]

Ron,

I've found one case from PERP. As you mentioned above, is "will soar to a level more than one-third higher than " also right? the OA is B.

If current trends continue, by the year 2010 carbon emissions in the United States will soar to a level more than one-third higher than were those in 1990, according to official projections.
(A) Same
(B) will soar to a level more than one-third higher than that
(C) would soar to a level more than one-third higher than it was
(D) would soar to a level more than one-third higher than those
(E) would soar to a level more than one-third higher than they were

in above sentence.

why "it" in C is wrong?, why "that" in B is correct, pls, help explain[/quote]

it is practically certain that the answer to your question is contained in the following thread:
if-current-trends-continue-by-the-year-2010-carbon-emission-t1901.html

[aps_asks]

I do not understand why choice e) is wrong

[RonPurewal]

I do not understand why choice e) is wrong

if you're going to use "now" + some phrase as a modifier, then "now" must accurately modify the action and timeframe of the preceding clause.
e.g.
James is expanding the scope of his job search, now looking in Malaysia and Thailand as well as in Singapore
--> this sentence is correct, because "now looking in..." actually modifies (describes) the way in which james "is expanding his search".

here, now with numbers five times greater than does NOT modify the idea of "surviving a close brush with extinction"; instead, it is a much later situation, far removed from (and in considerable contrast to) the near-extinction. therefore, a modifier is inappropriate here; a separate clause, written in a different tense (as in the correct answer), is a better solution.

[aps_asks]

Thanks Ron !

[RonPurewal]

sure.

[aditya8062]

Hi Ron,

Could you please provide an example to clarify ... with adjectival and adverbial phrases...

X has more money now than when the stock market crashed
X has more money now than in 1988
X has more money than he had in 1988


are these all correct.... ???

thanks in advance -

hi ron ,
as per your explanation the first two sentences are wrong .following is the reason that you gave :

i don't think the gmat would like any of these constructions all that much.

first two: the gmat would probably ding these for not changing the tensed verb. when you have a parallel structure, the common parts (here, "has ... money") are assumed to apply equally to both parts of the structure; applying that principle here leads to the conclusion that the present tense (has) is being applied to both halves of the parallel construction, including the second half (which is obviously a past event).

now my question is what if the above explanation is applied to the following sentence :

The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970’s.

plz explain why if the above rule (your explaination ) is applied ,then parallel construction is not disturbed ?
thanks