Judge Lois Forer's study asks why do some litigants have a preferred

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options quickly so we know how to answer questions like this when they pop up on the GMAT! To begin, let's take a quick look at the question and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

Judge Lois Forer’s study asks why do some litigants have a preferred status over others in the use of a public resource, the courts, which in theory are available to all but in fact are unequally distributed among rich and poor.

(A) do some litigants have a preferred status over others in the use of a public resource, the courts, which in theory are available to all but in fact are unequally distributed among
(B) some litigants have a preferred status over others in the use of a public resource, the courts, which in theory are available to all but in fact are unequally distributed between
(C) do some litigants have a preferred status over another in the use of a public resource, the courts, in theory available to all but in fact are unequally distributed among
(D) some litigants have a preferred status to another in the use of a public resource, the courts, in theory available to all but in fact not equally distributed between
(E) does one litigant have a preferred status over the other in the use of a public resource, the courts, in theory available to all but in fact they are not equally distributed among

After a quick glance over the options, there are a few things we can focus on to narrow down our choices:

1. do some / some / does one
2. over others / over another / to another / over the other
3. which in theory / in theory
4. among / between

Since the quickest way to eliminate options is the look for the easy splits, let's start with #4 on our list: among vs. between. No matter which one we choose, we'll eliminate 2-3 options rather quickly. Here is a quick reminder of the difference between the two:

among = 3+ items (I am the worst mathematician among all of my classmates.)
between = 2 items (Teenagers often feel stuck between childhood and adulthood.)

Let's see how each option handles this, and eliminate the ones that do it incorrectly. To help, we'll add in the end of the sentence (a major clue as to which one you'll need):

(A) do some litigants have a preferred status over others in the use of a public resource, the courts, which in theory are available to all but in fact are unequally distributed among rich and poor.
(B) some litigants have a preferred status over others in the use of a public resource, the courts, which in theory are available to all but in fact are unequally distributed between rich and poor.
(C) do some litigants have a preferred status over another in the use of a public resource, the courts, in theory available to all but in fact are unequally distributed among rich and poor.
(D) some litigants have a preferred status to another in the use of a public resource, the courts, in theory available to all but in fact not equally distributed between rich and poor.
(E) does one litigant have a preferred status over the other in the use of a public resource, the courts, in theory available to all but in fact they are not equally distributed among rich and poor.

We can eliminate options A, C, & E right away because they use "among" to talk about 2 items (rich and poor).

Now that we're left with only 2 options, let's see if we can find any other problems:

(B) some litigants have a preferred status over others in the use of a public resource, the courts, which in theory are available to all but in fact are unequally distributed between

This is CORRECT! It uses the proper "between" for 2 items. It also uses parallel structure to compare "some litigants" having preference "over others," both of which are plural.

(D) some litigants have a preferred status to another in the use of a public resource, the courts, in theory available to all but in fact not equally distributed between

This is INCORRECT because there is a parallelism issue. When comparing two items, even if one is better/more advantaged than another, the two things need to be similar. In this sentence, the writer is comparing the plural "some litigants" to the singular "another."


There you have it - option B is the correct choice! If we focus first on the "either/or" splits, we can eliminate options quickly - and maybe avoid wasting time on more complex issues! If we hadn't started with the "among/between" split, we'd have to take a longer route to get to the correct answer.


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