Officials at the United States Mint believe that the Sacagawea dollar

The following example illustrates the problem with (E):

• "Spud's height is far less than it is for Shaq." - We want the pronoun "it" to refer to "Shaq's height". But so far we have only referenced "Spud's height". So it sounds like we are saying, "Spud's height is far less than Spud's height is for Shaq." That doesn't make any sense.

Now back to choice (E):


The first pronoun, "its", refers to "the Sacagawea dollar coin" -- no problem there.

We want that second pronoun ("it") to refer to the weight of the four quarters. But so far we have only referenced the weight of the Sacagawea dollar coin. So we seem to have, "... the Sacagawea dollar coin's weight is far less than the Sacagawea dollar coin's weight is for four quarters." That's obviously not the intended meaning. The meaning is much clearer in the correct answer: "... the Sacagawea dollar coin... weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters..."

I hope that helps!

I feel that in the option C- " it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters" weight is compared with four quarters. Would like to know on what basis this is right.

Regards,
Viswa

Consider this simple example:

"Tim ate more than Mike." - Really we are trying to say: "Tim ate more than Mike ate." But the second "ate" is implied and thus can be removed (I'm not crazy about the term, but some people like to call this ellipsis).

We have something similar in choice (C): "... [the Sacagawea dollar coin] weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters {weigh}." - The second verb ("weigh") is implied and can be omitted.

I hope that helps!

GMATNinja
Sir,
As 'it' is not possessive form, can you explain how did you take the antecedent of 'it' as "the coin's weight"? Here, 'coin's' is possessive, but 'it' is not.
Always, thanks for the wonderful explanation.

GMATNinja
If we use "the Sacagawea dollar coin's" for 'its', how do we use "the Sacagawea dollar coin's" again for 'it' (not its)
Thanks in advanced...

[quote="pi10t"]Officials at the United States Mint believe that the Sacagawea dollar coin will be used more as a substitute for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than four quarters, which weigh 5.67 grams each.


(A) more as a substitute for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than

(B) more as a substitute for four quarters than the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far lighter than

(C) as a substitute for four quarters more than for the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than

(D) as a substitute for four quarters more than the dollar bill because its weight of only 8.1 grams is far lighter than it is for

(E) as a substitute more for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than it is for

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AnthonyRitz GMATNinja VeritasKarishma TheGMATCo AjiteshArun MartyTargetTestPrep

Hello Experts

I have doubt with the usage of MODIFIERS(absolute phrases) at the end of sentences in option B & C

B:' far lighter than'- As per the discussion this option is wrong since Coin can be lighter than four quarters.However 'COIN WEIGHS is less than not lighter than FOUR QUARTERS.- My concern in how to affix phrase with which entity. For instance here how to know 'far lighter than' modifies whether COIN or Coin weighs' since context becomes correct with the former bot not the latter.

Same issue in option C : How to know the phrase ' FAR LESS THAN' modifies whether 'COIN' or 'COIN WEIGHS' .

Thanks

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:

Officials at the United States Mint believe that the Sacagawea dollar coin will be used more as a substitute for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than four quarters, which weigh 5.67 grams each.

(A) more as a substitute for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than

(B) more as a substitute for four quarters than the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far lighter than

(C) as a substitute for four quarters more than for the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than

(D) as a substitute for four quarters more than the dollar bill because its weight of only 8.1 grams is far lighter than it is for

(E) as a substitute more for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than it is for

After a quick glance over the options, we have several key differences we can focus on:

1. more as a substitute / as a substitute more (Meaning)
2. than / than for (Parallelism)
3. its weight, only 8.1 grams, / it weighs only 8.1 grams / its weight of only 8.1 grams (Wordiness & Clarity)
4. is far less than / far lighter than / far less than / far lighter than it is for / far less than it is for (Wordiness & Idioms)

Let’s start with #2 on our list, which is an either/or split that deals with parallelism! No matter which route we go with here, we’ll eliminate 2-3 options rather quickly. We need to decide if it’s better to say “than” or “than for” here - and that has to do with how we compare four quarters and dollar bills:

(A) more as a substitute for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than

(B) more as a substitute for four quarters than the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far lighter than

(C) as a substitute for four quarters more than for the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than

(D) as a substitute for four quarters more than the dollar bill because its weight of only 8.1 grams is far lighter than it is for

(E) as a substitute more for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than it is for

We can eliminate options B & D because the two items aren’t parallel. Now that we have it narrowed down to 3 options, let’s take a look at the other list items to identify other problems and narrow down our options:

(A) more as a substitute for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than

This is INCORRECT for a couple reasons. First, using “rather than” in a comparison is not idiomatically correct. Second, the comparison at the end isn’t parallel - it’s actually trying to compare the weight of a dollar bill to four quarters, instead of comparing the weight of a dollar to the weight of four quarters!

(C) as a substitute for four quarters more than for the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than

This is CORRECT! Using “than” to compare two items is the right way to use this idiom structure, and the wording at the end more clearly compares the weight of the dollar to the weight of four quarters, which is parallel!

(E) as a substitute more for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than it is for

This is INCORRECT for the same reasons as option A. In addition to those reasons, the ending “is far less than it is for” is overly wordy and confusing.

There you have it - option C is our winner! By focusing on an either/or split first, we were able to eliminate options quickly, giving us more time to focus on more complex issues!

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Hi egmat,


Officials at the United States Mint believe that the Sacagawea dollar coin will be used more as a substitute for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than four quarters, which weigh 5.67 grams each
(C) as a substitute for four quarters more than for the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than

I understand the correct choice, however request your clarification.
shouldnt't the "that" be repeated at "as a substitute for 4 quarters more than that (substitute) for dollar bill.

I am drawing a parallel from the below:
Prices of Iphone in US are higher than Prices of Iphone in India.
we can't omit the Prices of Iphone in the above sentence because Prices of Iphone in US is one entity.
Therefore Prices of IPhone in US are higher than in India (than what).
Similarly.
substitute for 4 quarters should be one entity ?.

PS: a current student.

Thanks for your explanation in advance.

as a substitute for four quarters more than (as a substitute) for the dollar bill
Here: as a substitute is clear and no need to repeat ( ellipsis) due to presence of "for" and is the same entity

Prices of IPhone in US are higher than in India- Wrong
Prices of IPhone in US are higher than those in India- Correct ( because prices is not same quantity)

Kajal likes cheese in USA more than (kajal likes) milk in India - same entities and clear meaning; no need to repeat
Kajal likes cheese in USA more than Yuvette in India - no clear meaning;is it person name or food name ?; Better to repeat
Kajal likes cheese in USA more than Yuvette likes in India - clear meaning after repeating ; make sense.( same object cheese)
Kajal like cheese in USA more than Ram likes milk in India - different object : need to repeat the subject ( different object- need to repeat whole structure )

In summary, sentence should not make ambiguity of whatsoever.

Hi Experts,

I encountered similar question but different answer. Can you please help me understand the difference :

The manager at the office supply store believes that the new CLP-300 laserjet printer will be used more as a replacement for printers in small offices and libraries rather than for high quality and feature-packed machines in large company settings because its noise emission, only 43 decibels, is far less than most other laserjet printers, which make about 50 decibels of noise each.


(A) more as a replacement for printers in small offices and libraries rather than for high quality and feature-packed machines in large company settings because its noise emission, only 43 decibels, is far less than

(B) more as a replacement for printers in small offices and libraries than high quality and feature-packed machines in large company settings because it emits only 43 decibels of noise, far quieter than

(C) as a replacement for printers in small offices and libraries more than for high quality and feature-packed machines in large company settings because it emits only 43 decibels of noise, far less than

(D) as a replacement for printers in small offices and libraries more than high quality and feature-packed machines in large company settings because its noise emission of only 43 decibels is far quieter than it is for

(E) as a replacement more for printers in small offices and libraries rather than for high quality and feature-packed machines in large company settings because its noise emission, only 43 decibels, is far less than than it is for

The correct answer for this question is B. I am not sure if it is official question but i encountered this question in gmatclub itself. - https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-manager- ... 05447.html

Thank you in advance.

I will really appreciate if i get the answer in egmat format

Hey, please can an expert help me.
I am trying to detect modifiers in each sentence, even if it is not a matter of modifiers; however, in option C, I thought that the modifier "Far Less Than" is a noun modifier and should modify the noun that precedes it.
Nevertheless, the noun that just comes before it is "8.1 grams" and I think that it does not make any sense.
Please can someone advises which noun is the modifier "Far less than" modifying?

Hi elchaya

We can try to read the sentence without the appositive that appears within the commas. The sentence would look like this:

Officials at the United States Mint believe that the Sacagawea dollar coin will be used more as a substitute for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than four quarters, which weigh 5.67 grams each.

As you can see, the modifier "far less then" is modifying the previous noun, the "weight" of the Sacagawea dollar coin. Hope this helps.

Hi again, If I use the option C, which is the correct answer, the sentence will become the following:

Officials at the United States Mint believe that the Sacagawea dollar coin will be used as a substitute for four quarters more than for the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters, which weigh 5.67 grams each..

I am concerned about the appositive "Far less Than four quarters". What is the appositive " Far less than four quarters" modifying?? shouldn't it modify the noun that precedes it??

Thank you

It weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters, which weigh 5.67 grams each.

You can read it as :
Far less than four quarters (which weigh 5.67 grams each),it weighs only 8.1 grams.
it ( dollar) = four quarter--> comparative ; right type of comparison

I am noticing that (C) is comparing the weight of the Sacagawea coin to four quarters. Is that not an illogical comparison?

The sentence goes "... because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters, which weigh....". It makes sense to assume that the modifier "far less than four quarters" is modifying the phrase right before that which is "8.1 grams. Thus, it does not make sense to compare weight to 4 coins so I am not sure how it can be the answer.

i think you should read it as:

it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters , which weigh 5.67 grams each.

TL weights 65kg, far less than XY, who weighs 100kg.
==> core part : TL weighs less than XY (weighs) ; TL vs XY OR TL weight is less than that of XY ( weight vs weight)
for your point: far less than not necessarily only modify 8.1 gms, it can jump to doer of sentence. The distinction is based on meaning unless it is non-ambiguous.
XYZ does work better than UVW, hardworking person. --> hardworking person only modifies UVW
hardworking person , XYZ does work better than UVW. --> hardworking person only modifies XYZ
XYZ does good job, a hardworking person --> a hardworking person only modifies XYZ

I hope it helps:)

Hi, GMATNinja

Thanks for the elaborate explanation above.

So as you clarified for the issue (sorry I'm not eligible to quote) in C: ....because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters, which weigh 5.67 grams each

I should take the "less" here as an adv. that modifies "weighs" but not an adj. that modifies "8.1 grams", is that right?