marine wrote:
Since 1975 so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons who were once 75 percent of the population are now only accounting for half of it.
(A) so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons who were once 75 percent of the population are now only accounting for half of it
(B) many people have been moving to Utah, so Mormons once 75 percent of the population are now accounting for only half
(C) that many people have been moving to Utah, such that the Mormons that were once 75 percent of the population are now accounting for only half of it
(D) many people have been moving to Utah such that the Mormons, who once represented 75 percent of the population, now only account for half
(E) so many people have been moving to Utah that the Mormons, who once represented 75 percent of the population, now account for only half
fauji wrote:
HI Experts,
Please help me with option E, esp. the part "...only half". Although
GMATNinja mentioned in one of the comments about data between commas can't be ignored straightaway, how to go ahead in such case. ".. only half" of what?. Any similar examples or posts to have better understanding?
Thanks in advance.
shobhitkh wrote:
In OA E, can we not argue that sentence is incomplete. Half of what....??
fauji and
shobhitkh , you asked, half of what?
Answer: Half of the population [of Utah].
I'm not sure what else the answer could be.
We've just been told that a certain group was 75% of the population, but now that group accounts for only half (50%). Of . . . . the population.
Nothing is wrong with the OA. *****
Nouns can be "dropped."
Omitting words is called ellipsis.
HERE is a post by Mike McGarry on ellipsis. His examples may help.
When ellipsis is used, the "missing" words are implied.
********
In this question, a fully written out sentence would have been:
. . . Mormons, who once represented 75%
of the population, now account for only half
of the population.
Those two prepositional phrases are parallel. The second one can be dropped, leaving us with
E) . . . . Mormons, who once represented 75% of the population, now represent only half [implied: of the population].
*********
Omitting words is very common.
Omitting nouns is probably the most straightforward of all omissions.
I bought four cookies and she bought two
[cookies].
HERE is an official sentence that
involves a lot of discussion of ellipsis (omitting words).
Here is a thread on ellipsis and substitution. Mike McGarry's links are good.
I can''t think offhand of any other official example that are similar to this one.
If you start with the thread that I listed last, it should get you started.
I hope that helps.
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