A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that the salaries of teachers continue to lag far behind the salaries of other college-educated professionals, and the average size of this lag is $8,000 a year at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 a year by the time they reach the age of 50.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Comparisons

• Comparisons can only be made between similar elements.

A: This answer choice incorrectly compares "the salaries of teachers" to "other college-educated professionals"; remember, comparisons can only be made between similar elements.

B: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "to almost $24,000"; the use of "to" incorrectly implies that the average size of the lag between the salaries of teachers and salaries of other college-educated professionals [b]ranges from[/b] $8,000 a year at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 a year by the time they reach the age of 50; the intended meaning is that the average size of the lag between the salaries of teachers and salaries of other college-educated professionals is $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, and this lag [b]is[/b] almost $24,000 a year by the time they reach the age of 50. Further, Option B incorrectly compares "the salaries of teachers" to "other college-educated professionals"; remember, comparisons can only be made between similar elements.

C: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "making an average of"; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that the salaries of teachers make an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less a year by the time they turn 50; the intended meaning is that the teachers make an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less a year by the time they turn 50.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "to almost $24,000"; the use of "to" incorrectly implies that the average size of the lag between the salaries of teachers and salaries of other college-educated professionals [b]ranges from[/b] $8,000 a year at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 a year by the time they reach the age of 50; the intended meaning is that the average size of the lag between the salaries of teachers and salaries of other college-educated professionals is $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, and this lag [b]is[/b] almost $24,000 a year by the time they reach the age of 50.

E: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase "by an average of", conveying the intended meaning - that the average size of the lag between the salaries that the teachers make and salaries of other college-educated professionals is $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, and this lag [b]is[/b] almost $24,000 a year by the time they reach the age of 50. Further, Option E correctly compares "the salaries of teachers" with "those of other college-educated professionals".

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

E is for ||ism by an average and by almost ...
IN D the use of to is wrong as it makes me feel the range from 8000 to 24000. Correct me if i am wrong

Its E,

D--->Less is uncountable

E--->Perfect

A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers continue to lag far behind other college-educated professionals, because they make an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less a year by the time they reach the age of 50.

A. other college-educated professionals, because they make an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less
B. other college-educated professionals, by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, to almost $24,000
C. what other college-educated professionals are paid—making an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less
D. those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers to almost $24,000 less
E. those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, and by almost $24,000

I know this Question was already posted , but i have a few doubts in this questions.
I do agree and clear with the Comparision issue.

OA is E.

My Question is
A clause following (Comma + and) structure should be an independent clause. Here in option E , is the Sentence following the (comma +and ) an Independent clause ??

In D "lag far behind" and "less" makes the sentence redundant.
E corrects the sentence based on parallelism.

my approach:


A. other college-educated professionals, because they make an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less
comparison is illogical. as per this sentence, the salaries of teachers are lagging behind college-educated professionals. 2 clauses are connected by only a comma.

B. other college-educated professionals, by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, to almost $24,000
same comparison error as in A.

C. what other college-educated professionals are paid—making an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less
comparison error. "less" error as in A. - ing is not the best way to modify the preceding clause by introducing new information. furthermore, it is not clear who is making 8k

D. those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers to almost $24,000 less
corrects the comparison error, but introduces a parallelism error.

E. those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, and by almost $24,000
correct answer.
entities compared: salaries of teachers and those (salaries) of other college-educated professionals
by an average of nearly 8k is parallel with by almost 24k


I eliminated answer choices that used "less" to show by how much other college-educated professionals make.

A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers continue to lag far behind other college-educated professionals, because they make an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less a year by the time they reach the age of 50.

A. other college-educated professionals, because they make an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less
B. other college-educated professionals, by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, to almost $24,000
C. what other college-educated professionals are paid—making an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less
D. those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers to almost $24,000 less
E. those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, and by almost $24,000

My 2 cents:
1: What are we comparing? Salaries of 2 group of people.
2:less is used in a few of options. Usage of less is redundant as lag is already mentioned in non underlined part.

A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers continue to lag far behind other college-educated professionals, because they make an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less a year by the time they reach the age of 50.

A. other college-educated professionals, because they make an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less- Wrong
illogically Compares Salaries to other college-educated prof..
Use of Because is wrong ( Because reports indicates something, salaries will not lag)

B. other college-educated professionals, by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, to almost $24,000- Wrong
illogically Compares Salaries to other college-educated prof..
Use of to almost is not parallel and is seems to indicate a range

C. what other college-educated professionals are paid—making an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less- Wrong

Note the subject of THAT clause is SALARIES, therefore the sentence after DASH should make sense with it. It illogically states that Salaries are making less money

D. those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of (UP TO) nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers to almost $24,000 less- Wrong
illogically tries to show a range.
Also note that the original GMAT PREP question had a different option here. The correct version had " UP TO" -I have added the portion in GREEN to correct the same. - Which also makes the sentence redundant


E. those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, and by almost $24,000- Corrects all the mistakes.

mikemcgarry daagh

(E) those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, and by almost $24,000

I understand that this is the best option. Just had a doubt as to how the comma before and is right. Neither after and there is a independent claus, not there is a list of 3 or more items.

Thanks in Advance

Hi, I am still not clear why option D is incorrect. Kindly help please

As described in this post, the use of "to" ("to almost $24,000") illogically implies a range of values ("... by an average of $8,000... to $24,000"). That makes it sound as though the amount of lag is, on average, between $8,000 and $24,000. But that's not the intended meaning.

We are told "that the salaries of teachers continue to lag far behind [the salaries] of other college-educated professionals". By how much do the salaries of teachers lag behind the salaries of other college-educated professionals? 1) By an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers and 2) by almost $24,000 a year by the time they reach the age of 50.

At time 1, the salaries of teachers lag behind BY some amount (an average of nearly $8,000 a year). At time 2, the salaries of teachers lag behind BY some other amount (almost $24,000 a year). 1) and 2) both answer the question, "By how much do the salaries of teachers lag behind?". So each needs to start with "by", as in choice (E).

There also might be another issue with (D), if in fact there has been a typo ("...by an average of UP TO nearly $8,000..."). If anyone encounters this question on a practice test, please confirm the exact wording of choice (D) and/or post a screeenshot.


As we've mentioned in other threads, the "rules" governing comma usage can be subtle and subjective, so you don't want to be too rigid when debating whether a comma is appropriate. You won't run across many GMAT questions that explicitly test whether the presence or absence of a comma is correct, so it's best to find more concrete reasons to eliminate answer choices. For more on punctuation on the GMAT, check out this video.

The exact wording of option D is "those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of up to nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers to almost $24,000 less"

Can't post a screenshot as I do not have enough posts yet but I got this question on practice exam #5.

Hi all,
Here is my observation, please correct me if I am wrong:
A. comparison between salaries and college-educated professionals is wrong, it is already mentioned that salaries lag behind, hence of use of less seems redundant
B. A. comparison between salaries and college-educated professionals is wrong, up to and nearly - almost convey same meaning hence redundancy
C. again use of less when we already have "lag behind" in non-underlined portion seems redundant
D. use of up to and nearly together and use of less and lag behind- Redundancy
E. no such redundancy and parallelism well maintained.

A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers continue to lag far behind other college-educated professionals, because they make an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less a year by the time they reach the age of 50.

(A) other college-educated professionals, because they make an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less "salaries" are being incorrectly compared to "professionals". Eliminate.

(B) other college-educated professionals, by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, to almost $24,000 "salaries" are being incorrectly compared to "professionals". Eliminate.

(C) what other college-educated professionals are paid—making an average of nearly $8,000 a year less at the start of their careers and almost $24,000 less Modifier "making" modifies the subject of the preceding clause ie; "salaries". This is illogical since "salaries" cannot be "making...$8,000 a year less...". Eliminate.

(D) those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers to almost $24,000 less Usage of "to" implies a range of deficits, which is not suggested by the original sentence. Unnecessary meaning change - eliminate.

(E) those of other college-educated professionals—by an average of nearly $8,000 a year at the start of their careers, and by almost $24,000 Correct answer - above errors are rectified and no new errors are introduced.

Hope this helps.

Hello everyone

As stated previously on this thread, there is a typo error in answser D, missing the "of up to" (see attached screenshot)

I do not know who would be able to change the wording of the the initial post.

++

This must be new version of the question. Old version had "by an average of nearly $8,000".