A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive

per capita and per person sounds repetitive...so A, C, E out.
Between B and D, D sounds more convincing...so IMO D is the answer

I agree with the OA.
"A decade after initiating", so we need to look for someone or something initiating the program, hence rule out ABC.
Between D and E.
D is better because E is redundant.

Who has initiated the nations's most comprehensive antismoking program? California. So it is clear that the dependent clause is modifying California, whic should follow after the comma. Only D and E have this. D correctly modifies the change that has taken place (the drop from 125 packs to 60 packs). Hence it is the correct answer.

Eliminate A,B and C quickly because the sentence starts with "A decade after.....". In A, B and C it's not clear who started this program.

Left with D and E. Eliminate E as it repeats information about per capita and 125 packs per person. Left with D.

IMO it should be C , why is C wrong , C is concise in the sense it says California's annual per capita consumption instead of per capita consumption of cigarettes in California

D
"A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program" needs to modify a noun, which is "California".
(You can't use "California's annual per capita consumption", since California's consumption cannot initiate an antismoking program)

This leaves only D and E as potential answers.
In E, in "...from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as that", what is more than twice as great? From this it looks like 60 is more than twice as great. No way, it's the drop that's more than twice as great.
Hence the answer is D.

Try reading the "Modifiers" chapter from Manhattan's Sentence Correction book, it will help.

I went with E..but after reading through I would have to agree with that D is the right answer. by changing the position of "a drop more than twice as great as that" ... changed the meaning of the sentence.

I was stuck between D and E... i now see the redundancy of per capita and per person.... very nice.

A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program, per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as in the nation as a whole.

Meaning analysis :
A decade after the program
per capita consumption of cigarette in California has been declined.

Error analysis :
A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program,
per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as in the nation as a whole.
Error :1.program started in past , but its effect apparent now => present perfect tense required.
2. it is not clear that comparison betn a drop and (?) in the nation .

A) per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined[/b]from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as :wrong
B) annual per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined[b] from over 125 packs to about 60, more than twice as great asthat wrong
C) California's annual per capita consumption of cigarettes declined from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as the drop wrong
D) California has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that :correct
E) California has seen annual per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs per person to about 60, [s]more than twice as great as :that[/s] :wrong

A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program, per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as in the nation as a whole.

A. per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as

B. annual per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs to about 60, more than twice as great as that

C. California's annual per capita consumption of cigarettes declined from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as the drop

D. California has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that

E. California has seen annual per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as that

Source : Brutal SC's

A and B put the oer capita as a subject and this has no sense at all. After comma you need always the real subject of the sentence, who play the main role of the story

C and E have both in the sentence: per capita and per person and that is redundant.

D is the best

A,B,C are incorrect since we need a subject in there place otherwise the opening modifier will not make sense
D clearly defines the comparison clearly 'decline from 125 to 60'= a drop; this drop in California is more than twice as that in USA
E--per capita=per person so redundant

I ruled out wrong answers on the following basis:
1. per capita-per person redundancy. BD left
2. by last comparison
B. more than twice as great as that
D. a drop more than twice as great as that
We need a word showing the rate dropped/declined/decreased etc.

D is clear

oa D shows that
pronoun "that' can be used in non paralell structure provided that "that" refers to a different noun from the previous noun.

is my thinking correct?

in D
how "annually" is used, pls help

(E) effectively says:
"decline from over 125 packs to about 60, more than twice as great as that in that nation as a whole."

"decline from over 125 packs to about 60, more than twice as great as [the decline] in that nation as a whole."
You're saying that 60 was more than twice the decline of the nation. That doesn't make sense.
What you mean to say is the drop from 125 to 60 --- effectively the 65 drop - was more than twice the amount of decline that the entire nation experienced. So what you intend to say is not reflected in (E).


Whereas (D) says: "decline from 125 packs to 60, A DROP more than twice as great as [the drop] in that nation as a whole."
You're comparing the magnitude of the drop - saying it was twice the drop in the entire nation. This is what you're trying to say so (D) is the better choice.

... took 3 mins to get D and to finally figure out the right comaprision. really good question.

(A decade after)
initiating
(the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive anti-smoking program),
per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined
from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60,
a drop more than twice as great as in the nation as a whole.

After cutting the fluff:
initiating antismoking program, per capita consumption of cigarettes declined
from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as in the nation as a whole.

Issues:
initiaing -> "ing modifier" needs California (noun) as subject and not "per capita" or "california's".
D vs E:
E:more than twice as great as that -. What does more point to 60 or drop.Also whats "that" refer back point to?
Wrong
D: Ambiguity of E is fixed by D by adding "a drop" which is referred back by that.
Correct.