Children's tendency to be more susceptible to bronchitis and asthma

I agree with others that the underlining should extend to include "is".

A. Children's tendency to be more susceptible to bronchitis and asthma than adults Wrong Structure
B. Children's tendency to be more susceptible than is the case with adults to bronchitis and asthma is Wordy/Wrong
C. Children tend toward being more susceptible to bronchitis and asthma than adults, which is Wordy/Wrong
D. Children, who tend to be more susceptible to bronchitis and asthma than are adults, are so Wordy/Wrong
E. Children tend to be more susceptible than adults to bronchitis and asthma Correct

OE is (E).

OE is E.
Please follow the forum rules before posting any question. "is" in the sentence needs to be underlined as well.

There is a problem with the underlined part!!

Answer cannot be E if 'is' is not underlined. E would read:

Children tend to be more susceptible than adults to bronchitis and asthma is possibly because, according to recent research, children retain 35 percent more of inhaled airborne particles on the surface of their lungs than adults do.

If you use 'is' (as the verb) in the construction, you'll need to refer to the children's tendency (and not use tend as a verb) to be more susceptible. If the question stem is correct, the only correct answer is A. If is was underlined, E would be perfect:

Children tend (verb) to be more susceptible than adults to bronchitis and asthma possibly because, according to recent research, children retain 35 percent more of inhaled airborne particles on the surface of their lungs than adults do.

Phew I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw the OA was E and was like, "what"?

If the "is" is also underlined, then the correct OA is clearly E.

Choice D caught my attention. In it's current form, I believe D is not correct because there is no parallel structure on the left hand side of the comparison. So, while we have "are adults", there is nothing on the left hand side to compare it with. We can obviously not say: "than are adults (tend to be)".

However, if D was modified as:

Children, who tend to be more susceptible to bronchitis and asthma than adults do, are so

In that case, would D have been correct? The reason is that I think we can interpret the above sentence as:

Children, who tend to be more susceptible to bronchitis and asthma than adults tend to be, are so because..

There could still be an issue with what "so" means, but I am thinking that "are so" is an acceptable structure.

Any thoughts?

Can an expert please reply to my above query.

Yes, the structure could technically be valid. However, in this context, D changes the meaning. It talks about certain children vs. the original sentence implying about the tendency of children as a group.

Hello aviram, I am not very sure if that would be the meaning, because there is a comma after "children", hence making "who" as non-restrictive.

If there had been no comma after "children", then perhaps what you say would have been more applicable. What do you think?

"is" needs t be the part of the question. That's why its creating confusion.
Else the answer is simple. " E"

Indeed, this is creating a lot of confusion. "is" should be in the underlined part. Can moderators edit the original sentence here.

this question is old and should not be studied anymore. focus, instead, on the new questions in og and gmatprep.

"is because..." is incorrect . because clause can not be used after to be. this error gmat tests on many questions in og book . however, this phrase appear here in non underlined part.

"IS" IS SUPPOSED TO BE A PART OF THE UNDERLINED SENTENCE I GUESS, WOULDN'T HAVE MADE THE ERROR IF THE QUESTION WOULD HAVE BEEN PROPERLY PRESENTED.

Agree that E is the best answer.

A. Children's tendency to be more susceptible to bronchitis and asthma than adults
comparison ambiguity. more susceptible to B and A than to adults? or adults are more susceptible? In this case, it is still illogical, since we do not have children but children's tendency.

B. Children's tendency to be more susceptible than is the case with adults to bronchitis and asthma is
"to bronchitis and asthma" is way to far from susceptible.

C. Children tend toward being more susceptible to bronchitis and asthma than adults, which is
tend toward being ... oh my god, no. again same comparison ambiguity. "which" refers to adults. This is wrong, because people can be modified using "who/whom/whose". Moreover, the pronoun is followed by a verb in singular form.

D. Children, who tend to be more susceptible to bronchitis and asthma than are adults, are so
Children are so...but so what? the most important thing is in the modifier. Moreover, this changes the meaning. It now says that only children who tend to be more susceptible... original sentence wants to tell that all children are more susceptible... so incorrect.

in the test, there is a comma at the end of the answer E.

Why is not there a comma separating the main clause from the subordinating clause?
Children tend to be more susceptible than adults to bronchitis and asthma possibly because, according to recent research, children retain 35 percent more of inhaled airborne particles on the surface of their lungs than adults do.
A comma after "Children tend to be more susceptible than adults to bronchitis and asthma" is incorrect, right?

I play basketball because I love it.
Because I love it, I play basketball.
I am happy although I got the answer wrong.
Although I got the answer wrong, I am happy.

All are correct right?

1. If the dependent clause comes before the independent clause, then a comma in between is mandatory.

2. If the dependent clause comes after the independent clause, then a comma in between may or may not be required. Following are some thumb rules:

2.1.In general, a comma is not required.
2.2. Exception: for contrast clauses (though, although, whereas, while), a comma is required.
2.3. "Because" with a negative verb: Comma may or may not be required depending on the meaning.
I did not do my homework because I was tired.
There can be two meanings for the above:
meaning 1: I did not do my home work - the reason was that I was tired. (non-essential clause- use comma)
meaning 2: I did not do my homework - the reason was not that I was tired, the reason was something else. (essential clause, do not use comma)

Given the above thumb rules following are the reasons that your sentences are right or wrong:

sentence 1: right - rule: 2.1
sentence 2,4 - right: rule 1
sentence 3 - wrong: rule 2.2