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A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now [#permalink]
As per my analysis, another reason E is incorrect is that it is ambiguous in terms of meaning.. I think the sentence logically is telling us that the ratio now is 4 times the ratio that was 4 years ago.

As per option E, it is not clear whether the number of computers has increased or the entire ratio/average has improved.

daagh egmat GMATNinja .. correct me if I am wrong

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Re: A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now [#permalink]
Hi Expert,

In choice C, why "there were" not " there was" because the preceding clause is "there is now one ...." ?

Please explain.

Thanks.
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Re: A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now [#permalink]
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ballest127 wrote:
Hi Expert,

In choice C, why "there were" not " there was" because the preceding clause is "there is now one ...." ?

Please explain.

Thanks.

Here's the version created via the use of (C).

A recent national study of the public schools shows that there is now one microcomputer for every thirty-two pupils, four times as many as there were four years ago.

The structure of the sentence is a bit informal. The rationale for the use of the plural "were" in the closing modifier is that "one microcomputer for every thirty-two pupils" is understood to be a plural number of computers.

So essentially this version says

A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now enough computers that there is one microcomputer for every thirty-two pupils, four times as many as there were four years ago.

The sentence version created via the use of (C) is not ideal. It's just much better than the other versions.

One challenge that Sentence Correction question writers face is that of making correct answers not blatantly correct. In order to obscure the correctness of correct answers, Sentence Correction question writers often push, stretch, and even break the boundaries of what constitutes good writing.

In the case of this question, perhaps the writer wanted to make the question at least a little challenging, even though the incorrect answers are pretty blatantly incorrect. So, the writer wrote the correct answer, (C), in a way that could debatably be considered correct, but neither sounds right nor is entirely logical.

Alternatively, the writer may have just decided to be creative with language.

In any case, it's good to be prepared to see some weird and debatably incorrect constructions in the "correct" answers to Sentence Correction questions.
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Re: A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now [#permalink]
hi GMATNinja

even after reading all the posts, it is not clear why option c is correct answer, please enlighten.
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Re: A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now [#permalink]
[quote="crackgmat750"]A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now one microcomputer for every thirty-two pupils, four times as many than there were four years ago.


(C) there is now one microcomputer for every thirty-two pupils, four times as many as there were
(D) every thirty-two pupils now have one microcomputer, four times as many than there were



CD are grammatically the same. D is wrong becuase it changes the meaning of the sentence.
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Re: A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now [#permalink]
Errors:-
A)There is...( correct verb) for one microcomputer ( singular).

E)32 pupils now have....(correct sva )

For B,C,D- first part is correct.

In 2nd part, as......as is correct idiomatic construction.

Eliminate B,D.

C -correct

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Re: A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now [#permalink]
I thought after each or every, we should only use singular noun. Ex: each product not each products. Every pupul not every pupils. Expert please guide me here.

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Re: A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now [#permalink]
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AbhishekDhanraJ72 wrote:
I thought after each or every, we should only use singular noun. Ex: each product not each products. Every pupul not every pupils. Expert please guide me here.

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Hello AbhishekDhanraJ72,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, "every" can be followed by plural nouns, as long as the noun is modified by a number or an appropriate helping word; in such a construction, the noun phrase refers to a singular unit that consists of the given number of the noun.

In this case, "every thirty-two pupils" refers to a unit that consists of 32 pupils.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team.
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Re: A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now [#permalink]
abisurd wrote:
crackgmat750 wrote:
Yes OA is C. Obviously all other choices are incorrect. There are no close calls..but my concern is that in C, doesnt "four times as many as" immediately after comma seem to modify pupils rather than microrcomputer as desired by the meaning of sentence? What am I missing? What grammatical subtlelety is here.. can anybody elaborate with more examples? I know paul is on a vacation..


This is something that I got from the Princeton Review Verbal Workout (downloaded from https://64168.com/bbs)

The misplaced modifier rule applies to phrases, but not to clauses.

Fo the benefit of others (and to save my own time), I'm copy-pasting the OCRs version of the relevant text from the Workbook here

Most misplaced modifiers come down to making sure that the opening phrase, followed by a comma, modifies the subject of the sentence. There is a possible solution to other problems, however, that don't occur very often on the GMAT. As the Grammar Glossary will tell you, there is a fundamental difference between a phrase and a clause: A clause contains a subject and a verb, and a phrase lacks either a subject or a verb.

Clause: Although he looked for his glasses for hours,
Phrase: Having looked for his glasses for houfs,

See the difference? If you take away Although from the clause, you have a complete sentence: He lookedfor his glassesfor hours. The phrase, however, has no chance to stand by itself as a complete sentence. The misplaced modifier rule applies to phrases, but not to clauses. Therefore:

You can change a misplaced modifier into a legal sentence by changing a phrase into a clause.

Here's an example:

Wrong: While leaving the bank, Evelyn's purse was stolen.
Right: As she was leaving the bank, Evelyn's purse was stolen.

The opening phrase is now a clause (with the subject she and the verb was), so it's okay.

HTH


As she was leaving the bank, Evelyn's purse was stolen.
How is this correct?
What is Evelyn's purse modifying?
Evelyn's being a possessive noun cannot modify she... so the modifier is Evelyn's purse which cannot modify she.
How are we looking at the sentence?
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Re: A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now [#permalink]
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