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A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers 02 Jan 2022, 03:16
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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.

Connor1396
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
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.
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Bonjour..!

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 <-- exact wording of choice D( encountered in GMAT Prep 5).
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A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers 02 Jan 2022, 03:19
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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.

Connor1396
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
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.


Bonjour..!

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 <-- exact wording of choice D( encountered in GMAT Prep 5).
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One doubt please- i think 'less' is redundant in option D. since 'lag' is already mentioned . please clarify.
Merci :)
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A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers 19 Aug 2022, 21:27
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Solution:

noboru
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 compared to other educated professionals, so OUT

(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 compared to other educated professionals, so OUT

(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 Salaries compared to salaries of other educated professionals so the comparison is OK. But, the modifier after the long dash is talking about teachers and our subject here is 'salaries' so makes it look like salaries are making an average of------, so OUT

(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 lesscomparison is OK but last modifier elements, not IIL --> " lag by X to Y"?

(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
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comparison and IIL, ---> "Salaries of X lag salaries of Y-by A at start and by B later"
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A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers 08 Nov 2022, 20:26
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ExpertsGlobal5 EMPOWERgmatVerbal svasan05

Shouldn't in option B, comparison should be b/w avg of X with avg of Y? Same doubt for option E

In C, what does " — making " refer to? does it functions just like " ,making " ?

D will be wrong because avg will be a 'specific' number not upto. Is this reasoning correct?

Lastly, in E, what does " — by an avg " refer back to?
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A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers 08 Nov 2022, 21:39
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Shouldn't in option B, comparison should be b/w avg of X with avg of Y? Same doubt for option E

It's more like a list of two separate things:

A report indicates that salaries lag behind - 1) by X ,and 2) by Y
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A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers 09 Nov 2022, 01:13
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Hey Rickooreo

Happy to help you with these queries.

Rickooreo

Shouldn't in option B, comparison should be b/w avg of X with avg of Y? Same doubt for option E
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This is NOT a comparison. The sentence merely wishes to convey the amount by which the salaries of teachers lag behind those of other college graduates at two different stages of their careers: the start and the end. So, one amount could very well be an average of numbers, while the other could be an absolute figure. There is no need to anticipate or expect two average amounts, let alone identical amounts.

Rickooreo

In C, what does " — making " refer to? does it functions just like " ,making " ?
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Yes, the way it has been written, one expects it to convey the same meaning as ", making". This is one of the deterministic errors in C. "Making" logically is the modifier of "teachers", but it doesn't seem to be conveying that meaning grammatically.

Rickooreo

D will be wrong because avg will be a 'specific' number not upto. Is this reasoning correct?
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D is wrong primarily because of the redundancy of "up to" and "nearly". And yes, "nearly" is preferred to 'up to' in this context. Moreover, there is also the redundancy of the word "less". The main clause already uses the word "lag", so using "less" after "lag" is redundant.

Rickooreo

Lastly, in E, what does " — by an avg " refer back to?
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"by an average" refers back to the verbal "to lag". The salaries ... continue to lag...by an average of nearly $8000.



I hope this answers all your questions.

Happy Learning!

Abhishek
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A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers 18 Nov 2022, 03:34
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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 ??
Dear dheeraj24,
First of all, I merged your post into another post in which this question was already discussed. In the future, when you want to ask about a question that has already been posted multiply times, don't start a new thread. Rather, ask your question in the same thread (if you don't find your answer there), and every single person who has posted in that thread will get an email --- presumably, some expert in the thread will answer your question. Does this make sense?

At the end of (E), we don't have clauses. We have two prepositional phrases in parallel --- "by X, and by Y." The only independent clause in this sentence is at the beginning, with subject "report" and verb "indicates" --- everything after that is inside the subordinate clause beginning with the word "that." In fact, that whole clause is an substantive clause; for more on that see:


Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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I want to understand why are we using "those" for salaries in option E? Shouldn't the correct word be "that"? Let me know.
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A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers 18 Nov 2022, 03:55
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TanyaTanya20002
mikemcgarry
dheeraj24
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 ??
Dear dheeraj24,
First of all, I merged your post into another post in which this question was already discussed. In the future, when you want to ask about a question that has already been posted multiply times, don't start a new thread. Rather, ask your question in the same thread (if you don't find your answer there), and every single person who has posted in that thread will get an email --- presumably, some expert in the thread will answer your question. Does this make sense?

At the end of (E), we don't have clauses. We have two prepositional phrases in parallel --- "by X, and by Y." The only independent clause in this sentence is at the beginning, with subject "report" and verb "indicates" --- everything after that is inside the subordinate clause beginning with the word "that." In fact, that whole clause is an substantive clause; for more on that see:


Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)



I want to understand why are we using "those" for salaries in option E? Shouldn't the correct word be "that"? Let me know.
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Hello TanyaTanya20002,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, we must use the plural pronoun "those", as the pronoun is meant to refer to the plural noun "salaries", as the sentence refers to the salaries of all teachers and the salaries of all other college-educates professionals.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers 18 Nov 2022, 06:33
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TanyaTanya20002
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 want to understand why are we using "those" for salaries in option E? Shouldn't the correct word be "that"? Let me know.
Show more

Hey TanyaTanya20002

Happy to help you with this.

The answer to your question has to do with the basics of English grammar. So, fair warning, the following response will seem a little technical. I'll try to be as lucid as possible. Here goes:

You need to understand the difference between two different types of "that": "that" as a relative pronoun, and "that" as a demonstrative pronoun.

The easiest way to differentiate between the two is:
    a. The relative pronoun "that" is used as the subject or object of a Dependent Clause and is never found in an Independent Clause, whereas
    b. The demonstrative pronoun "that" can be found as the subject or object of an Independent clauses or even a Simple Sentence.
For example:
    c. This is the best thing that has ever happened to me. (The relative pronoun 'that' as subject of a relative (dependent) clause)
    d. That is a monkey. (The demonstrative pronoun 'that' as the subject of a Simple Sentence)


Now that we know how to differentiate between the two, let's come to the answer to your question.

1. The relative pronoun "that" can be used as either singular or plural. For example:
    a. This is the best thing that has ever happened to me. (The relative pronoun 'that' is singular and refers to the singular noun 'thing'.)
    b. These are the best movies that have made it to the Indian big screen. (The relative pronoun 'that' is plural and refers to the plural noun 'movies'.)

2. The demonstrative pronoun "that" is strictly singular. The plural of the demonstrative pronoun "that" is "those". For example:
    a. That is a monkey.
    b. Those are monkeys.


Finally, coming to this official question:

    E: A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers continue to lag far behind 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 a year by the time they reach the age of 50.

As you can see, in this sentence, "those" is the object of the preposition 'behind'. In other words, the underlined portion above is just a prepositional phrase. This means that this underlined portion is not a relative (dependent) clause. Hence, we cannot use the relative pronoun 'that' here.

This is how we identify that "those" is a demonstrative pronoun, and, since it refers to "salaries", it must be plural and not singular(that).


I hope you were able to follow my explanation. Please feel free to revert for further clarification, if required.


Happy Learning!

Abhishek :)

p.s. Another demonstrative pronoun is "this", for nearby singular nouns. The plural of the demonstrative pronoun 'this' is 'these'.
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A recently published report indicates that the salaries of teachers 18 Dec 2023, 04:20
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