A report from the security firm Symantec suggests that in comparison t

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



THE PROMPT
A report from the security firm Symantec suggests that in comparison to 2014, the number of fake technical support scams reported rose by 200% in 2015.

THE OPTIONS


• wrong comparison: the year 2014 is compared to the number of fake reports


• as compared to is commonly used in speech and is very suspect on the GMAT. I would not eliminate on that basis alone, but I would flag the issue
• same problem as that in A: the year 2014 is compared to the number of fake scams that were reported
• no reason exists to use past perfect (HAD + past participle risen) (had + verbED)
• use of past perfect requires the presence of at least one event in simple past tense or a time marker that achieves the same result
-- no such simple past tense event exists


• the two things correctly compared are "[reports] in 2015 and "[reports] in 2014.
-- The sentence uses ellipsis and means: There were 200% more fake reports in 2015 than there were in 2014.

• "There were" and "it is" are called "expletive" constructions.
-- Often these expletive constructions make the sentence longer than necessary. Be on guard.
-- at the same time, when we want to emphasize something (such as the fact that scam reports rose by 200%), we use this "there were" construction.
The emphasis in English is usually at the end of the sentence.


• incorrectly compares reports to 2014
• the verb at the end, was, makes absolutely no sense


• no need for have been. Not a deal breaker, but not as good as the language in C
• the comparison is not parallel. Now the expletive structure makes a mess.
-- Essentially and incorrectly, this option says: There were more Xs in 2015 than 2014 had.
-- there were Xs and "year had" are not parallel
-- Corrected: there were 200% more fake reports in 2015 than there were in 2014

The answer is C

COMMENTS

I'll keep this short. Answers with explanations are superb. Happy kudos!