Excellent question! As others have pointed out in this thread, proper parallelism doesn't mean you have two items that look the same -- it means you have two items that play the same grammatical (and logical) role.

Typically, when a prepositional phrase (such as "in absolute numbers") follows a clause, it will function as an adverb, describing the previous action. For example, "Natalie stabbed her baby sister with a stuffed unicorn horn." What did Natalie use to stab her sister? A stuffed unicorn horn. Similarly, an "-ly" word will also function as an adverb describing an action. "Natalie stabbed her baby sister gently." How did Natalie stab her sister? Gently. (Unfortunately, toddlers rarely stab their sisters gently. Don't ask me why I know that.)

Take another look at the OA: "A researcher claims that a tornado of a given size and strength is likely to cause more deaths, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern." Now we have a prepositional phrase and an "-ly" word and both are adverbs describing the previous action. So both of those phrases give us information about how many deaths the tornado caused. They may not look identical, but they're performing the same function, and so they're grammatically parallel.

I hope that helps!
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A tip: For those who struggle to choose between A and B (because of tiny modifiers replacement): get rid of modifiers between commas. In this case option B loses the meaning. Hence A is correct.

Personal Explanation:
A researcher claims that a tornado of a given size and strength is likely to cause more deaths, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern.

Analysis:
Meaning:
A researcher claims
that a tornado
of a given size and strength (Modifies tornado)
is likely to cause more deaths
, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, (Modifies deaths)
in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern. (Verb modifier : modifies "to cause" ;
Noun modifier: modifies "deaths")

Meaning:
Researcher claims : tornado is likely to cause deaths.

Ans: A
B. If {present a clause} THEREFORE INCORRECT
C. Idiom: MORE + THAN (NOT RATHER THAN) ; IT - no antedent
D. Idiom: MORE + THAN (NOT RATHER THAN)
E. Modifier error: Both proportionately and in absolute numbers must modify deaths

Please comment on explanation. Thanks.

(A) A researcher claims that a tornado of a given size and strength is likely to cause more deaths, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern. - I don't find any error, as of now. Keep this.

(B) A researcher claims that a tornado, ((if)) of a given size and strength, is ((likely both proportionately and in absolute numbers)) to cause more deaths in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern.

(C) A researcher claims that, ((with)) a tornado of a given size and strength, ((it)) is likely to cause more death, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, in the southeastern rather than in the northeastern region of the United States.

(D) ((If a tornado is of a given size and strength, a researcher claims,)) ((it is more likely, both proportionately and in absolute numbers,)) to cause death ((if it is in the southeastern region)) of the United States rather than in the northeastern region.

(E) ((Both proportionately and in absolute numbers, a researcher claims)) that a tornado of a given size and strength is likely to cause more deaths in the southeastern region of the United States rather than in the northeastern.

B, C, D and E change the meaning of the sentence.

Hence, A is the best.


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both proportionately and in absolute numbers. Can anyone please tell how proportionately (being an adverb) is parallel with
in absolute numbers (Prep. phrase) in Correct answer. ?

Because [in absolute numbers] modifies verbal construction [is likely to cause], it [in absolute numbers] is adverbal phrase and can be parallel to adverb [proportionately]

A researcher claims that a tornado of a given size and strength is likely to cause more deaths, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern.

(A) A researcher claims that a tornado of a given size and strength is likely to cause more deaths, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern. CORRECT, both proportionately and in absolute numbers modifies deaths and of a given size and strength modifies tornado

(B) A researcher claims that a tornado, if of a given size and strength, is likely both proportionately and in absolute numbers to cause more deaths in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern.INCORRECT as usage of if which is a clause is incorrect here . "Likely both proportionately and in absolute numbers" is an awkward construction

(C) A researcher claims that, with a tornado of a given size and strength, it is likely to cause more death, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, in the southeastern rather than in the northeastern region of the United States.INCORRECT, as it has no clear antecedent. Also RATHER THAN is used instead of more than. There is a meaning error too

(D) If a tornado is of a given size and strength, a researcher claims, it is more likely, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, to cause death if it is in the southeastern region of the United States rather than in the northeastern region. - INCORRECT, Usage of rather than. Also it does not have clear referent. Additionally there is a meaning change too

(E) Both proportionately and in absolute numbers, a researcher claims that a tornado of a given size and strength is likely to cause more deaths in the southeastern region of the United States rather than in the northeastern. - INCORRECT, Use of RATHER THAN is incorrect.Also there is a meaning change. Modifier Issue is also there as both proportionately and in absolute numbers are misplaced in the beginning of the sentence.

Can someone explain why the usage of "If" is wrong in choice B?

Can someone explain to me why "both proportionately and in absolute numbers" is correct. I went through all the answer choices and can see that it has been used everywhere so it must be right. I just want to understand how? I mean proportionately is a verb and in absolute numbers is a prepositional phrase then how are they parallel to each other?

GMATNinja: Since it is a OG question I hope you will clear the doubt :P

egmat

If presents a clause here hence it is incorrect

(A) A researcher claims that a tornado of a given size and strength is likely to cause more deaths, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern.

In the above option "Than" is used for comparison ,and comparison is always between two logical things.But here the southeastern region is compared to Northeastern.
Isn't it necessary that "Region" should be followed by Northeastern?

In situations like these, you'll want to ask yourself whether removing the word "region" from the second part of the phrase causes any real problems. Here are some stripped-down versions of the sentence:

1. A tornado causes more deaths in the southeastern region than in the northeastern region.
2. A tornado causes more deaths in the southeastern region than in the northeastern.

Are these two sentences meaningfully different? Is there any confusion about what the word "northeastern" is referring to? I would argue that the answer to both of these questions is "no." The sentence is perfectly fine, either way. And as we look through all five answer choices, there are far more important issues than this one.

I hope this helps!
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Could anyone please explain what "to cause more deaths proportionately" means?
Proportionate to what? To the size and strength of a tornado?

(A): A researcher claims that a tornado of a given size and strength is likely to cause more deaths, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern.

I understand how to approach (A), but I don't understand a part of this sentence since English is my foreign language.

Thank you for your great help

Let's start with the easier concept, which is the absolute number of deaths - that just means the total casualty count (i.e., 100 people).

So, what do they mean by "more deaths proportionately"? To be honest, the meaning isn't entirely clear, and if you can answer the question without understanding that meaning, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

That said, this almost certainly refers to the number of deaths PER some number of people (i.e., 1 death out of every 1,000 people). But the meaning isn't explicitly defined, so I would expect anyone, native speaker or not, to be a bit confused here.

Luckily, this doesn't impact our analysis of this question, so we don't need to stress over it.

I hope this helps!
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Can someone please clarify when to use "rather than" and when only "than"?

For simplicity, let us remove the unnecessary modifiers in the dependent clause.

[s]A researcher claims that[/s] a tornado of a given size and strength is likely to cause more deaths, both proportionately and in absolute numbers, in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern.

Basically, we may compare the two following sentences;

(1)A tornado is likely to cause more deaths in the southeastern region than in the northeastern.
(2)A tornado is likely to cause more deaths in the southeastern region rather than in the northeastern.

In GMAT, the comparison marker more is usually followed by than, and in case it is followed by rather than to imply the intended comparison, that is a mistake that renders the option incorrect.

Moreover, "than" is used for comparison and "rather than" is used to show that something is less preferred than the other.

Kudos if it helps!!!
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Sure! We use "rather than" to express a preference between two options. We use "than" alone when comparing magnitude.

For example:

"Tim has attempted to cook more than 300 dinners this year, all of which have caused massive intestinal distress for his poor children."

Here, we're talking about a value greater than 300. There's no choice or preference here, so we don't use "rather." However, we could also write this:

"Rather than subject themselves to another one of Tim's ill-fated concoctions, Tim's daughters opted for dog biscuits instead."

Now there's a preference: Tim's daughters opt for dog food, rather than their father's cooking.

I hope that helps!
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Can someone pls explain why the usage of "If" is wrong in choice ? What is general grammar rule

A researcher claims that a tornado, if of a given size and strength, is likely...

egmat: Can you please explain, why option B is wrong?

(B) A researcher claims that a tornado, if of a given size and strength, is likely both proportionately and in absolute numbers to cause more deaths in the southeastern region of the United States than in the northeastern.