According to findings derived from functional magnetic resonance

^^^^
This too me doenst make sense because you are esentially comparing

an action (language occupying) vs a description (of area 1 and area 2)

I guess grammatically its okay but meaningfull - how can an action be comapred to a description

analogy
- flowers grow in the summer
vs
- flower are beautifull in the winter

The comparison is between an action vs a description.

Gramatically okay but meaning wise -- not meant to be compared.

jabhatta2 the purpose of the sentence is to highlight the different ways in which adult brains and child brains store a new language. It's really quite fascinating, if you think about it - I didn't know this, did you? I find it helpful to think deeply about the content and try to get excited about it.

Whereas each language occupies a distinct area of the brain in an adult learner, language areas overlap in a young child.

I wonder, jabhatta2, once you think deeply about the point of this comparison: do you still feel that it's just comparing an action to a description?

Hey GMATGuruNY - just curious on your thoughts on my question Here and Here w.r.t. to A?

I did select A because the other options are gramatically wrong but i was curious on your thoughts on what is being compared in option A exactly

Hi Avi – sorry this fell under the radar.
I think my main reason why I thought the 1st half was an ‘action verb’ whereas the 2nd half was ‘description’ was because the first verb (Occupies) is a transitive verb. The 2nd verb (Overlap) is in-transitive verb

First verb = Occupies is a transitive verb (in need of a direct object)
whereas
2nd verb = Overlap is intransitive (NOT IN NEED of a direct object)

Hi avigutman - take-away : I thnk my initial assumption that verb 1 (occupies) is an "action verb" whereas verb 2 (overlap) is descriptive was wrong

normally with descriptive verbs (list below) -- i think you need to have "is / are / to-be verb" before the descriptive verb
Avi is swift
Avi is smart

(occupies) and (overlap) are action verbs because there is no to-be verb before (occupies) and (overlap

As requested, here is my reasoning take-away. first through an analogy and then the original question





Whereas -- when used as a comparison -- allows for the flexibility to compare subject's actions or compare direct objects (i think)

In the original question - the focus on the comparison is not language occupying distinct areas in adult brains vs language occupying shared area in young brains.

The focus on the comparison not on 'language occupying'

instead the focus is on -- 1 language area owning a distinctive area in the adult brain vs 1 language area overlapping with another language area in the young brain

A subtle difference

Could i do this in a span of 120 seconds though ? tough

Hello Expert,
I am really stuck on this question, as I was during my mock exam.
I feel the comparison should be between 'language areas' as stated in the sentence after underlined part. "language areas overlap in a young child"
But, none of the answer choice seems to address that. Each answer choice is making a comparison between 'each language' and 'language areas'.
Please help !

The non-underlined portion is: "language areas overlap in a young child". The verb ("overlap") is key -- we aren't trying to compare "language areas" (a noun) to something else. Instead, we're trying to compare what the language areas do to some other clause or action.

In other words, we're trying to compare one thing that happens to another thing that happens. In (A), those two things are:

• each language occupies a distinct area of the brain in an adult learner
  
• language areas overlap in a young child

Each of these things is a clause (with a subject and a verb), so the comparison is clear from a structural standpoint (comparing one clause to another).

There is a clear contrast between (1) having language areas overlap and (2) having each language occupy a distinct area of the brain, so the comparison is perfectly logical: in an adult learner, one thing happens (each language occupies a distinct area of the brain), and in a young child something different happens (language areas overlap).

I hope that helps!

Is the sentence after the semicolon inverted?
I read it wheras onwards and thought it doesnt make sense. Had I read the non-underlined part first, it would have makes sense. Let me know