According to recent studies comparing the nutritional value of meat from wild animals and meat from domesticated animals, wild animals have less total fat than do livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat they think is good for cardiac health. (A) wild animals have less total fat than do livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat they think is (B) wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be (C) wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock fed on grain and have more fat of a kind thought to be (D) total fat of wild animals is less than livestock fed on grain and they have more fat of a kind thought to be (E) total fat is less in wild animals than that of livestock fed on grain and more of their fat is of a kind they think is https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/19/health/vital-signs-nutrition-but-what-did-the-cow-have-for-lunch.html Wild animals not only have less total fat than livestock fed on grain, but more of their fat is of a kind (omega-3) thought to be good for cardiac health, and less of a kind (omega-6) that promotes heart disease, said the studies, published in the March issue of The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Many of the same benefits were found in grass-fed livestock, also known as free range. Nutritional Value (A) Pronoun ( they ) (B) CORRECT Topic ( question text ); (C) Comparison ( X less than Y ) (D) Comparison ( X less than Y ); Pronoun ( they ) (E) Comparison ( X less than Y ); Pronouns ( they ; their ) First glance The opening split ( wild animals vs. total fat ) doesn’t point clearly to a particular type of grammar rule. The underline does start just after a comma, so perhaps there is a meaning or modifier issue that dictates what noun should appear after the comma. (Note: it turns out that there are no modifier issues. Sometimes, the first glance doesn’t provide a great starting point, as is the case on this problem.) Issues (1) Pronoun: they; their The original sentence uses a pronoun: a fat they think is good for cardiac health . Who are they ? The only plural nouns in the sentence are studies and animals . The studies can’t think anything, and it’s illogical to say the animals think the fat is good for cardiac health. Eliminate (A) because there is no referent for the pronoun they . Answers (D) and (E) contain the same error (no referent for they ). Answer (E) uses their to refer to a type of animal, but is it referring to the wild animals or the domesticated animals ? Eliminate (D) and (E) for pronoun problems. (2) Comparison: X less than Y The sentence makes a double comparison: Wild animals have less total fat than livestock have. In addition, wild animals have more of a “good” fat than livestock have. (Note: the word livestock can be singular or plural.) Answers (A) and (B) make a correct comparison (though they use slightly different forms to do so). Answers (C), (D), and (E), however, have issues. Answers (C) and (E) compare wild animals with that of livestock . What does the pronoun that refer to? It appears to refer to fat so try replacing that with fat : wild animals have less total fat than the fat of livestock fed on grain . If something seems off, you’re right! In this construction, the word fat is part of the core comparison idiom: one type of animal has less total fat than another type of animal. The comparison should be between the two types of animal: wild animals and livestock . Eliminate answers (C) and (E). Answer (D) changes the comparison: total fat (of wild animals) and livestock fed on grain . The choice should compare the total fat of one type of animal to the total fat of another type of animal; instead, it compares the total fat of one type of animal to another type of animal. Eliminate choice (D). The Correct Answer Correct answer (B) removes the faulty pronoun entirely while still making a correct comparison: wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain . The sentence still does not say who thinks this fat is good for cardiac health, but that’s okay; the sentence isn’t required to do so, since there is no pronoun that needs a referent.

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27 Jun 2018, 12:05

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zoezhuyan

egmat

Hello JAIN09,

I apologize for getting back to this post so late.

A. wild animals have less total fat than do livestock
B. wild animals have less total fat than livestock

Both these structures correctly present the intended comparison. The only two logical entities that can be compared in these structures are wild animals and livestock.

Hope this helps.

Thanks.
Shraddha

Hi Shraddha
would you please elaborate further about the sentence B.
I think i must miss something, because i thought sentence B is ambiguous.
there are two ways to understand it
#1wild animals have less total fat than livestock [/i] have
#2 wild animals have less total fat than livestock [/i]

Please,
Waiting for your reply

Thanks in advance

Have a lovely day
>_~

Good question! It might be helpful to look at an instance of genuine ambiguity to see why the above example is different.

I like math more than my wife.
There's two legitimate ways to interpret this sentence, one of which would be very unfortunate for the health of my marriage.

Both make sense, and because there's no way for the reader to determine what the writer meant, the GMAT wouldn't have this construction in a correct answer.

Now consider the construction in the correct answer:

"...wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain"
This isn't ambiguous. It clearly means that wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain [do.]

The alternative would be that wild animals have less total fat than [they have] livestock fed on grain. No sensible reader would think that animals have livestock, or that it would be logical to compare the amount of fat an animal has to the number of livestock it possesses. So unlike the previous example, there's no real ambiguity here.

More importantly, the other four answer choices all have DEFINITE errors. We're never making our selection in a vacuum. We just want the best of the bunch.

I hope this helps!

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GMATNinja

Quote:

B. wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be

There’s no pronoun here, so that’s cool. And I think the meaning works: “wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain” is fine. The second part seems fine, too: “wild animals have… more of a kind of fat thought to be good for cardiac health.”

I don’t see any huge issues, so let’s keep (B).

Quote:

C. wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock fed on grain and have more fat of a kind thought to be

As described in our rambling guide to the word “that”, “that” is a singular pronoun in this type of situation. In (C), I guess it has to refer to “total fat,” but that doesn’t really make sense: “wild animals have less total fat than the total fat of livestock fed on grain…”

That’s kind of a mess. Wild animals have less fat than livestock, but it wouldn’t make sense to say that “wild animals have less total fat.. than the total fat…” That comparison is thoroughly wrong. (C) is out.

GMATNinja egmat

My logic for this question is as follows,

In this first part of options B & C we are comparing total fat in wild animals to that in livestock. Considering this can we not think of
B - as comparing the "total fat in wild animals" to "livestock" (as in the animals)
C - the that here can refer to fat in "total fat" & this clears up the above confusion

Can you help me understand where I am wrong in the above analysis?

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lazybee

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Quote:

B. wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be

Quote:

C. wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock fed on grain and have more fat of a kind thought to be

Here's a silly example: "I have a smaller house than my neighbor has." Notice that I'm comparing what I have to what my neighbor has. This seems logical.

But if I write, "I have a smaller house than that of my neighbor," and replace the pronoun "that" with its referent ("house"), I get the following: "I have a smaller house than the house of my neighbor." You probably understand what I mean, but now I'm comparing what I have to what my neighbor's house has! My neighbor's house doesn't have its own house, right?

Same idea here. If we write "wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock" and we replace "that" with "fat" we get, "Wild animals have less total fat than the fat of livestock." We want to compare what wild animals have to what livestock have, but instead we're comparing what wild animals have to what the fat of livestock has! Put another way, it sounds as though wild animals have a certain amount of fat -- and the fat of livestock has a certain amount of fat. That's just nutty.

I hope that helps!

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21 Jul 2018, 10:45

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GMATNinja

Thanks for your reply.

Both in option B & In the example you gave "I have a smaller house than my neighbor has." Can i say that the "than" creates a parallelism effect & hence the fat/house is implied on the other side?

Also is this an elliptical clause.

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lazybee

Sure. Because "than" indicates a comparison, and we want to compare like elements, it's fair to think of "than" as a type of parallel marker.

"Ellipsis" is just a fancy term to refer to words in a sentence that are implied rather than stated outright. If I write, "My cat is more depressed than my neighbor's," the word "cat" is implied after "neighbor's." I wouldn't waste any brain space obsessing about ellipsis, though. I have never thought "hm, is this an instance of an ellipsis?" while taking an actual GMAT exam. Instead, my energy is focused on making sure that the sentence is clear and logical.

In the silly example I gave in the previous post, it's clear that we're comparing what I have to what my neighbor has, and that I'm comparing the size of our respective homes. Whether we label it as an "ellipsis" doesn't matter much, as long as you understand the logic of the comparison exactly as it's written.

I hope that helps!

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Hello Everyone!

This is a great example of a GMAT question that includes a comparison! Let's start off by looking at the original question and highlighting any major differences between the options in orange:

According to recent studies comparing the nutritional value of meat from wild animals and meat from domesticated animals, wild animals have less total fat than do livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat they think is good for cardiac health.

(A) wild animals have less total fat than do livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat they think is
(B) wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be
(C) wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock fed on grain and have more fat of a kind thought to be
(D) total fat of wild animals is less than livestock fed on grain and they have more fat of a kind thought to be
(E) total fat is less in wild animals than that of livestock fed on grain and more of their fat is of a kind they think is

After looking over the options quickly, a few key differences pop out:

1. starting off the comparison with "wild animals" vs. "total fat" (meaning/clarity)
2. than do livestock / than livestock / than that of livestock (parallelism)
3. more of a kind of fat / more fat of a kind (meaning/clarity)
4. pronouns toward the end = make sure they're clear

Since we know we're dealing with a comparison question, let's start by checking that the comparisons are parallel. This is the basic format they should follow:

X less than Y

Let's save the ones that are parallel for later, and rule out the ones that aren't:

(A) wild animals have less total fat than do livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat they think is --> PARALLEL

(B) wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be --> PARALLEL

(C) wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock fed on grain and have more fat of a kind thought to be --> NOT PARALLEL (Comparing wild animals to "that of" livestock; what is "that of" referring to? We don't know, but we do know it's not parallel.)

(D) total fat of wild animals is less than livestock fed on grain and they have more fat of a kind thought to be --> NOT PARALLEL (Compares "total fat" to "livestock," which are not parallel things.)

(E) total fat is less in wild animals than that of livestock fed on grain and more of their fat is of a kind they think is --> NOT PARALLEL (Compares wild animals to "that of" livestock, which isn't parallel.)

We can eliminate options C, D, & E because the comparisons made were not parallel.

Now that we have this narrowed down to 2 options, let's take a closer look at each to find any potential problems:

(A) wild animals have less total fat than do livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat they think is

This is INCORRECT because it has a vague pronoun! Who/what is "they" referring to? It's not clear at all! This is a great example of the "Mysterious they." The sentence never refers to WHO conducted the studies mentioned in the beginning - in fact, there are no people in this sentence at all! So let's toss this option out.

(B) wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be

This is CORRECT! The comparison is parallel, and there are no problems with vague or misleading pronouns!

There you have it - option B is the correct choice!

Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

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A. wild animals have less total fat than do livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat they think is

what i want to know is "wild animals have less total fat than do livestock fed on grain" - is this part correct grammatically ?

What is the rule for "do" ? where should it be used ?

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nlx23

Hi nlx23, do in option A correctly substitutes for have.

Note that do, does and did are all forms of the verb to do. These forms of to do verbs are very flexible; they can stand for the main verb in the sentence.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses to do verbs, their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

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can anyone explain this?

(B) wild animals have less total fat than livestock (have) fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be

(C) wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock fed on grain and have more fat of a kind thought to be

more of a kind of fat VS more fat of a kind
Do both carry different meaning?

I read this as,
more of a kind of fat = more of a type of fat thought to be good for cardiac health.
[ more fat of a kind = more fat of a type thought to be good for cardiac health.

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GMATNinja

Quote:

B. wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be

Quote:

C. wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock fed on grain and have more fat of a kind thought to be

As described in our rambling guide to the word “that”, “that” is a singular pronoun in this type of situation. In (C), I guess it has to refer to “total fat,” but that doesn’t really make sense: “wild animals have less total fat than the total fat of livestock fed on grain…”
the most straightforward issue.

Please help me explain this question...
why the comparison in C is wrong? wild animals have less total fat than the total fat of livestock. this compares the total fat of both animals. on Contrary, B compares total fat with the number of livestock.
comparison in B looks illogical whereas in C looks correct.

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GMATNinja

A few of my best students have gotten their asses thoroughly kicked by this one, so please don’t feel badly if you struggled with it. (And most of the early responses look great!) Success on this question is mostly about your ability to be incredibly literal with the meaning, particularly as it relates to the pronouns in the sentence. (For more on pronouns, check out our good old YouTube webinar on the topic.)

Quote:

A. wild animals have less total fat than do livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat they think is

“They” has to refer back to a plural noun, but our only options are “studies” (which makes no sense, because studies can’t think) or “wild animals” (which also makes no sense, unless you think wild animals moonlight as nutritionists. (A) is out.

Quote:

B. wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be

Quote:

C. wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock fed on grain and have more fat of a kind thought to be

Quote:

D. total fat of wild animals is less than livestock fed on grain and they have more fat of a kind thought to be

This comparison is very clearly wrong: “total fat… is less than livestock.” You could, I suppose, also argue that the “they” isn’t 100% clear – but the illogical comparison is the most straightforward issue. (D) is out, too.

Quote:

E. total fat is less in wild animals than that of livestock fed on grain and more of their fat is of a kind they think is

There’s a lot of clunkiness here, but the biggest issue is the word “they”: the only possible referents are “wild animals”, “livestock”, or “studies.” And none of those are likely to “think [that fat] is good for cardiac health.” (E) is gone, and (B) is the best answer.

Dear GMATNinja,

Thanks for detailed explanation.

"Dear Team,
I have a doubt in option B. Comparison is done between ""wild animals have less total fat"" and ""livestock"" which is illogical. It should be ""livestock's "". Kindly suggest

According to recent studies comparing the nutritional value of meat from wild animals and meat from domesticated animals, wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be good for cardiac health.

Thanks in advance

bb generis

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18 Jun 2019, 03:39

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GMATNinja VeritasKarishma

Quote:

B. wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be

I struck off B as it had a passive voice construction. Where am i going wrong in thinking that "passive construction is almost always wrong on GMAT". I reasoned that since we do not know here who does the thinking in "kind of thought to be", hence (B) can't be the right answer choice.

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saukrit

GMATNinja VeritasKarishma

Quote:

B. wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be

Passive voice is not wrong. In writing, active voice is preferred over passive voice but passive voice has its uses (when the impact of the action is more important than the doer of the action) e.g.
"The tattoo was removed."
instead of "The doctor removed the tattoo."

You don't care who removed the tattoo. The important thing is that it was removed.

You cannot ignore an option just because it uses passive voice.

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Hi,

I am having trouble in identifying what are being compared especially in D.
D states that "total fat of wild animals is less than livestock fed of grain"---> Doesnt this mean that total fat of wild animals is less than total fat of livestock.

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krishnabalu

Hello krishnabalu!

In option D, it is comparing fat to animals, which isn't parallel. An easy way to check for this is to eliminate any prepositional phrases you can find. Prepositional phrases are there to add extra information - but they can also confuse readers! Here is what it looks like if we cross them out:

total fat ~~of wild animals~~ is less than livestock fed ~~of grain~~

If we eliminate the extra information, we can clearly see that this option is trying to compare total fat to livestock, which is NOT parallel! It should compare fat to fat, or animal to animal.

If we look at the correct option, we see a parallel comparison:

(B) wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain

This option is comparing animals to animals, which is parallel. The basis for comparison is their total fat, which is clearly indicated here.

I hope this helps!

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bae

I think your interpretation is spot on here. Nice job!

priyanshu14

kanthaliya

Please help me explain this question...
why the comparison in C is wrong? wild animals have less total fat than the total fat of livestock. this compares the total fat of both animals. on Contrary, B compares total fat with the number of livestock.
comparison in B looks illogical whereas in C looks correct.

The issue stems from the use of the verb "have". If we wanted to compare the total fat of one animal to the total fat of another animal, we would say something like, "the total fat of wild animals IS less than the total fat of livestock fed on grain."

Consider the following examples:

"I have less wine than you (have)." - The second "have" is implied. This sentence clearly communicates that the amount of wine that I have is less than the amount of wine that you have. This is analogous to choice (B): "wild animals have less total fat than livestock (have)."
"I have less wine than your wine (has?)." - This one doesn't make sense. Your wine doesn't HAVE some amount of wine. YOU have some amount of wine. This is analogous to choice (C): "wild animals have less total fat than the total fat of livestock fed on grain".

The total fat of livestock fed on grain does not have some amount of total fat. The livestock has some amount of total fat. So we want to say that "wild animals HAVE less total fat than livestock (have)." And that's why (B) makes more sense than (C).

I hope this helps!

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GMATNinja

That’s kind of a mess. Wild animals have less fat than livestock, but it wouldn’t make sense to say that “wild animals have less total fat.. than the total fat…” That comparison is thoroughly wrong. (C) is out.

Dear GMATNinja,

What about "wild animals' total fat is less than THAT OF domestic animals", would it then be correct? Would you please point out the differences in the structure of these two sentences that command different use of "that of"? Thanks!

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21 Nov 2019, 14:59

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shabuzen102

Hello shabuzen102,

Although your question is not directed to me, here is my answer to your question.

Firstly, yes, wild animals' total fat is less than THAT OF domestic animals, this structure presents correct comparison between the total fat of the two animals. Now, let's understand why the usage of that of livestock in Choice C is incorrect.

Choice C says wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock. According to this statement. Wild animals have less total fat. That of livestock has more total fat. Does the second statement make sense? No, right? What is this that of livestock that has more total fat? We do not know. The sentence does not say anything about that. From the context of the sentence, we understand that the sentence intends to say that wild animals have less total fat. Livestock has more total fat. The comparison is between wild animals and livestock on the basis of the total fat that they contain. Hence, in the phrase that of livestock, that cannot refer to anything logical in the sentence.

But in the statement wild animals' total fat is less than that of livestock, we are saying wild animal's total fat is less. That (total fat) of livestock is more. Hence, the phrasing works.

Hope this helps.

Thanks.
Shraddha

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10 Apr 2020, 14:17

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Hi,
OG732 OA E is using that of XXX. The same structure as this question in C. So why that of XX in C is incorrect.

OG732 OA E
Laos has a land area about the same as Great Britain but only 4 million in population, where many are members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain valleys of the north.
E. comparable to that of Great Britain but a population of only 4 million people, many of whom

C. wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock fed on grain and have more
fat of a kind thought to be

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14 Apr 2020, 06:59

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yearac

First of all, comparing sentences from different problems is rarely productive (for more on that, check out the rant in this post). Just because a construction works in one correct answer choice doesn't mean that construction is always correct. And just because a construction doesn't work in an incorrect answer choice doesn't mean that it's always wrong. This problem and OG732 are entirely different (wild?) animals.

In choice (C), "that of" seems to refer to "total fat". That leaves us with “wild animals have less total fat than the total fat of livestock fed on grain…” As explained here, that doesn't make much sense.

Meanwhile, in choice (E) of OG732, "that of" refers to "land area. That gives us, "Laos has a land area comparable to the land area Great Britain..." This comparison makes perfect sense.

For more on the use of "that" in GMAT SC, check out this article or this video.

I hope this helps!