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505-555 Level|   Comparisons|               
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ReedArnoldMPREP
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According to surveys by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 20 22 Aug 2022, 06:48
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jabhatta2
ReedArnoldMPREP - how would you pick (e) over (c) ?

too me (c) seems okay.

here is my analysis on (c)

people keep saying (c) has a comparison problem - i am not sure i see it
- i dont believe "twice or double" are comparison markers to begin with

there is a clear antecedent for "those"
-- the antecedent of "those" is 20 % of adults (20 % of adults is plural per my understanding)
-- analogy : 10 % of girls in class 1A are taller than those in class 1b

people are saying (c) has a pronoun issue
- i dont see why those is wrong == those has a modifier in front
- the modifier in front of those is the "the 1977 survey reported"
- that way the those is not a stand-alone pronoun (those is attached to a modifer)
Show more

"those" is NOT the 20% of adults who used cocaine. The "Those" here is the people in 1977, the number of which is the 20% value is twice as large as (double and twice are quantifier-comparisons).

But if we're generous and say that "those" can refer to the adults in 1977 who used cocaine, there's a problem with meaning. Note that 'those' is not itself a quantity--it's a group of people (not the number of individuals *in* the group). I can't say "This group of people is two times that group of people." You might know what I mean by that, because you have context clues, but what I really mean is "The number of people in this group is two times the number of people in that group." So C is saying "20% of the americans in 1979...was two times the people in a 1977 survey."

A number (20% of americans) is not 'two times people.' It should be two times a NUMBER of people.
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jabhatta2
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According to surveys by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 20 22 Aug 2022, 10:09
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ReedArnoldMPREP
jabhatta2
ReedArnoldMPREP - how would you pick (e) over (c) ?

too me (c) seems okay.

here is my analysis on (c)

people keep saying (c) has a comparison problem - i am not sure i see it
- i dont believe "twice or double" are comparison markers to begin with

there is a clear antecedent for "those"
-- the antecedent of "those" is 20 % of adults (20 % of adults is plural per my understanding)
-- analogy : 10 % of girls in class 1A are taller than those in class 1b

people are saying (c) has a pronoun issue
- i dont see why those is wrong == those has a modifier in front
- the modifier in front of those is the "the 1977 survey reported"
- that way the those is not a stand-alone pronoun (those is attached to a modifer)

"those" is NOT the 20% of adults who used cocaine. The "Those" here is the people in 1977, the number of which is the 20% value is twice as large as (double and twice are quantifier-comparisons).

But if we're generous and say that "those" can refer to the adults in 1977 who used cocaine, there's a problem with meaning. Note that 'those' is not itself a quantity--it's a group of people (not the number of individuals *in* the group). I can't say "This group of people is two times that group of people." You might know what I mean by that, because you have context clues, but what I really mean is "The number of people in this group is two times the number of people in that group." So C is saying "20% of the americans in 1979...was two times the people in a 1977 survey."

A number (20% of americans) is not 'two times people.' It should be two times a NUMBER of people.
Show more

Thanks so much ReedArnoldMPREP.

You dont think if replace "those" with this antecedent - the sentence makes sense ?

"those" = 20 % of young adults.
Quote:

option C interpretation 1) 20 percent of young adults used cocaine in 1979, twice 20 percent of young adults the 1977 survey reported
Show more

I thought this was okay because we are comparing
(A) 20 % of young adults in 1979
vs
(B) 20 % of young adults in 1977

(A) = 2 x (B)
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ReedArnoldMPREP
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According to surveys by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 20 22 Aug 2022, 10:20
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jabhatta2
ReedArnoldMPREP
jabhatta2
ReedArnoldMPREP - how would you pick (e) over (c) ?

too me (c) seems okay.

here is my analysis on (c)

people keep saying (c) has a comparison problem - i am not sure i see it
- i dont believe "twice or double" are comparison markers to begin with

there is a clear antecedent for "those"
-- the antecedent of "those" is 20 % of adults (20 % of adults is plural per my understanding)
-- analogy : 10 % of girls in class 1A are taller than those in class 1b

people are saying (c) has a pronoun issue
- i dont see why those is wrong == those has a modifier in front
- the modifier in front of those is the "the 1977 survey reported"
- that way the those is not a stand-alone pronoun (those is attached to a modifer)

"those" is NOT the 20% of adults who used cocaine. The "Those" here is the people in 1977, the number of which is the 20% value is twice as large as (double and twice are quantifier-comparisons).

But if we're generous and say that "those" can refer to the adults in 1977 who used cocaine, there's a problem with meaning. Note that 'those' is not itself a quantity--it's a group of people (not the number of individuals *in* the group). I can't say "This group of people is two times that group of people." You might know what I mean by that, because you have context clues, but what I really mean is "The number of people in this group is two times the number of people in that group." So C is saying "20% of the americans in 1979...was two times the people in a 1977 survey."

A number (20% of americans) is not 'two times people.' It should be two times a NUMBER of people.

Thanks so much ReedArnoldMPREP.

You dont think if replace "those" with this antecedent - the sentence makes sense ?

"those" = 20 % of young adults.
Quote:

option C interpretation 1) 20 percent of young adults used cocaine in 1979, twice 20 percent of young adults the 1977 survey reported
Show more

No, because of what I explained in the previous thread. The '20% of young adults' is the *result* of a number that has doubled. The 1977 figures doubled, and the result was the '20% of young adults' in 1979.

If we 'double 20% of the young adults,' that would be 40% of the young adults. That's not what happened. Whatever number used cocaine in 1977, *that number* doubled and resulted in a number that equaled '20% of the young adult population in 1979.'

And again, you can't double PEOPLE. Those is PEOPLE. You can double the NUMBER of people, but not PEOPLE themselves.
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According to surveys by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 20 22 Aug 2022, 10:23
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jabhatta2
ReedArnoldMPREP
jabhatta2
ReedArnoldMPREP - how would you pick (e) over (c) ?

too me (c) seems okay.

here is my analysis on (c)

people keep saying (c) has a comparison problem - i am not sure i see it
- i dont believe "twice or double" are comparison markers to begin with

there is a clear antecedent for "those"
-- the antecedent of "those" is 20 % of adults (20 % of adults is plural per my understanding)
-- analogy : 10 % of girls in class 1A are taller than those in class 1b

people are saying (c) has a pronoun issue
- i dont see why those is wrong == those has a modifier in front
- the modifier in front of those is the "the 1977 survey reported"
- that way the those is not a stand-alone pronoun (those is attached to a modifer)

"those" is NOT the 20% of adults who used cocaine. The "Those" here is the people in 1977, the number of which is the 20% value is twice as large as (double and twice are quantifier-comparisons).

But if we're generous and say that "those" can refer to the adults in 1977 who used cocaine, there's a problem with meaning. Note that 'those' is not itself a quantity--it's a group of people (not the number of individuals *in* the group). I can't say "This group of people is two times that group of people." You might know what I mean by that, because you have context clues, but what I really mean is "The number of people in this group is two times the number of people in that group." So C is saying "20% of the americans in 1979...was two times the people in a 1977 survey."

A number (20% of americans) is not 'two times people.' It should be two times a NUMBER of people.

Thanks so much ReedArnoldMPREP.

You dont think if replace "those" with this antecedent - the sentence makes sense ?

"those" = 20 % of young adults.
Quote:

option C interpretation 1) 20 percent of young adults used cocaine in 1979, twice 20 percent of young adults the 1977 survey reported

I thought this was okay because we are comparing
(A) 20 % of young adults in 1979
vs
(B) 20 % of young adults in 1977

(A) = 2 x (B)
Show more

Mathematically, that would be saying 'the population of young adults doubled, (while the % has remained the same)' That's not what this sentence is saying. This sentence is saying "The number of young adults who have used cocaine has doubled."

But again, *"Those" is people not a number of people.* You cannot double "People."

Those cannot replace 'a percent of people' because a 'percent' is one single thing (namely, a value that represents a quantity, but *itself* is one thing).

"20% of all people claim to have served in the military, but those in that group who actually have are typically unwilling to boast about it."

'those' is 'the people in the 20% of all people who have served in the military.' Those stands for the PEOPLE.

"20% of eligible adults served in the military in 2000, a figure twice that of 1970."

'that' represents the '20% of eligible adults,' the NUMBER, not the people.
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According to surveys by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 20 17 Nov 2023, 23:20
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"Twice the number.." is a noun modifier. How can it be so far from the noun it is modifying
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GMAT Focus 1: 745 Q86 V90 DI85
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According to surveys by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 20 30 Nov 2023, 18:39
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RIYA1505

First off, we don't have much choice in the matter, since all of the choices affect only the portion after the comma.

Second, it's fairly common to see this kind of usage when the modifier describes the ENTIRE THING that precedes the comma. Consider this example: "Many parents are using artificial intelligence to monitor the activities of their unborn children in utero, a practice that would have been unfathomable to their grandparents' generation." What is the practice that would be unfathomable? The practice of using AI to monitor. So this vague noun ("a practice") is really referring back to the entire preceding clause. (By the way, I haven't heard of parents doing this, but it can't be long, right?)

We have a similar thing going on in this question. What's twice the previous number? Clearly the 20% figure. The rest is just telling us what the 20% are doing. There's no ambiguity, since there's nothing else that could be twice the previous number.
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