According to the National Science Foundation, in 2003 there were

Correct!
One way to spot this error is to observe the lack of parallelism between the first part of the comparison and the second.
B: In 2003 there were 198,113 female science and engineering graduate students, twice as many as 1981.
Whereas the blue portion includes a preposition -- in -- the red portion does not.
As a result:
blue portion = MODIFIER
red portion = NOUN
The two portions serve different functions and thus are not parallel.
Eliminate B.

Correct:
In 2003 there were 198,113 female science and engineering graduate students, twice as many as IN 1981.
Here, the two colored portions are parallel.

OA C has this parralelism instead
In 2003 there were 198,113 female science and engineering graduate students, double the figure FOR 1981.

I rejected C because option D seemed to be "PERFECTLY parallel"

In C as you can see - "In 2003" and "For 1981" are maybe prepositions -- they are not perfectly parallel prepositions as seen in option D.

How would you eliminate option D and keep C (Option D does have perfect parallelism).

I see that option D has a pronoun issue but i thought pronoun ambiguity is not 100 % cut and dry topic on the GMAT. It can be reasonably said the "IT" in option D refers to the "number" because the other antencedent (percentage) is within a non essential clause. Essential clauses can be dropped and the essential meaning of the sentence still has to make sense.

Parallelism certainly is weighed more heavily and D has 100 % perfect parallelism

So i thought -- hmm, given the antecedents are plural -- how can double what it was in 1981 refer to any of these plural antecedents given the verb was is "singular"

Then I said -- well maybe the "IT" is a dummy pronoun and this "IT" refers to nothing - which is definitely acceptabe on the GMAT

Thus in terms of pronoun ambiguity in option D - there is none because the "IT" is referring to nothing (i.e. the "IT" is a dummy pronoun)

Thus i cannot eliminate D because of pronoun ambigity because the "IT" is a dummy pronoun, not referring to anything

Thoughts on where I maybe thinking wrong ?

Isnt the OA : C wrong because of the meaning "For" - the usage of "For" clearly is not correct in the context of comparisons in option C

Do we really say something like this for example ?

option C analogy) In 2000 I owned 10 cars, double the number of cars for 2021

'For 2021' in my view cannot be used because 'for 2021' gives the impression I have 5 cars "For 2021" - almost like "for 2021" is a person for whom I have 5 cars.

IanStewart - Isnt the OA : C wrong because of the meaning "For" - the usage of "For" clearly is not correct in the context of comparisons in option C

Do we really say something like this for example ?

option C analogy) In 2000 I owned 10 cars, double the number of cars for 2021

'For 2021' in my view cannot be used because 'for 2021' gives the impression I have 5 cars "For 2021" - almost like "for 2021" is a person for whom I have 5 cars.

To avoid this ambiguity

I think, one would instead say

option C analogy) In 2000 I owned 10 cars, double the number of cars for in 2021

Howdy all,

I think that @NYCAnalyst did a nice job of clearly explaining the answer choices, so I don't want to spend a lot of time analyzing them. I'd like to talk about a specific aspect of this question. In this sentence, what is the roll of "double?"

Let's start by looking at the correct answer in the sentence:


So in this sentence, it's important to realize that "double" is not modifying anything. It is not an adjective. In this sentence, it is a predeterminer. To learn more about pre-determiners, you can start here, and then read the Wiki article on Combinations of Determiner. You can see here that "double" can function as a predeterminer in its definition.

We could re-write the sentence by removing the modifying phrases and simplifying some of the language to make this clear:


So in this case, "double" is a predeterminer for "figure" which refers back to the 198,113 students. So what it really means is that the figure from 2003 is twice the number from 1981; it's twice as much. This is one of the reasons that (C) is the best choice. It is the most concise expression of "twice as much as the figure."

I hope that this helps everyone understand this question a little bit more. It's a tough one!

Hello expert,
I was confused which one “figure” refers to? 198,113 or 42%?
Is it ambitious? Need your views. Much thanks.

I have gone through the post and understood the solution well. Had a couple of doubts
1. Is there any difference in the usage of "double" vs "twice"
2. For option C shouldn't it be double the figure "of" (not for) 1981??

Good question. This wouldn't actually be correct, mostly because it's redundant. "The figure of" already indicates a possessive, so you definitely wouldn't need 1981 (or 1981's, in this case) to be possessive, too.

A similar issue is mentioned in GMATNinjaTwo's post on page 2 of this thread: https://gmatclub.com/forum/because-of-t ... 53061.html

Hey GMATNinja

why wouldn't just 1981 be needed in that case?

if what you've written in brackets is correct (and I myself believe it is), why do we use "a friend of mine" or "a fan of yours"? Getting confused here...don't these constructions have the same problem of redundancy (both of and possessive)

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that in 2003, there were 198,113 female science and engineering graduate students, and this number is double the figure for 1981.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Pronouns + Comparison + Idioms

• A comparison must always be made between similar elements.

A: This answer choice incorrectly compares "198,113 female science and engineering graduate students" to "1981"; please remember, a comparison must always be made between similar elements. Further, Option A incorrectly uses "much" to refer to the countable noun phrase "198,113...students"; for a noun such as "students", the correct term is "many".

B: This answer choice incorrectly compares "198,113 female science and engineering graduate students" to "1981"; please remember, a comparison must always be made between similar elements.

C: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase "the figure for 1981", conveying the intended meaning - that 198,113 is twice the number of female science and engineering graduate students for 1981. Further, Option C correctly compares "198,113" with "the figure for 1981". Additionally, Option C avoids the pronoun error in Option D, as it uses no pronouns. Moreover, Option C avoids the idiom error in Option A, as it does not use the term "much".

D: This answer choice suffers from a pronoun error, as the pronoun "it" lacks a clear and logical referent.

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "that of 1981’s"; the use of the possessive noun "1981’s" illogically implies that 198,113 is twice the number of 1981's number of female science and engineering graduate students; the intended meaning is that 198,113 is twice the number of female science and engineering graduate students for 1981.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team