According to the rankings released by Skytrax, a UK based consultancy

Question

According to the rankings released by Skytrax, a UK based consultancy that conducts airline and airport surveys, only one American airline appears in the list of world’s top 30 carriers, compared to  European airlines that have nine, proving standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than  European airlines.

A) European airlines that have nine, proving standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than
B) nine European airlines, a proof that standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than those by
C) nine European airlines, proving that standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than that of
D) nine European airlines; it is a proof that standards of service provided by airlines in America are much lower than by
E) nine of Europe, proving that American airlines provide much lower standards of service than

rheam25 · Answer

I selected option C, but the OA says that the cause and effect is illogical. Please help me understand why is that so? Because I think the cause and effect makes sense

jpan · Answer

I think it's E because nine of Europe makes sense because they are not comparing the airlines as such but the number in both areas. Also ...than European airlines makes more sense than other options

Posted from my mobile device

rheam25 · Answer

It's not option E, if you notice the sentence just before the underlined portion it says One American airline. Which is not parallel in comparison to just Europe. You can't compare an airline to a continent.
Also, its ambiguous. Nine of Europe. Nine what of Europe?

kawal27 · Answer

A)   European airlines that have nine  , proving standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than- not parallel , wordy
B)  nine European airlines, a proof that standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than those  ]- correct answer
C) nine European airlines, proving that standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than   that of  -used that instead of those , also not parallel
D) nine European airlines;   it   is a proof that standards of service provided by airlines in America are much lower than by- those is mising
E)   nine of Europe  , proving that American airlines provide much lower standards of service than - what nine? , europe ?

PUSH YOURSELF BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE IS GOING TO DO IT FOR YOU

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

According to the rankings released by Skytrax, a UK based consultancy that conducts airline and airport surveys, only  one American airline  appears in the list of world’s top 30 carriers, compared to  European airlines that have nine, proving standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than  European airlines. 
 
A) European airlines that have nine, proving standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than  -  has a comparison error: draws a comparison between a number and ''European airlines''.  
B) nine European airlines, a proof that standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than those by - the demonstrative pronoun ''those'' unambiguously refers to ''standards of service''. Hence, (B) does not introduce any error. Therefore,    (B) is the right answer choice.     
C) nine European airlines, proving that standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than  that  of  -  the demonstrative pronoun ''that'' does not have a logical antecedent.   
D) nine European airlines; it is a proof that standards of service provided by airlines in America are much lower than by  -  the pronoun ''it'' has 2 possible antecedents: consultancy, list. Since we do not have a clear unique antecedent, we can eliminate (D).  
 E) nine of Europe, proving that American airlines provide much lower standards of service than  -  does not clarify ''what'' of Europe is being compared with the ''one'' american airline.

tejasvkalra · Answer

(C) is incorrect because of the use of 'proving'? this verb-ing modified doesn't go with the subject of the preceding clause.
is my reasoning correct  egmat  ?

elavendan1 · Answer

No. I think there are bigger issues than that. If you look at choice C, it has comparison error. 
Standards of service are much lower than that of EA. 
Now, that is a pronoun. What does this pronoun refer to ? Service? In that case, the sentence reads,
Standards of service are much lower than service provided by EA. The comparison is wrong here. The sentence intends to compare standards of service provided by European Airlines and American Airlines. 
So C is eliminated.

Posted from my mobile device

ShreyasJavahar · Answer

I'm quite certain that B is not the answer here. I've never encountered a sentence that used the phrase "a proof", it just sounds terribly wrong.
Secondly, "much lower than those by" makes no sense whatsoever. "Those provided by" is essential to make the sentence meaningful.

A and D are obvious eliminations.

We're left with C and E.
C fails by using "that of" to compare to "standards of service", standards being a plural would require "those" and the right sentence would read "than those provided by".
I'm not entirely sure using "nine European airlines" is the right way to go about things. Perhaps an expert can verify, but C is defiintely out because of the first point.

That leaves us with E as the right choice.

elavendan1 · Answer

What option B exhibits is a noun modifier. You can read more about the noun modifiers  https://gmatclub.com/forum/noun-noun-modifier-vs-verb-ing-modifier-as-discussed-in-137569.html

To reiterate, E has flaws:

Core of the sentence with E substituted - only one American airline appears in the list of world’s top 30 carriers, compared to nine of Europe, proving that American airlines provide much lower standards of service than European airlines.

1. nine of Europe - We know that airlines need to be compared. but here, one American airlines is compared with nine of Europe. Ideally, the sentence should read something like  nine of European Airlines.   Point is, the word airlines should be present. If you want to be conservative, read through the next flaw.

2. Subject - one American airline , Verb - appears, Verb+ing modifier- proving. Generally Verb+ing modifiers modify the preceding clause, or the entire preceding clause. 
An example of V+ing modifier: He finished his test, copying from the book. Generally I ask myself how the action was performed by the subject in case of these modifiers. For instance,  How he finished the test? By copying from the book.  
Apply the same analogy here.  How Only one airline appears in the list?  by proving that American airlines provide lower standards? No. The one American airlines appearing in the list is  the proof.  Which is what the option B says.

ShreyasJavahar · Answer

Ah, this makes sense. I was unsure about the "nine of Europe", but I disregarded it as I thought the flaws I stated in my response were stronger contenders for elimination.
Now I've learnt that I was mistaken. Thanks.

rye · Answer

Since when did we start replacing object + verb i.e. "standards of service provided" with just an object "those"?

Suraj845 · Answer

Option B is correct choice .

1."Those" should refer to "standards of service" which is plural and follows a correct comparison i.e.; "standards of services provided by American airlines vs standards of services provided by European airlines".

2."nine European airlines" usage is more appropriate and follows a parallel structure with "one American airline ".

3."a proof  that  standards of service provided" acts as a absolute modifier (noun + relative clause )modifying preceding clause .

Beingstoic · Answer

GMATNinja   egmat  Can you please help here?

Doesn't "Standards of service" qualify as a noun phrase?
Taking plural pronouns by just considering 'standards' and not 'of service' doesn't make much sense.

Preyansh · Answer

There is no clear explanation as to why C is correct and other options wrong. Could you please help us?

Foreheadson · Answer

IMO, this is not a good quality question.

Let's take a look: "B) nine European airlines, a proof that standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than those by"

replace those by what is replaces.

nine European airlines, a proof that standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than  standards of service  by European Airlines.

Does this make sense? I don't think so. the correct version should say: 
nine European airlines, a proof that standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than standards of service  provided  by European Airlines.

I don't think we can say: Cakes prepared by Dan are tastier than cakes by John.

AbhinavKumar · Answer

GMATNinja   KarishmaB

Hi Experts,

1. In option C, IF, the later part of option read as - "service provided by American airlines are much lower than THOSE of" - would this sentence be correct provided we are using the -ing modifier along with it ?

2. Also, could the underlined portion start with - "European airlines having nine..."
instead of "European airlines that have nine..." what's the difference in both usage.

Thanks in Advance!
~ Abhinav

KarishmaB · Answer

It isn't about whether the sentence would be correct or not. It is about what is better.

1.
Even if you change 'that' to 'those' in option (C), 
... standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than those of European airlines

Option (B) is superior because of better parallelism
standards of service provided by American airlines are much lower than those {provided} by European airlines

2.
We are comparing the number of airlines appearing in the top 30 - So 'one American airline' compared to 'nine European airlines.'
'One American airline' is not compared to 'European airlines'. 'That have 9/having 9' modifies European airlines and isn't a part of the comparison.

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According to the rankings released by Skytrax, a UK based consultancy

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