After the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate, life expectancy

IMO C

(A) After the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate, life expectancy improved for children, but -Correct form should be "After the Colonial period, when ...."
(B) Even though children’s life expectancy, which improved over the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate, -Fragmentation. No action following the clause "Even though children’s life expectancy"
(C) Although life expectancy for children improved after the Colonial period, during which the mortality rate was 50 percent, -Correct
(D) While there was an improvement in life expectancy for children after the 50 percent mortality rate of the Colonial period, still -incorrect construction "improvement ...after 50% mortality"
(E) Despite children’s life expectancy improvement from the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate, -"Colonial period’s 50 percent.." sounds awkward. Not sure whats would be the grammatical reason.

After the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate, life expectancy improved for children, but as late as the nineteenth century about one child in three died before reaching the age of six.

(A) After the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate, life expectancy improved for children, but
(B) Even though children’s life expectancy, which improved over the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate,
(C) Although life expectancy for children improved after the Colonial period, during which the mortality rate was 50 percent,
(D) While there was an improvement in life expectancy for children after the 50 percent mortality rate of the Colonial period, still
(E) Despite children’s life expectancy improvement from the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate,


a, b , and e are wrong cuz it uses posseive noun - Colonial Period's

d is wrong because of ' after the 50 percent mortality rate' - after is used to show the time reference only

c is correct

After the Colonial periods 50 percent mortality rate, life expectancy improved for children, but as late as the nineteenth century about one child in three died before reaching the age of six.
A. After the Colonial periods' 50 percent mortality rate, life expectancy improved for children, but
B. Even though childrens life expectancy, which improved over the Colonial periods' 50 percent mortality rate,
C. Although life expectancy for children improved after the Colonial period, during which the mortality rate was 50 percent,
D. While there was an improvement in life expectancy for children after the 50 percent mortality rate of the Colonial period, still
E. Despite childrens life expectancy improvement from the Colonial periods' 50 percent mortality rate,

ABE colonial periods' wrong. D there be is wrong. So C

The question wants to show a contrast - decrease, but deaths continued.

(C) Although life expectancy for children improved after the Colonial period, during which the mortality rate was 50 percent, .....correct in many ways -
1) Incorrect usage of "period's" is rectified
2) Colonial period is correctly defined/ explained by using "during which" ie dependant clause is correctly "defining" the Colonial period.
3) Contrast in sentence is maintained by using Although

IMO C

The main problem is the unidiomatic branding of the mortality rate as the 50% mortality rate, as though it were a kind of milestone or reference rate.

(A) After ‘the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate’, life expectancy improved for children, but …. unidiomatic
(B) Even though children’s life expectancy, which improved over ‘the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate,’ ---- unidiomatic; in addition, the subordinate clause is a fragment
(C) Although life expectancy for children improved after the Colonial period, during which the mortality rate was 50 percent, …. Avoids the idiom error; best choice
(D) While there was an improvement in life expectancy for children after ‘the 50 percent mortality rate of the Colonial period’, still ……unidiomatic
(E) Despite children’s ‘life expectancy improvement’ from ‘the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate’, …unidiomatic

I think this is from the 1000SC blog.OA is C.
I am unable to understand why though.
Anyone with an explanation?

GMAT doesn't like Possessive pronouns used for anything other than things that the noun actually posses.
(A) After the Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate, life expectancy improved for children, but

Colonial period doesn't really posses the mortality rate, it is a fact which was true during the Colonial period.

Choice C correctly states that during the colonial period the child mortality rate was 50 percent.

"Colonial period’s 50 percent mortality rate" is problematic; A B and E are out.

Between C and D,

"life expectancy for children after the 50 percent mortality rate" is disastrous to C. C is out.
D is perfect. Colonial period, during which...Ok.

Hi Sir,

I do agree with C , but my doubt is that "although ..." is a dependent clause but it has no verb . Improved here acts past participle modifier and not verb making the "although..." a phrase .


Please help with the issue

can someone please explain what is the grammatical reasoning to eliminate answer choice E? (i.e. apart from awkwardness)

A- colonial period's is wrong.
B- same as A
E-same as A

That leaves out C and D.

D- "50% mortality rate of the colonial period" seems like the rate remained constant throughout the period.

C- correct

Posted from my mobile device

Yes i agree with this, How C can be correct in case of although has no verb? It is phrase not the clause VeritasKarishma GMATNinja

In (C), "improved" is a verb, not a modifier.

To understand the first clause, pretend "although" isn't there and take a look at what remains: "(Although) Life expectancy for children improved after the Colonial period."

Without "although," we have a full sentence. The subject is "life expectancy for children," and the verb is "improved."

I hope that helps!

GMATNinja

I have a doubt, isn't C a run on sentence? "Although life expectancy for children improved after the Colonial period, during which the mortality rate was 50 percent" all the sentences are separated by a comma, and the last clause:
"as late as the nineteenth century about one child in three died before reaching the age of six." which follows immediately after the underlined portion is an independent clause, with no conjunction to join the two. How is this correct, as compared to D?

any comment on the use of while. We are talking about 2 different times.

The "although" functions as a type of conjunction connecting the clauses. Consider the following:

Tim is a terrible person, his children voted for him in a neighborhood "Father of the Year" contest in which he placed last.

Classic run-on here: "Tim is a terrible person," can stand on its own, and "His children voted for him" can too. So this is no good.

But watch what happens when we add an "although" to the beginning of the sentence:

Although Tim is a terrible person, his children voted for him in a neighborhood "Father of the Year" contest in which he placed last.

This version is fine. The difference is that "Although Tim is a terrible person," can no longer stand on its own. We're expecting a follow-up that contrasts with the first clause. Because the opening clause isn't independent in this scenario, we don't have a run-on.

I hope that clears things up!

Hi Experts, MartyTargetTestPrep

I had rejected Option E as we expect life expectancy improvements to be in days while as per the option the improvement is from a rate. Please advise whether my reasoning was valid to reject the option? Please can you advise the valid reason for rejecting option E.

Thanks