Although beavers can still be found throughout the western

Although beavers can still be found throughout the western United States, their number has declined compared with the eighteenth century, when the abundance of beaver lured armies of European trappers into the Rocky Mountains region to slaughter them for their pelts.

A)their number has declined compared with
B)their numbers have declined compared with
C)their numbers have declined since
D) their numbers have declined in comparison to those of
E)the number of them declined since

A & B - Wrong comparison ('number' compared with 18th century - illogical)
C - Grammatically correct
D - 'in comparison to' is used when we are comparing two unlike things, but here from the
context we can infer that comparison is between numbers.
E - no present perfect used. (have declined since - correct)

But one question:
What if we use 'with' in D, does it make sense?

their numbers have declined in comparison with those of

Although beavers can still be found throughout the western united states, their number has declined compared with the eighteenth century, when the abundance of beavers lured armies of european trappers into the rocky mountain region to slaughter them for their pelts.

A. their number has declined compared with
B. their numbers have declined compared with
C. their numbers have declined since
D. their numbers have declined in comparison to those of
E. the number of them declined since

Kindly explain the usage of "their numbers" in this Question?

Hi SOURH7WK,

As per the meaning of the sentence the phrase "their number" has been used to indicate that the beavers count has decreased since 18th Century.

Now why this whole clause has been used in this case to further indicate that ....."In the 18th Century abundance of beavers lured armies of european trappers into the rocky mountain region to slaughter them for their pelts"

Now as per the answer choices here

A. their number has declined compared with

1)Decline of the number has been compared with the 18th century which is not correct

B. their numbers have declined compared with

1)Same issue as with original one.

C. their numbers have declined since

Correct option as now, since has been used to indicate an action which started in the past and still the beaver count is decreasing.

D. their numbers have declined in comparison to those of

1) This option intends that there are two groups of Beavers whose numbers have been compared which is incorrect as indicated by the dep. clause "Although beavers can still be...."

E. the number of them declined since

1) the number of them is not a correct usage.


Pls let me know if i'm missing a pt here

Thanks
Jatin

My question is why the correct choice is using "numbers"? why not "number"?

SOURH7WK’s specific query is: why the plural term ‘their numbers’ is used and why not simply ‘their number: Am I right?

Well! I think the term “beavers” in the given context does not just denote one type of beavers. There must be several types of beavers, each of them having its own number; to highlight the existence such variety, perhaps the term numbers is used, as far as I could imagine .

P.S. However, Wikipedia says that there is only one type of beaver in North America; so I do not know, how far my imagination can hold out.

I think D should have been: ... in comparison to those in..

Because right now, it is: ... in comparison to those of..

So, even if "those" is interpreted as "numbers of beavers", then it would be interpreted as: "numbers of beavers of 18th century". But there is no such thing as "beavers of 18th century"; it should be: "beavers in 18th century".

I'm a bit worried about the word 'numbers'

Is their numbers grammatically correct?

Replacing Their with Beavers'

Beavers' number
Beavers' numbers?

C) their numbers have declined since the eighteenth century
The time reference is the eighteenth century. During this long, period, can we expect their number to stay at one particular number?
The numbers are ever changing features. Hence, the plural 'their numbers' should be ok in the given context.

Number doesn't remain the same. But we don't say numbers when referring to the number of a group.

For e.g; The number of cars.

The only place I can think numbers is

The numbers are misleading, as in a collection of numbers itself.

The number of students, the number of houses, etc.

Could you please look into this link for some clarification by Ron on this point?

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... 25414.html

This question which originated in 2012 must have been correct then. It is not that this reasoning is wrong but is not used by GMAT these days.

GMATNinja generis VeritasKarishma aragonn egmat

Can I discard (E) since there is a clear verb tense issue?
The effect of decline is being felt in present also
(correctly denoted by -have declined- in OA) instead of a point of
time event in (E) i.e. simple past tense.

adkikani - Dear Arpit, I am not sure why, but i did not receive the notification for this TAG. Let me tag bb first.
So main diff b/w two choices is "their numbers" vs "the number of them", if it was "the number" it was clearly wrong for singular. but i cant make out any hing from "the number of them" - I mean is it something written on them. Overall I am not sure what this number is talking about. For sure it is a SV issue but more then that its a meaning issue. Meaning in C is very clear. Hope it helped.

Yes, "since the 18th century" to present (can still...) should use present perfect. That is another problem with option (E).
Of course, "the number of them" is wrong too.

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