Although it is estimated that more than 15 % of adults are

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 40 Sentence Correction (SC2) 
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Although it is estimated that more than 15% of adults are afraid of flying, a condition known as aviophobia, modern air travel is   widely acknowledged to be safer than almost any form of transportation —far safer, for example, than automotive travel.

A) widely acknowledged to be safer than almost any form of transportation

B) acknowledged widely as safer than almost any transportation form

C) widely acknowledged as being safer than almost any form of transportation

D) widely acknowledged to be safer than almost any other form of transportation

E) widely acknowledged that it is safer than almost any other form of transportation

Source: Critical Reader

The  best or excellent answers get kudos , which will be  awarded  after   the answer is revealed.

ErikLewe · Answer

Let's try here.

Quick analysis:
D and E correctly use any other which is used when comparing similar things.
I believe D is in favor rather than E because it is less ambigious

lary301254M7 · Answer

Although it is estimated that more than 15% of adults are afraid of flying, a condition known as aviophobia, modern air travel is widely acknowledged to be safer than almost any form of transportation—far safer, for example, than automotive travel.

A) widely acknowledged to be safer than almost  any form  of transportation

B) acknowledged widely as safer than almost  any transportation form

C) widely acknoweldged as being safer than almost  any form  of transportation

D) widely  acknolwedged to be  safer than almost  any other form  of transportation

E) widely  acknowledged that  it is safer than almost  any other form  of transportation

Meaning: modern air travel is safer than other forms of travel
We can quickly eliminate (A), (B), and (C) because they all use the phrase " any form "
" Any form " would include air travel itself. It is illogical to say air travel is safer than air travel.

(D), and (E) are left. " Acknowledged to be " is better in my opinion.

Ans: (D)

Prateekj05 · Answer

The intended meaning of the sentence is that even though 15% of the adults are afraid of flying, modern air travel is safer than any other form of transportation.

The meaning analysis is sufficient to arrive at the correct answer. In the original sentence, the author is comparing modern air travel with  any form of travel  which is not correct. Even  modern air travel  is a subset of  any form of travel , so that is illogical. Options  A, B and C  can be eliminated on the basis of this. In option  E ,  "that"  is wrongly used with  acknowledged . Option  D  is the correct answer choice as it rectifies that error.

Roma123 · Answer

Why answer choice D is wrong? Please make me clear. Thank you

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION • The easiest way to answer this question is to spot the logic error in the original sentence. Because air travel itself is a form of transportation, it cannot be "safer than any form of transportation." Rather, air travel must be "safer than any other form of transportation." On that basis, eliminate A, B, and C. • D is correct. It creates a logical comparison: air travel is compared to any other form of transportation. • E is incorrect. Inserting a that-clause into the sentence is . COMMENTS ErikLewe , I cannot recall having seen you on my topic threads, but I recall having seen you. Welcome. If I've already welcomed you, well, twice won't hurt. I am glad to see that everyone caught the logical issue. There isn't a grammar rule for that error, so we're striking a good balance between knowledge of rules and detection of weird meaning and logical error. "Acknowledged that" is fine as an idiom, as is "acknowledged to be." Answer E is wrong because the that -clause ruins the construction. We can't stick a that-clause in the middle of a comparison between air travel and any other form of transportation , especially because that clauses always have subjects and verbs of their own (it is), which makes a mess of "X is safer than Y." ErikLewe , I take it from the red highlight that you caught the misplacement,

but I don't know what to make of the claim that "D is less ambiguous than E." E is not ambiguous. E is incomprehensible.

I will give you the benefit of the doubt. lary301254M7 also benefits; he didn't like the "that," either. In order to show different levels (I'm making up ranks as I go: smiley face = 2nd place and kudos = 1st place), ErikLewe and lary301254M7 get smiley faces, and Prateekj05 , who wrote the best answer, gets kudos. Nice work, everyone!

generis · Answer

Hi Roma123 , welcome to GMAT Club! Answer choice D is not wrong. Answer choice D is correct.

Roma123 · Answer

I apologize for mistake, I meant why answer choice E is wrong?

generis · Answer

No worries. Typos are common -- just ask me!

In case the explanation above is not clear, here is (E) inserted into the sentence: Although it is estimated that more than 15% of adults are afraid of flying, a condition known as aviophobia, modern air travel is widely acknowledged that it is safer than almost any other form of transportation —far safer, for example, than automotive travel. We are comparing modern air travel and any other form of transportation . X is safer than Y. Stripped: X is safer than Y When the "that it is" gets inserted, we have created two problems: (1) the subject, X, shows up twice, a construction that is not the same as the idiom. If a pronoun exists, we can always replace that pronoun with the noun to check for accuracy. So replace "it" with " modern air travel." . . . modern air travel is widely acknowledged that modern air travel is safer than almost any other form of transportation. . . That construction should look redundant at the least. The grammatically incorrect structure can be written this way: X is that X is safer than Y

Stripped: X is X that is safer than Y

(2) "acknowledged that" is used improperly. "Acknowledged" is a subject complement (an adjective that is the object of a linking verb),and acknowledged already has a subject: modern air travel. "Acknowledged" cannot also be followed by the same subject. This construction would be correct: Although it is estimated that more than 15% of adults are afraid of flying, a condition known as aviophobia, it is widely acknowledged that modern air travel is safer than almost any other form of transportation —far safer, for example, than automotive travel. I hope that analysis helps.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Although it is estimated that more than 15 % of adults are

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Although it is estimated that more than 15 % of adults are

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