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605-655 Level|   Idioms/Diction/Redundancy|   Verb Tense/Form|                        
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 24 Jan 2019, 17:16
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I know that I am missing something crucial but since "landings" is countable , shouldn't the right answer choice contain "fewer than" instead of "less than" 4 million...
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 24 Jan 2019, 22:09
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Isn't less than modifying 4 million pounds (and not landings)?
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 14 Apr 2019, 12:29
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Same question as above. Less is used for uncountable nouns. How can it be used for $4Mn
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 14 Apr 2019, 19:00
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elderitch
Same question as above. Less is used for uncountable nouns. How can it be used for $4Mn
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I think it's relatively safe to say that when we're looking at a certain amount of things like money, time, distance, and weight, less could be the one to use. The entire amount is considered one "unit" rather than being made up of many small "units".

They lost less than the one million dollars they had lost before the introduction of the new product. ← This one refers to a very specific figure (the "previous loss").

The average is less than ten thousand kilometres per person per year. ← The author is not trying to count the kilometres out one by one.
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 30 Apr 2019, 08:37
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Please explain how the use of "less than four million pounds" is justified when "four million pounds" is countable.
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 30 Apr 2019, 09:21
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Hi Nitin, it represents quantity (such as 5 kg) and hence, less than is valid.
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 30 Apr 2019, 10:39
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nitinkarnwal
Please explain how the use of "less than four million pounds" is justified when "four million pounds" is countable.
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I think the way that most of us learn "countable" vs. "non-countable" is *close* but not exactly the rule. Whether you choose less/much vs. fewer/many (or any of those other singular/plural, countable/not-countable distinctions) isn't really about whether you can count it, but instead how the reader should treat it. In a case like this, or "our investors have earned as much as 10 million dollars" or "if your flight is less than 500 miles," using the singular "much" or "less" treats the dollars/miles as thresholds (this large amount, or this large distance) and not as individual dollars or miles. You could count them, but that's not the intent of the sentence; the sentence is trying to set up a threshold of weight/distance/wealth to compare against.

Most GMAT instructors at some point teach countable/uncountable by having students laugh at those grocery store "15 items or less" signs because "items is countable." But the signs are okay - 15 items is a threshold and if you have less than that amount you can use this aisle, if you have more you'd better get in another line! It's not really countable/uncountable...it's "are we counting this?" or "are we treating it as a single entity or threshold?"
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 13 Jul 2019, 22:44
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GMATNinja can you pls explain the diff between B&D?
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 26 Jul 2019, 03:44
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daagh
There is an adage which says that be wary of the obvious. The first obvious is to say that when there was an earlier event in 1990, a later event as in 1920 should never be assigned a past perfect. Second, obvious is that use of less is inappropriate because 17 million pounds is countable. Therefore, a lower amount should be the right one. Both these assumptions are wrong as per the custom of American English, including GMAT.
It is customary to use a past perfect for a later event, when there is a time reference such as 1920. Don’t we say that I started my GMAT preparation in 2005 and by 2015, I had completed it. As there are exceptions to every rule, the use of past perfect is taken for granted in such rare cases.
17 million pounds is taken as a mass quantity rather than as countable individual pounds. Therefore the use of less is justified
By this token of reasoning, B is an acceptable answer.

(A) that have blocked shad migrations up their spawning streams have
reduced landings to less that have blocked is a wrong tense for an event that was completed in the past

(B) That blocked shad from migrating up their spawning streams had reduced landings to less ------ Correct
(C) that blocked shad from migrating up their spawning streams reduced landings to a lower amount ----- 'lower' is out of sync
(D) having blocked shad from migrating up their spawning streams reduced landings to less ---Shad migrations were blocked by the hurdles and not the shads themselves

(E) Having blocked shad migrations up their spawning streams had reduced landings to an amount lower –amount lower is out of sync
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what is the antecedent for "their" in B ?
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 27 Jul 2019, 03:33
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azhrhasan
what is the antecedent for "their" in B ?
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Hi azhrhasan,

The their in option B refers to shad.
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 27 Jul 2019, 03:54
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azhrhasan
what is the antecedent for "their" in B ?
Hi azhrhasan,

The their in option B refers to shad.
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But isn't shad singular ? That's the reason i rejected B.

Are there any other situations like these which i need to keep note of ?
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 27 Jul 2019, 04:14
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azhrhasan
But isn't shad singular ? That's the reason i rejected B.

Are there any other situations like these which i need to keep note of ?
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Shad is both the singular form and the plural form of shad. Shads is also a word, like fishes.

All 5 options use their, and their really can't refer to migrations (migrations can't have spawning streams), so we don't need to take a singular/plural call in this question.
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 31 Aug 2019, 06:27
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EducationAisle

My question is regarding "lower amount" in C. Disregard the missing verb "had" in C. Is "lower amount" used correctly in this sentence because "4 million pounds" is an uncountable unit. "Amount" is used for uncountable nouns. I know that "less" is more concise than "lower amount" but if there was no "less" in any of the option choice and C had the correct verb, would C be correct?

Also, is "lower number than 4 million pounds" incorrect since "number" is used for countable nouns?

Books usually give examples of "amount of" and "number of" but in this example there is no preposition following "amount".

Here is a similar example where in option C "of that amount" tries to wrongly refer to countable noun: https://gmatclub.com/forum/when-drive-i ... 44864.html

In the past I followed a rule that "amount"and "number" have to be followed by preposition "of" but it seems this rule is not applied sometimes and "amount" by itself CAN refer to uncountable nouns.

Is my thinking correct?? Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 31 Aug 2019, 09:14
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lower amount would be incorrect, because amount (quantity) cannot be lower; amount is always lesser.
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 24 Sep 2019, 09:52
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Hello expert, can you explain the reason for using "less than", although "four million pounds" is countable here?
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 29 Sep 2019, 17:08
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Can someone explain when to use "lower than" or "less than"?

Thank you for your help
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 30 Nov 2019, 17:55
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Responding to a question that appeared on our Ask Me Anything About SC thread -- and I figured that it might help somebody here, too:

Rachna23
Hi Ninja,

Can you please explain the use of past perfect tense in this sentence (Official question, link at the end of query):

Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than seventeen million pounds of shad in a single year, but by 1920, over-fishing and the proliferation of milldams and culverts that blocked shad from migrating up their spawning streams had reduced landings to less than four million pounds.

The discussions on the forum say that since the action happened before 1920 so past perfect should be used. However, there are not 2 but 3 time periods in the question - around 1900, between 1900 and 1920, and 1920. If we are using simple past for the first action/time 'around 1900, fishermen......landed....', then how is the use of past perfect justified for second time/action.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/around-1900-fishermen-in-the-chesapeake-bay-area-landed-more-than-203779.html
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Good question! Generally speaking, the relevant time period will be the one designated in the clause that the verb appears in. For example:

    "This morning Tim promised his wife that he would feed his children three nutritious meals today, but by early evening, it was clear that he had fed them nothing but a handful of Cheetos dipped in ketchup."

"Early evening" designates the time period. Because Tim fed his kids Cheetos before the early evening, and the early evening was in the past, "had fed" is correct here. The fact that there's another time period mentioned in a different clause is irrelevant.

Same deal here:

    "By 1920, over-fishing and the proliferation of milldams and culverts...had reduced landings to less than four million pounds."

"By 1920" is an adverbial modifier specifying the time period for the action. Because the action, "reduced" happened before 1920, which is also in the past, it's appropriate to write "had reduced" here.

Takeaway: Don't overthink past perfect usage. If you see "had", all you're asking is yourself is whether the action in question took place before something else in the past. If it did, "had" is acceptable.

I hope that helps!
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 03 Dec 2019, 11:54
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sajon
Hello expert, can you explain the reason for using "less than", although "four million pounds" is countable here?
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Excellent question! When we're talking about measurements, which can be expressed as non-integer values, it's appropriate to use "less."

    For example, "Tim's doctor has ordered him to drink less than 2 gallons of milk a day, advice that Tim's family certainly appreciates, given his severe lactose intolerance."

Because Tim could potentially drink 1.7 gallons or .3 gallons, we treat this a little differently than if we were talking about countable items that could be expressed solely as integer values.

Same deal here. Because pounds represent a measurement that can be expressed as a non-integer value, it's entirely acceptable to write "less."

For more on countable and non-countable modifiers, check out this video.

I hope that helps!
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 03 Dec 2019, 11:58
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Alexisauch01
Can someone explain when to use "lower than" or "less than"?

Thank you for your help
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Great question!

"Lower than" can be used to compare locations or figures.

    1) Location: Tim's roof appears to be lower than his neighbor's roof.

    2) Figures: This year's unemployment rate is lower than last year's.

If we're writing about quantities of something, and those quantities are either non-countable or measurements that can be expressed as non-integer values, we'd use "less than."

In this question, we're not talking about a figure, such as an unemployment rate. We're talking about a measurement (pounds) that be expressed as a non-integer, so "less than" is appropriate.

If you want more practice, a very similar issue appears in this GMATPrep question.

I hope that helps!
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Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than 21 Apr 2020, 06:47
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How can use a plural pronoun 'their' for singular 'Shad'?
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