Because of the Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon,

Hi jkbk1732, you are correct. I must have read the option wrong when I made that comment.

Thanks for pointing out.

(A) Because of the Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, but also 400 times farther away from Earth, so both the Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky.

(B) The Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, is also 400 times farther away from Earth, so the Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky.

(C) The Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky because the Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, and also 400 times farther away from Earth.

(D) Four hundred times larger than the Moon and 400 times farther away from Earth, the Sun has the same apparent size in the sky as the Moon's.

(E) Four hundred times larger than the Moon and also 400 times farther away from Earth, so the Sun in the sky has the same apparent size as the Moon.

IMO B

Do we have an explanation for the points raised by warriorguy.
After removing non-restrictive clause as stated in warriorguy's comment in answer choice B, "also" does not make sense.
Can someone clarify on the point.

Because of the Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, but also 400 times farther away from Earth, so both the Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky.

(A) Because of the Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, but also 400 times farther away from Earth, so both the Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky.

'because' and 'so' serve the same purpose -- they are redundant.

(B) The Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, is also 400 times farther away from Earth, so the Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky.

Looks good. Keep.

(C) The Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky because the Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, and also 400 times farther away from Earth.

If we remove "which is 400 times...the Moon" the sentence is a fragment. Eliminate.

(D) Four hundred times larger than the Moon and 400 times farther away from Earth, the Sun has the same apparent size in the sky as the Moon's.

We're not certain what 'the Moon's' is referring to here. Is it the Moon's size? We can't say for certain. Eliminate.

(E) Four hundred times larger than the Moon and also 400 times farther away from Earth, so the Sun in the sky has the same apparent size as the Moon.

'so' is incorrect in this format. Eliminate.

Answer is B.

GMATNinja can you please help explain this? Thank you.

Isn't B incorrect though since ", which" typically implies a NONESSENTIAL clause whereas the sun being 400 times larger than the moon is ESSENTIAL to this sentence? I think D makes the most sense -- the "moon's" is obviously referring to the moon's apparent size. It seems akin to the sentence: "my car is parked in the same garage as his"

There is no issue of whether certain words are "essential to the sentence".
That's never an issue. In any sentence that's well-written, EVERY word will ALWAYS have some easily identifiable significance! Good sentences do not randomly contain irrelevant or 'unimportant' words.

There is a grammatical entity known as an 'essential' modifier / 'essential' clause. The significance of this entity is something altogether different from the above.
The idea of 'essential' vs. 'non-essential' modifiers is NOT tested on the GMAT, though, so it would make no sense to elaborate on that topic here.

EducationAisle - Can you please explain the comparison play of answer choice. As per your book, I followed the following steps -

1. comparison operator - here "as"
2. LHS of the comparison operator - "size in the sky"
3. RHS comparison of the same type - "Moon's (size in the sky)" - using ellipsis.
4. LHS = RHS and the meaning makes sense as we are comparing Size of sun in the sky with Moon's size in the sky ....

where am I going wrong? Driving me crazy ... thanks!

Hello Boss GMATNinja - How do you know that the comparison here is b/w "Sun" and the "Moon's Size".

I thought the comparison is between the apparent size of the Sun and the Apparent size of the Moon? How to know and dissect the elements of the literal comparison? Thanks!

I completely agree with EducationAisle about the logic of the comparison, but in case it helps, we'll toss in our wisecracks, too.

If you want to compare their apparent sizes, it would be much clearer to write something like this:

"... so the apparent size of the Sun IS the same as the Moon's [apparent size]."

Here, the verb "is" suggests that X and Y ARE the same.

But if you use "has" instead, the reader expects that X and Y both HAVE the same thing. For example:

"Tim has the same type of car as Mike."

This suggests that Tim and Mike both have the same type of car. This is exactly the structure we get in (B), so the meaning is clear and logical (the Sun and Moon both HAVE the same apparent size).

Sure, you can eventually figure out what (D) is trying to say. But if we read it literally, (D) lends itself to a totally illogical meaning. That makes (B) a much better choice.

I hope that helps a bit!

I am a bit confused with option (B) in this question:

This is the right option. But how? If we remove the modifier, the "also" in the sentence doesn’t make any sense:
"The Sun is also 400 times farther away from Earth, so the Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky."

And if you put the modifier back in, the "also" makes perfect sense! That's all that matters.

Removing modifiers is a good way to analyze certain structural elements of a sentence, but that doesn't mean that the sentence will be flawless once the modifiers are removed. Those modifiers are there for a reason! So please don't remove them permanently.

Hello Jarvis07,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the sentence formed by the omission of the modifier is still grammatically complete and conveys a coherent meaning; it is not ideal for a sentence on the GMAT to reference information not included in the sentence, but doing so is not grammatically incorrect; as such, although Option B is flawed, it is not flawed enough to be outright eliminated, and the other four answer choices have clearer and more pertinent errors.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Because of the Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, but also 400 times farther away from Earth, so both the Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky.

Option Elimination -

(A) Because of the Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, but also 400 times farther away from Earth, so both the Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky. - "Because of" introduces a prepositional phrase; we need some noun or action it modifies. But here we have "so," the coordinating conjunction. For what? Are we combining two independent clauses? No. I'm afraid that's not right.

(B) The Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, is also 400 times farther away from Earth, so the Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky. Ok. We have an independent clause combined by "so" with another independent clause. Moreover, it conveys the effect of "The Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, is also 400 times farther away from Earth."

(C) The Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky because the Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, and also 400 times farther away from Earth. - "because" introduces a subordinate clause. But what do we have after "because" modifiers? Wrong.

(D) Four hundred times larger than the Moon and 400 times farther away from Earth, the Sun has the same apparent size in the sky as the Moon's. - Moon's what? Size?. The better way to represent that is
The sun has the apparent size in the sky as that of the moon - there that goes to the size.
Or, The sun has the same apparent size in the sky as the Moon - here we are comparing the size of the Sun and the moon. It's ok to omit "that of" to avoid repetition.
Or, The sun has the same apparent size in the sky as the Moon does - here, "does" refers back to the action or the state mentioned earlier, which is having "the same apparent size in the sky."

(E) Four hundred times larger than the Moon and also 400 times farther away from Earth, so the Sun in the sky has the same apparent size as the Moon. - We have a modifier, then we need a noun it modifies. Why "So"? Are we combining two independent clauses? No. I'm afraid that's not right. Also, avoid "and also" - it's redundant.