Bihar is India’s poorest state, with an annual per capita income of

It is B (OA), Which cannot be used here, which will allways follows what it refers to (here which does not refer to income of $111).

Will it be fine if we write the sentence in the following way :-


Annual per capita income income of Bihar,which is India's poorest state , is lower than in the most impoverished countries of the world.

Hi there,
Annual per capita income of Bihar, which is India's poorest state, is lower than in the most impoverished countries of the world.

I’m afraid this sentence is not correct. It has the same error as in the original sentence. The comparison is not clear here. This sentence fails to convey what we are comparing the annual per capita income of Bihar with. After “lower than” we have “in the most impoverished countries” but what in these impoverished countries are we comparing the per capita income of Bihar with? This is not mentioned in the sentence.

The correct version of the sentence will be:

Annual per capita income of Bihar, which is India's poorest state, is lower than that of the most impoverished countries of the world.

We can also write the sentence by replacing “that of” with the “annual per capita income”.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

look at choice A. understanding why choice A is wrong is basic point inhere.

choice A means
annual per capital income of 111, lower that this capital income in the most impoverished countries.
so, it is not logic

a pattern similar to that of choice A but correct is

the capital income is higher in vietnam than in any other countries.
this is correct. if you want to use "in other countries" we have to have element parallel to this phrase, such as "in my country". in comparison and elipsis pattern, the key is to find out a parallel pattern

once you realize the parallel pattern, you realize the elements compared and realize the illogic point.

once again. the key is to find out paralel pattern.

in elipsis and comparision problem, the key is to find out the parallel pattern.
in elipsis and comparision problem, there are 2 cases, the 2 elements are compared or 2 contexts which are represented by prepositional phrase are compared.
I learn gmat better than my friends
the capital income in this country is higher than in other contries.
we need to find out 2 elements or 2 contexts.

to find out paralel pattern to find out 2 element or 2 contexts is key to success inhere.

yes.
try to find out paralel pattern to find out 2 element or 2 contexts.

I think this question is actually quite flawed, for several reasons:

1) If you just tack the phrase "lower than that of . . ." on the end, it's ambiguous. Exactly what is "lower" modifying? It could even be modifying "Bihar" or "state," I believe.

2) Besides the need to resolve the ambiguity, it seems to me that you need something connecting that final phrase to the rest of the sentence. It's kind of like writing one of these sentences:

Last night I saw a popular movie, very funny.
Last night I saw a popular movie, not as funny as others I've seen.

That just doesn't sound like literate English—probably because it isn't.

3) If you write "lower than that of the most impoverished countries of the world," then you're basically stating that the most impoverished countries of the world all have the same per capita income, which is false.

I think all the answers here are poor. Sometimes these questions make you wonder what kind of grades these test-writers got in English when they were in school.

Thank you for posting the solutions. These are very helpful indeed.

Hello experts,
Can you please with an elaborate explanation on why are we eliminating option D
& E because pronouns is a slightly weaker section of mine and the answer provided by @e-gmat experts just left me slightly more confused?

Hi

Allow me to address your query. Let us examine the original sentence:

Bihar is India’s poorest state, with an annual per capita income of $111, lower than in the most impoverished countries of the world.

Here, it is obvious that we need to compare the "annual per capita income" of Bihar with a similar quantity of the most impoverished countries of the world ie; annual per capita incomes of those countries. Now, let us plug in answer option (D) into the sentence:

(D) Bihar is India’s poorest state, with an annual per capita income of $111, which is lower than in the most impoverished countries of the world.

Here, it is not clear what is being compared with the annual per capita income of Bihar. The problem is with the phrase "lower than in" - it has to be lower than something in these countries. What that "something" is is not made clear. Now let us do the same with option (E):

(E) Bihar is India’s poorest state, with an annual per capita income of $111, which is lower than it is in the most impoverished countries of the world.

This is not much better than option (D). Admittedly, we do have an "it" here, but what that "it" refers to is not made clear. Again, the compared quantity is ambiguous, and hence this is an incorrect sentence.

Hope this clarifies.

Hi, I have a doubt with the answer choice B.
Since the answer choice has a sentence between two commas isn't that statement supposed to be non essential ? And arent the first sentence and last sentence supposed to have an independent complete thought.
I'm sure I'm mixing up a few rules here but I'm confused.

And how is "lower than" modifying the preceding sentence?

Hi Experts,
MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, GMATGuruNY, AjiteshArun, AndrewN
VeritasPrepHailey
In B, it seems that the pronoun 'that' refers back to 'annual per capita income'. The 'that' is the part of core sentence. The highlighted part is the non-essential modifier, right? So why do we compare the essential part 'that of' with the non-essential part 'annual per capita income'?
Thanks__

Good question, TheUltimateWinner, and you have identified all the grammatical elements correctly. The comma before with is non-essential itself—the sentence could function just as well without it. The comparison has to be clearcut, though, or else the GMAT™ police will get you. Notice that the clause has fully resolved by the time we hit that first comma. We can thus view the sentence through a different lens:

[main clause] + [modifying phrase] + [modifying phrase]

There is no rule that says you cannot stack modifying phrases, that the latter, in this case, may not refer to some element contained only within the first modifying phrase. In other words, that apparently self-contained part in the middle is not interrupting the main clause, but is an extension of it, and the phrase that follows at the end draws out the idea that much more by way of a comparison.

I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me.

- Andrew

Bihar is India’s poorest state, with an annual per capita income of $111, lower than in the most impoverished countries of the world.

I think a detailed analysis has already been discussed but still the core part is missing for members who touched most part of que but were not able to find the correct ans.

firstly, the essential prepo phase not $111. Without $111 sentence will still make sense


...$111 lower than in XYZ...
wrong comparison
A is out


...$111 lower than that (an annual per capita income) of XYZ...
yes, we have to use an annual per capita income because $111 is nonessential.


"and" distorts the sentence. Firstly there is no such parallel action. Secondly, there is ID missing after and
C is out


which refers to an essential noun. it is correct RPM but the same problem as with A
D is out


it is ambiguous
E is out.

B is a clear win

I was just stunned to see how low the figure is. The latest figure is right 500 USD. That's what you pay for a fancy meal in USA. Isn't it ?

Trivia: Bihar has the highest proportion of rankers in public service exams in India.

Posted from my mobile device

Can someone explain why the use of "which" is incorrect ?
I spent a lot of time thinking and got it incorrect.

E-GMAT EXPLANATION
According to the general rule, relative pronouns modify the immediate preceding noun. However, in some cases, these pronouns can also refer to a slightly far away noun. This modification completely depends on the context of the sentence.
In this sentence, “which” refers to “annual per capita income of $111” and not only “$111”, the immediate preceding noun. This is so because the prepositional phrase “of $111” cannot be placed anywhere else in the sentence. This phrase only makes sense after “annual per capita income”. So now, we have a big noun phrase here “annual per capita income of $111”, and hence “which” modifies the head of this noun phrase that is “annual per capita income”.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that Bihar has an annual per capita income of $111, and this amount is lower than the annual per capita income of the most impoverished countries of the world.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Comparisons + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• Comparisons must always be made between similar things.

A:
1/ This answer choice incorrectly compares the noun phrase "an annual per capita income of $111" to the prepositional phrase "in the most impoverished countries of the world"; remember, comparisons must always be made between similar things.

B: Correct.
1/ This answer choice uses the phrase "lower than that of" to modify "annual per capita income of $111", conveying the intended meaning - that Bihar's annual per capita income of $111 is lower than the annual per capita income of the most impoverished countries of the world.
2/ Option B correctly compares the noun phrase "an annual per capita income of $111" to the pronoun "that (annual per capita income)".
3/ Option B is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

C:
1/ This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "and lower than"; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that Bihar is lower than the annual per capita income of the most impoverished countries of the world; the intended meaning is that an annual per capita income of $111 is lower than the annual per capita income of the most impoverished countries of the world.

D:
1/ This answer choice incorrectly compares the noun phrase "an annual per capita income of $111" to the prepositional phrase "in the most impoverished countries of the world"; remember, comparisons must always be made between similar things.
2/ Option D uses the needlessly wordy phrase "which is lower than", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E:
1/ This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "lower than it is in"; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that an annual per capita income of $111 is lower in Bihar than the same amount is in the most impoverished countries of the world; the intended meaning is that Bihar's annual per capita income of $111 is lower than the annual per capita income of the most impoverished countries of the world.
2/ Option E uses the needlessly wordy phrase "which is lower than", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team