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Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly

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Bunuel
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Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly [#permalink] New post   28 Feb 2022, 02:30
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Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly low, hardly ever exceeding 3 mm in a day or occurring for more than 2 consecutive days.

A. that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly low, hardly ever exceeding 3 mm in a day or
B. that of last year, the rainfall has been alarmingly low this year, which seldom exceeded 3 mm per day and
C. last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly lower, hardly exceeding 3 mm in a day or
D. the last year, the rainfall this year has alarmingly decreased, hardly ever exceeding 3 mm per day or
E. that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly decreasing, hardly ever exceeding 3 mm in a day and


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Re: Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly [#permalink] New post   28 Feb 2022, 03:41
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A. that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly low, hardly ever exceeding 3 mm in a day or
Correct

B. that of last year, the rainfall has been alarmingly low this year, which seldom exceeded 3 mm per day and
"that" is presumably referring to rainfall but "rainfall of last year" is a little bit off. A year doesn't really own or possess a rainfall in that "rainfall last year" or "rainfall during last year" would be clearer. Also "which" seems to modify "this year", illogically implying that "this year" seldom exceeded 3mm per day... Lastly "and" at the end of the sentence is a little bit off it subtly implies that when rainfall didn't exceed 3 mm per day it didn't occur more than 2 day but when it exceeded 3mm it also may very well occurred more than 2 days consecutively. Using "or" would be better.

Note there is similar OG question with and/or problem; "https://gmatclub.com/forum/seldom-more-than-40-feet-wide-and-12-feet-deep-but-it-ran-363-miles-a-161294.html"


C. last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly lower, hardly exceeding 3 mm in a day or
Compared to last year? no, you can't compare a rainfall to a year. Also "lower"? lower than what? low would be ok but usage of lower necessitate a comparison between different rainfall levels, which we don't have here

D. the last year, the rainfall this year has alarmingly decreased, hardly ever exceeding 3 mm per day or
Same comparison issue in C. Also hardly ever is a little bit redundant, just say hardly and that will be enough

E. that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly decreasing, hardly ever exceeding 3 mm in a day and
"that" is referring to rainfall, giving us rainfall last year vs rainfall this year. This would be correct comparison. But we have similar issues in "hardly ever" and usage of "and" instead of "or".
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Re: Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly [#permalink] New post   06 Mar 2022, 03:45
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Bunuel wrote:
Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly low, hardly ever exceeding 3 mm in a day or occurring for more than 2 consecutive days.

A. that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly low, hardly ever exceeding 3 mm in a day or
B. that of last year, the rainfall has been alarmingly low this year, which seldom exceeded 3 mm per day and
C. last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly lower, hardly exceeding 3 mm in a day or
D. the last year, the rainfall this year has alarmingly decreased, hardly ever exceeding 3 mm per day or
E. that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly decreasing, hardly ever exceeding 3 mm in a day and


Fresh Verbal Question From GMAT Club Tests'. Written by sayantanc2k


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GMAT CLUB's Official Explanation:



The question mainly tests the following issues:

Issue 1: Use of “and” vs” or:
The underlying logical concept that is tested here is as follows:
Not (A or B) = not A and not B.. (AU B)’ = A’ ∩ B’
Not (A and B) = not A or not B.. (A∩B)’ = A’U B’

A = exceeding 3 mm in a day
B = occurring for more than 2 consecutive days

The intended meaning is:
Hardly (A or B) = Mostly (A and B), meaning that mostly the rainfall was lower than 3 mm in day AND it did not rain for more than 2 consecutive days.

The following expression changes the intended meaning:
Hardly (A and B) = Mostly (A or B), meaning mostly the rainfall was lower than 3 mm in a day (but it may have rained for more than 2 consecutive days) OR it didn't rain for more than 2 consecutive days (but the rainfall in a day may have exceeded 3 mm).

Issue 2: idiomatic use of “compared….”:
Correct: Compared + absolute form of adjective. Example: Compared to men, women are emotionally strong.
Wrong: Compared + comparative form of adjective. Example: Compared to men, women are emotionally stronger.

Issue 3: Comparison - use of pronoun “that” to create “new copy” of the antecedent:
The pronoun “that” creates a “new copy” of the antecedent “rainfall”. Here “that” is not used as a demonstrative adjective.

Issue 4: Use of “which” vs present participle “-ing”:
“Which” is used to refer to a noun, whereas present participle “-ing” is used to refer to a clause.

A. Correct. All the 4 issues are correctly addressed. The pronoun ”that” is used to create a “new copy” (last year) of the noun “rainfall” (this year). The conjunction “ or” conveys the right meaning as explained in issue 1 above. “Compared to..” is used with the absolute form of adjective “low”. Present participle” hardly exceeding… or occurring…) correctly modifies the entire main clause.

B. Wrong because of issue 1. The conjunction “and” distorts the original meaning as explained above.
Wrong because of issue 4: The pronoun ”which” does not have a proper antecedent.

C. Wrong because of issue 3 - wrong comparison between “year” and “rainfall”.
Wrong because of issue 2: “Compared to..” is wrongly used with the comparative form “lower”

D. Wrong because of issue 3 - wrong comparison between “year” and “rainfall”.
Distorted meaning: The use of “decreased” indicates that the decrease this year is more than the decrease last year. The original sentence however means that the rainfall this year was lower than the last year.

E. Distorted meaning: The use of “decreasing” indicates that the decrease this year is more than the decrease last year. The original sentence however means that the rainfall this year was lower than the last year.
Wrong because of issue 1. The conjunction “and” distorts the original meaning as explained above.
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Re: Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly [#permalink] New post   06 Mar 2022, 04:03
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I must say sayantanc2k is writing some great practice questions these days. This question and the "way of disciplining students" one are both gems. Beautifully crafted and very GMAT-like!
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Re: Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly [#permalink] New post   07 Mar 2022, 06:16
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PyjamaScientist wrote:
I must say sayantanc2k is writing some great practice questions these days. This question and the "way of disciplining students" one are both gems. Beautifully crafted and very GMAT-like!


Thank you, feedbacks are always helpful - I am happy to know that our efforts are helpful for future GMAT aspirants. On the other hand, I am open for any constructive criticism as well in case users have any concerns about our questions.
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Re: Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly [#permalink] New post   28 Dec 2022, 01:47
Hi sayantanc2k/Bunuel
what does the sentence "compared to that last year..." mean?
Isn't "last year" very specific in itself? What is the usage of "that" here?

shouldn't it be - "compared to that of last year, the rainfall this year..."
although the placement of ", which" in option B makes it a wrong choice.

Please help.
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Re: Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly [#permalink] New post   28 Dec 2022, 07:21
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arya251294 wrote:
Hi sayantanc2k/Bunuel
what does the sentence "compared to that last year..." mean?
Isn't "last year" very specific in itself? What is the usage of "that" here?

shouldn't it be - "compared to that of last year, the rainfall this year..."
although the placement of ", which" in option B makes it a wrong choice.

Please help.


Hello arya251294,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here "that" stands for "the rainfall", so the sentence reads "Compared to the rainfall last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly low...".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Re: Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly [#permalink] New post   29 Dec 2022, 03:53
ExpertsGlobal5 wrote:
arya251294 wrote:
Hi sayantanc2k/Bunuel
what does the sentence "compared to that last year..." mean?
Isn't "last year" very specific in itself? What is the usage of "that" here?

shouldn't it be - "compared to that of last year, the rainfall this year..."
although the placement of ", which" in option B makes it a wrong choice.

Please help.


Hello arya251294,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here "that" stands for "the rainfall", so the sentence reads "Compared to the rainfall last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly low...".

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


Hi,

Thanks for the reply and sorry to bother you again :please:

If we are to compare it with the rainfall, isn't this the right way of framing the sentence - compared to that of last year... ?
I have never seen a formation like this - "compared to that last year, the rainfall this year..."
Also, is this GMAT-like? Can you share any GMAT official questions with a similar structure?
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Re: Compared to that last year, the rainfall this year has been alarmingly [#permalink]
29 Dec 2022, 03:53
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