Even though more money was removed out of stock funds in July
as in any month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July were not as low as an industry trade group had previously estimated.
Meaning Analysis: Compared to any other month since October 1897, In July more money was removed. But despite this huge amount removed, the sales of fund shares did not drop as compared to what a trade group previously estimated
Sentence Structure: Even though
(contextual word stating that an event will take place "despite" of an other event)more
(beginning of comparison marker "more...than")money
(subject) was removed
(verb)out of stock funds
(prepositional phrase modifying "money" as in where was the money removed from)in July
(element 1 of comparison)as
(end of comparison marker)in any month since October 1987
(element 2 of comparison), sales
(subject) (element 1 of comparison)of fund shares in July
(prepositional phrase modifying "sales")were not
(verb)as low as
(comparison marker)an industry trade group
(element 2 of comparison) (subject)had previously estimated.
(verb)Quote:
(A) as in any month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July were not as low as
There is a comparison error w.r.t the comparison marker used. It is ALWAYS
"more...than" not
"more...as". The comparison between "in July" and "in any month since October" is correct
One may say that "any other" is a better option since "any" includes July. Take a look at the following example that illustrates this point:- (~
SaraiGMAT explained this point in this official question
https://gmatclub.com/forum/local-reside ... 76729.html)
(1) Texas is bigger than any state in the U.S. -
Incorrect - 'any state' includes Texas, in which case the sentence says that Texas is bigger than itself
(2) Texas is bigger than any other state. -
Correct- Hence in this particular case we need "any other" instead of "any"
If we read the non underlined portion of the sentence we can see that there is another comparison error out here.
"sales of fund shares in July were not as low as an industry trade group had previously estimated." We see that "sales" are compared to "an industry trade group" and that is completely illogical. What the author is trying to say is that the "sales" were not as low as the "sales figures" estimated by an industry group.
We need to compare "sales" with "sales"
Quote:
(B) as had been in any other month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July were not as low as what
We see that the "more...as" error has been repeated. I am not sure with the usage of "had been" out here. We need to compare "in July" to "in any other month" I don't think using the verb is completely wrong out here. Why? because we can compare "more money was removed in July as had been
(removed) in any other month" But this structure does make the sentence a bit wordy.
The usage of "what" at the end of the sentence rectifies the second comparison error made in (A) Here "what" refers to the "sales"
Quote:
(C) than there was in any other month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July were not as low as that which
The comparison error "more...than" has been rectified. However, the usage of "there was" in the first comparison and the usage of "that which" in the second comparison makes the sentence structure of this choice inferior. One can argue that the sentence uses "since" as a time marker and hence we need "present perfect" tense but I would try an be a tad flexible out here. My first reason of elimination would be the sentence structure
Note: - whenever "since" and "within" are used as time markers we need to use present perfect tense. E.g. Hoozan hasn't visited India since 2001.
Quote:
(D) than in any month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July were not as low as
We again have the two comparison errors out here. We need "any other" in the first comparison and "what" (or some other word that refers to sales" in the second comparison.
Quote:
(E) than in any other month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July were not as low as what
Correct. All the comparison errors are rectified. The comparison markers used are correct and all
logical entities are compared.
Correct Choice:
(E)GMATNinja ChiranjeevSingh egmat VeritasKarishma AjiteshArun please could you help me with the following doubt
While I agree with the usage of "any month" and "any other month"
(as mentioned above) I believe in this particular question we can use "any" instead of "any other". Why? because the sentence states that in July more money was removed that any month
since October 1987. Doesn't this mean that in July (of this year) more money was removed compared to any month (including July) since 1987 from October onwards? I hope I m clear with my doubt.