+HOT Competition 4 Sep/9AM: The current lemur population of Madagascar

Question

The  current lemur population of Madagascar of roughly 2,000 will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends are not reversed through either government action or  private efforts.

A. current lemur population of Madagascar of roughly 2,000 will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends are not reversed through either government action or

B. current lemur population of Madagascar is roughly 2,000 and will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends were not reversed either through government action or through

C. lemur population of Madagascar is currently roughly 2,000, which will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends would not be reversed either through government action or

D. lemur population of Madagascar is currently roughly 2,000 and will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends are not reversed either through government action or through

E. current rough lemur population of Madagascar is 2,000; this would drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends were not reversed either through government action or

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

Veritas Prep Explanation:

The correct answer is D.

Answer D logically describes the “lemur population of Madagascar” as the thing that “will drop below 1,000.” It also correctly parallels the “either… or” correlative conjunction structure at the end of the sentence. Finally, it uses the correct verb tense “are” to describe the conditional nature of the reversal of present trends.

Answer A is the closest wrong answer. However, its fatal flaw is its claim that “the current lemur population… will drop.” This is quite impossible; “the current lemur population” is what it is, and that number will never change. “The lemur population” will drop, of course, but at that point it will no longer be “the current lemur population.” This may be a fine distinction, but the fact remains that it renders Answer A (and Answer B, and maybe Answer E) illogical, so Answer A is wrong.

Answer B again illogically claims that “the current lemur population… will drop.” Furthermore, this answer’s use of the subjunctive “were reversed” makes no sense in a conditional future statement, since the reversal of the trend is in fact quite possible and is not contrary to fact.

Answer C uses the relative pronoun “which” incorrectly. This pronoun modifies what it’s next to, which is “roughly 2,000” – but it would come as a great surprise to mathematicians everywhere if we were informed that “roughly 2,000” will soon “drop below 1,000.” Furthermore, there is no call for the conditional “would” in the latter part of this sentence; the reversal of the trend is not explicitly contingent on anything. Finally, “either through… or” is a failure of parallelism in the concluding correlative conjunction structure.

Answer E seems to suggest that there exist something called “rough lemurs,” with population 2,000. This answer is quite ambiguous in its use of the pronoun “this”; what is it that will drop? 2,000? The population of rough lemurs? The current population of rough lemurs (again, illogical)? Both the conditional “would” and the subjunctive “were” in the latter half of this sentence are incorrect, seeming to imply that all of this action is contrary to fact, i.e. that the population actually will not drop because government or private efforts are a foregone conclusion. Finally, “either through… or” is a failure of parallelism in the concluding correlative conjunction structure.

BenjaminS · Answer

Topic
 1. Parallelism. 
The use of either X or Y. X and Y should parallel.
 2. The meaning. 
The meaning should proper.
 3. Condition  
If ... is... , Future tense should be used.

Elimination Process.

The intended meaning is unclear. Mistake#2. Out.

Mistake#3. Out.

Mistake#1. Out.

No mistake. Keep it.

Mistake#1. Out.

So I choose D.

Posted from my mobile device

mSKR · Answer

Sneaky: the population of India in 1992 was under 100 crores. current population of India is

x the population of India will drop in 2025 the current population of India is today's population. If we say current populaiton will drop then how today's population can drop in future. Future has new number of population, so we can say population then will be xx A. current lemur population of Madagascar of roughly 2,000 will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends are not reversed through either government action or Simple and concise but made big flaw in making the sentence short and concise by using current population will drop-sneaky-wrong B. current lemur population of Madagascar is roughly 2,000 and will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends were not reversed either through government action or through present trends were: wrong C. lemur population of Madagascar is currently roughly 2,000, which will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends would not be reversed either through government action or Either through or -wrong D. lemur population of Madagascar is currently roughly 2,000 and will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends are not reversed either through government action or through Wordy: Is roughly and will but no other better option logically and grammatically -correct E. current rough lemur population of Madagascar is 2,000; this would drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends were not reversed either through government action or Either through or -wrong

Hovkial · Answer

Parallelism. Tense use.

A. current lemur population of Madagascar of roughly 2,000 will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends are not reversed through either government action or

Omits the word "through" after the word "or". Lacks parallel structures.

B. current lemur population of Madagascar is roughly 2,000 and will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends were not reversed either through government action or through

Improperly changes the tense.

C. lemur population of Madagascar is currently roughly 2,000, which will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends would not be reversed either through government action or

Improperly changes the tense. The phrase "would not be" needlessly changes the original meaning.

D. lemur population of Madagascar is currently roughly 2,000 and will drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends are not reversed either through government action or through

Correctly uses parallen forms ("through... or through...").

E. current rough lemur population of Madagascar is 2,000; this would drop below 1,000 within five years if present trends were not reversed either through government action or

Improperly changes the tense. Omits use of parallel forms.

JonShukhrat · Answer

Dear  AnthonyRitz

I failed to eliminate choice A for the reason mentioned in the OE, which says that “ current  population will drop” is illogical.

Could you please take a look at this  official problem ? Does choice B introduce a similar logical flaw?

B. About 20 percent of young adults used cocaine in 1979, to double  the number the 1977 survey reported .

I mean that “the number the 1977 survey reported” will remain unchanged in any following year as the statistics about 1977. i.e. the number reported for 1977 cannot be doubled in 1979. Do I have the right idea?

I would much appreciate if you could share other problems known to you with similar lapse, if at hand. I seem to still fail to fully realize why A is wrong. Many thanks in advance.

AnthonyRitz · Answer

The question you cited isn't quite the same for me, and I'd mostly eliminate B on the basis of the stray "to" -- which makes it sound like they used cocaine for the purpose of doubling the survey result. But I also sort of see where you're coming from in terms of "doubling the 1977 number"; I'm just not sure how much of a problem that would really be. For a question that has an analogous error to the problem in this thread, check out this one (A vs. B, primarily): https://gmatclub.com/forum/whereas-line ... 36608.html Also try this: https://gmatclub.com/forum/before-scien ... 22778.html

AnthonyRitz · Answer

By the way, here's the New York Times on the matter:

JonShukhrat · Answer

Dear  AnthonyRitz

Thank you very much for the excerpt. I am still exploring “Copy Edit This!”.

The expert, though, makes me even more think that the logical flaws are pretty similar. 
“the current minimum wage” is a statistic that is true for 2020. The statistic for 2022 can be called “the future minimum wage”, not “current”. Hence, we simply use “the minimum wage”. The same is true for “the current lemur population”. Now let’s take choice B:

B.  About 20 percent of young adults used cocaine in 1979, to double the number the 1977 survey reported.

Similarly, “the number the 1977 survey reported” is a statistic that is true only for 1977, and it won’t change anytime after. I found this post  here  and share the author’s point. (This split between A and D, however, seems so subtle that I can miss it again under a time constraint.)

I juxtaposed A and B of “lines of competition” problem, and would much appreciate if you could check my line of reasoning:

A. ...as companies that compete one day may be partners the next.
B. ...as  competing companies  one day may be partners the next.

A states that “companies” can perform two different actions, whereas B states that “competitors may be partners” – sounds as if “living dead”?

AnthonyRitz · Answer

Yes, that's exactly the reasoning I was pointing out between A and B in the "lines of competition" question. I think that your "living dead" analogy is very appropriate -- it's the same sort of oxymoron.

VerbalBot · Answer

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+HOT Competition 4 Sep/9AM: The current lemur population of Madagascar

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+HOT Competition 4 Sep/9AM: The current lemur population of Madagascar

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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