However much governments around the world may agree that nuclear proli

Question

However much governments around the world may agree that  nuclear proliferation must be halted and that steps should be implemented to reduce the level of nuclear stockpiles, it is difficult for countries to come to agreement on the specific methods of implementing such practices.

(A) However much governments around the world may agree that

(B) Despite the agreement among governments around the world to the fact that

(C) Although governments around the world agree

(D) Even though governments around the world may agree

(E) Despite there being agreement among governments around the world that

pqhai · Accepted Answer

However much governments around the world may agree that  nuclear proliferation must be halted and that steps should be implemented to reduce the level of nuclear stockpiles, it is difficult for countries to come to agreement on the specific methods of implementing such practices.

1. However much governments around the world may agree that
  Correct.   "much" implies the magnitude of the agreement. It does not imply "how many government agree"

2. Despite the agreement among governments around the world to the fact that
 Wrong.  Change meaning by omitting " may " (may agree that)

3. Although governments around the world agree
 Wrong.  Not parallel. Should be "agree that .....and that......."

4. Even though governments around the world may agree
 Wrong.  Same as (3). Not parallel.

5. Despite there being agreement among governments around the world that
 Wrong.  "there being agreement" seems ungrammatical.

Hope it helps.

adymehta29 · Answer

Hey,

here is how i got A.

eliminate C & D because of lack of parallelism. "missing that"

eliminate E because "being" is not needed.

between A & B.

Understand what the sentence is trying to say. you will see why A is better.

if you look properly in option B word "agreement" is used, and the sentence says something like "despite the agreement among governments ......... , it is difficult for countries to come to agreement.......... ."
how is this possible as in the first half the sentence says there is already an agreement and in the second half the sentence says it is difficult to come to an agreement. contradicting.

option A is the best option.

Hit kudos if it helps

daagh · Answer

The subtle essence of the topic is that there is much agreement and not mere agreement and that they may agree (the speculative intent of the modal verb may) and not simply agree

Choices B through E suffer from altered intent either by skipping the word much as in D or through stating affirmative agreements rather than possible agreements as in B, C and E. A reflects the two phenomena rightly

JarvisR · Answer

Hi,
I found this one really interesting so re-initiating the discussion. Request other members to join-in and share their views.

However much governments around the world may agree that nuclear proliferation must be halted and that steps should be implemented to reduce the level of nuclear stockpiles, it is difficult for countries to come to agreement on the specific methods of implementing such practices.

Stmt breakdown:
However much governments around the world may agree that
nuclear proliferation must be halted and that
steps should be implemented to reduce the level of nuclear stockpiles,
it is difficult for countries to come to agreement on the specific methods of implementing such practices.

1:However much -> No matter how much
2:As per the bold phrase they haven't reached to agreement yet.
3:||sm is maintained using that around ||sm marker and.

a. However much governments around the world may agree that
b. Despite the agreement among governments around the world to the fact that
c. Although governments around the world agree
d. Even though governments around the world may agree
e. Despite there being agreement among governments around the world that

Analysis
1:C,D straight out because of missing that.
2:Now as per the non underlined part agreement is yet to establish so "may" is correct usage. "there being agreement" or "the agreement among governments" shows certainty which is not req here.

Mistakes I did :
1: Didnt read the non-underlined part and wasted my time figuring out the difference A,B,E. Though, before working on SC question i always remind myself to read the non underlined part

2: Marked A wrong in rush.Was under the impression that much points to some uncountable entity here.

VarunBhardwaj · Answer

There is good video explanation for a question similar to above:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CoAGQvZ6is

BillyZ · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION Correct Answer: A The correct answer to this question is A. The sentence begins with parallel subordinate clauses that are followed by the main clause. The parallel subordinate clauses are both introduced by the word ' that ' ' i.e. ' that nuclear proliferation '' and ' that steps should be implemented '' Answer choices C and D are incorrect as each leaves out the word 'that,' and in doing so, parallel structure with the second subordinate clause is violated. Answer choices B and E violate the GMAT standards of Brevity and Fluency, employing lengthy, awkward constructions. AnthonyRitz & VeritasPrepKarishma , This question copies from OG. https://gmatclub.com/forum/however-much ... 75895.html

Mona10031990 · Answer

on what basis this question falls in parallel structure can someone please explain

LordStark · Answer

hi  Mona10031990 
there is a parallelism marker word "and" which is connecting two parallel entities "that nuclear proliferation must be halted" and "that steps should be implemented to reduce the level of nuclear stockpiles"

Hope it is clear.

daagh · Answer

Parallelism is about the use of the introductory word 'that' for both the relative clauses, the one that is missing in choices C and D.

Prateek176 · Answer

daagh

However "much" here seems to modify governments. I am finding it difficult to understand how "much" is a referent to "agreement".

daagh · Answer

Prateek Could kindly reproduce the sentence you are referring to. But on the look of it, can we modify the plural 'governments' by a quantum adjective 'much'?

Prateek176 · Answer

Sir,

I was talking about the opening sentence

"However  much  governments around the world may agree that nuclear proliferation......."

As per my understanding, "much" seems to modify "governments" here instead of "agreement" which cannot be possible because "much" can't modify something countable.

As per OE, "much" modifies "agreement". I didn't understand how?

daagh · Answer

Much is a countless quantum word and governments is a plural count noun.CAn they be reconciled?

Prateek176 · Answer

They cannot be reconciled.

But I am confused because I didn't understand what does "much" modify?? Does it modify "agree"? The positioning of the word "much" seems a little weird to modify "agree".
Wouldn't the sentence be clearer if we say "However  much agreement  exists among the governments around the world that.........."

Option B here seems clearer.

santorasantu · Answer

In this sentence "that" at the end of the underline is necessary. without "that", sentence reads as follows:
may agree nuclear proliferation --> this is not a complete sentence. based on this, C and D can be eliminated.

B and E are the wordier versions of A, so eliminate B and E.
A is the right answer

However much governments around the world may agree that nuclear proliferation must be halted and that steps should be implemented to reduce the level of nuclear stockpiles, it is difficult for countries to come to agreement on the specific methods of implementing such practices.

(A) However much governments around the world may agree that

(B) Despite the agreement among governments around the world to the fact that

(C) Although governments around the world agree

(D) Even though governments around the world may agree

(E) Despite there being agreement among governments around the world that

VerbalBot · Answer

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