In the 1980s advertising revenues accounted for

Question

In the 1980s advertising revenues accounted for approximately 40% of operating profits of a typical local  newspaper;
in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57% .
• newspaper; in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57%.
• newspaper; in the 1990s they increased by 57%.
• newspaper, in the 1990s they increased to 57%.
• newspaper; increasing to 57% in the 1990s.
• newspaper, which increased to 57% in the 1990s

mailnavin1 · Answer

In the 1980s advertising revenues accounted for approximately 40% of operating profits of a typical local newspaper; in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57%.

• newspaper; in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57%.
• newspaper; in the 1990s they increased by 57%. -  In B the problem is not with they. If B read in the 1990s they increased to (instead of by) 57%. This would have been correct. A pronoun after a semicolon, can refer to the noun in the previous clasue Wrong meaning - hence out. 
• newspaper, in the 1990s they increased to 57%. -  This is a run on. A comma cannot join 2 clauses .
• newspaper; increasing to 57% in the 1990s.  after a semicolon it should be a clause. In this case its not. Hence wrong. 
• newspaper, which increased to 57% in the 1990s -  touch modifier which rule. so wrong.

A wins.

daagh · Answer

B and C have a problem of the antecedence of the  they , as also with whether the plural pronoun agrees in number with what it should refer to. There are three factots mentioned in the passge namely 1. the revenues 2. a ratio of either 40% and 57% and 3. operational profits. Among the three, the revenues and profits are in plural. But surprisingly  they  does not even refer to a plural noun. Per se,  they  refers to the  singular proportion  which jumped from x to y percentage as made out in the original text. Now we can see how wrong the usage of  they   is in B and C.

aditi1903 · Answer

In the 1980s advertising revenues accounted for approximately 40% of operating profits of a typical local  newspaper; in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57%.

A. newspaper; in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57%.
B. newspaper; in the 1990s they increased by 57%.
C. newspaper, in the 1990s they increased to 57%.
D. newspaper; increasing to 57% in the 1990s.
E. newspaper, which increased to 57% in the 1990s.

souvik101990 · Answer

E. which cant be used (it  almost  entirely modifies the noun it touches) Incorrect
D. Dependent clause after ;. Not going to happen!
C. "they" means what? advertising revenues or operating profits? I cant see any other antecedent. However, that cannot be the case as 57% i compared with 40% which is the proportion of advertising revenues.
B. Same mistake as C. Also "increased by" changes meaning by compounding the percentages! 
 A. Correct. Ambiguity is resolved by "this proportion". "increased to" is logical!

Souvik

anshunadir · Answer

In the 1980s advertising revenues accounted for approximately 40% of operating profits of a typical local  newspaper;
in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57%. 
• newspaper; in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57%.
• newspaper; in the 1990s they increased by 57%.  "they" refers to "advertising revenues, see rule no.2 below" 
• newspaper, in the 1990s they increased to 57%.  "they" refers to "advertising revenues, see rule no.2 below" 
• newspaper; increasing to 57% in the 1990s.  after semicolon, fragment is not acceptable 
• newspaper, which increased to 57% in the 1990s.  which refers to newspaper

This question exclusively tests concepts of semicolon usage. below are two very useful rules: 
  1. Semicolon joins two complete sentences. whenever you encounter ; in any question, you must look for fragment errors. 
2. Pronoun in the second clause refers to the first noun of the sentence. option B and C contains error based on this concept only.

arvind910619 · Answer

The answer is A 
We have semicolon so we need an independent clause that can give us more information .
We are referring to the proportion of the advertising revenues to operating profits.
So we need proportion 
In the sentence

Sent from my ONE E1003 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

TheUltimateWinner · Answer

Hi bb and Bunuel , It seems that this question is also discussed in another thread. So, if this is the case, could you merge the topic, please? Here is the link of another thread: https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-the-1980s ... fl=similar Thanks__

Bunuel · Answer

Merged. Thank you.

P.S. Please do NOT tag bb in such cases. Tagging me is enough. Thank you.

TheUltimateWinner · Answer

Okay. You're most welcome.

Sophia0516 · Answer

if the which always modifier immediately preceding nouns, the case below is wrong?

eg. I took a picture of my dogs, which are printed today.

pls comment, many thanks~

AjiteshArun · Answer

Which  may or may not refer to the noun just before it.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

The original sentence correctly uses the semicolon to connect two closely related independent clauses, both of which can stand alone. Furthermore, by starting each of the two clauses with time references, "In the 1980s" and "in the 1990s," the original sentence creates a parallel construction. Finally, the reference to “this proportion” unambiguously indicates that the increase in the second part of the sentence refers to the proportion of “advertising revenues” in the structure of profits, thus maintaining clarity of expression.

(A) CORRECT.   This answer choice is correct as it repeats the original sentence.

(B)  This answer choice suffers from two errors. First, the verb construction “increased by 57%” incorrectly alters the meaning of the original sentence, implying that “57%” indicates the relative magnitude of the increase rather than the new proportion of “advertising revenues” in the structure of “operating profits.” Second, the pronoun “they” lacks a clear antecedent and could be interpreted to refer either to “operating profits” or to “advertising revenues.”

(C)  This answer choice creates a run-on sentence by joining two independent clauses with a comma, rather than with a semicolon or with a connecting conjunction. Further, the pronoun “they” lacks a clear antecedent and could be interpreted to refer either to “operating profits” or to “advertising revenues.”

(D)  This answer choice incorrectly uses a semicolon to connect two clauses, only one of which can stand alone. The phrase “increasing to 57% in the 1990s” is not an independent clause and cannot follow the semicolon. Furthermore, by moving the time reference “in the 1990s” from the beginning of the second clause to the end, this answer choice violates parallelism with the non-underlined portion of the sentence that begins with another time reference “In the 1980s.”

(E)  In this answer choice, the relative pronoun “which” is used incorrectly. Clauses introduced by the relative pronoun “which” can refer only to the immediately preceding noun. In this case, the relative pronoun “which” refers to “a typical local newspaper,” thus illogically suggesting that “a typical local newspaper” was the subject of the increase. Finally, by moving the time reference “in the 1990s” from the beginning of the second clause to the end, this answer choice does not maintain parallel structure with the non-underlined portion of the sentence that begins with the time reference “In the 1980s.”

Answer: A

VerbalBot · Answer

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In the 1980s advertising revenues accounted for

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In the 1980s advertising revenues accounted for

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