In the United States, less than half as many multifamily housing units

Question

In the United States,  less than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than  in each of the previous two decades.

A) less than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than

B) less than half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s as

C) there were less than half as many multifamily housing units produced in the 1990s than

D) fewer than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s as

E) fewer than half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s than

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EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Accepted Answer

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options quickly so we know how to answer questions like this when they pop up on the GMAT! To begin, let's take a quick look at the question and highlight any major differences between the options in  orange :

In the United States,  less than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than  in each of the previous two decades.

A)  less than  half as many multifamily housing units  were produced  in the 1990s  than

B)  less than  half as many multifamily housing units  had been produced  in the 1990s  as

C) there were  less than  half as many multifamily housing units  produced  in the 1990s  than

D)  fewer than  half as many multifamily housing units  were produced  in the 1990s  as

E)  fewer than  half as many multifamily housing units  had been produced  in the 1990s  than

After a quick glance over the options, we found a few key differences to focus on:

1. less than / fewer than (Idioms)
2. were produced / had been produced / produced (Verb Form)
3. than / as (Idioms)

Let’s start with #1 on our list because it’s a simple either/or split.  No matter which direction we go, we’ll knock 2-3 options off our list. This is an idiom issue:

less than  = non-countable nouns / singular mass nouns
 fewer than  = countable nouns

Since the sentence is talking abou “multifamily housing units,” which are countable nouns, we need to use “fewer.” Let’s see how our options break down:

A)  less than  half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than

B)  less than  half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s as

C) there were  less than  half as many multifamily housing units produced in the 1990s than

D)  fewer than  half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s as

E)  fewer than  half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s than

We can eliminate options A, B, & C because “less than” isn’t the correct idiom to use with a countable noun.  Now that we’ve quickly narrowed it down to only 2 options, let’s focus on #2 and #3 on our list:

D) fewer than half  as many  multifamily housing units  were produced  in the 1990s  as  
This is  CORRECT ! The idiom “as many as” is used correctly, and the past tense “were produced” makes sense here!

E) fewer than half  as many  multifamily housing units  had been produced  in the 1990s  than  
This is  INCORRECT  for a couple reasons. First, the phrase “as many than” is not idiomatic. Second, the verb “had been produced” isn’t necessary here - just a simple past tense is better.

There you have it - option D is our winner!  By focusing on easy either/or splits first, we can eliminate several options quickly, leaving us more time to focus on more complex issues!

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

ArunSharma12 · Answer

Ans: D

A)   less than  half  as many  multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s  than ;  housing units is a countable noun requires fewer than, correct idiom is as many as

B)   less than  half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s as;  less than is incorrect

C)  there were  less than  half as many multifamily housing units produced in the 1990s  than ;  same error as option A

D)  fewer than half  as many  multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s as;  correct choice, uses as many as

E)  fewer than half  as many  multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s  than ; as many as is correct idiom

itspC · Answer

A,B,C are wrong as they used less for countable units; and E is wrong as it used wrong idiom AS MANY...THAN 
.  D perfectly uses AS....AS construction & fewer

unraveled · Answer

In the United States,  less than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than  in each of the previous two decades.

A)  less  than half  as many  multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s  than

B)  less  than half  as many  multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s  as

C) there were  less  than half  as many  multifamily housing units produced in the 1990s  than

D)  fewer  than half  as many  multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s  as

E)  fewer  than half  as many  multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s  than

Proper idiom is 'as many as' not 'as many than'. Also, 'multifamily housing units' are countable so 'fewer' has to be used instead of 'less'.

Hence D is correct.

varun325 · Answer

In the United States,  less than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than  in each of the previous two decades.

Correct Idion as many X as Y
Fewer is used for countable nouns and here the y is Housing units which is countable.

Here the comparision is between the housing units produced in 1990's and the housing units produced in previous two decades.

A) less than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than

B) less than half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s as

C) there were less than half as many multifamily housing units produced in the 1990s than

D) fewer than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s as (Correct)

E) fewer than half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s than

Tajmir · Answer

In the United States, less than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than in each of the previous two decades.

A) less than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than
*  less than half as many multifamily housing units ; here ‘many housing units’ is a countable noun so “less than” has been wrongly placed. It should be  fewer than 
*  as many……………than  is a wrong parallel structure. It should be  as many……………as

B) less than half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s as
 * less than half as many multifamily housing units ; same explanation of A.
*  had been produced in the 1990s ; Here, the time is 1990s and a past tense should be used not past perfect tense.

C) there were less than half as many multifamily housing units produced in the 1990s than
*  as many……………than  is a wrong parallel structure. It should be  as many……………as

D) fewer than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s as ( correct )

E) fewer than half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s than
*  as many……………than  is a wrong parallel structure. It should be  as many……………as 
*  had been produced in the 1990s ; Here, the time is 1990s and a past tense should be used not past perfect tense.

NiftyNiffler · Answer

Few things to note here.
1) Housing units are plural countable. Thus, it should be "fewer than half as many" 
2) Correct comparison phrase is "as many X as Y"
3) We don't need unnecessary tense change to past perfect when simple past will do.

With the above points in mind,  D  is the clear winner.

Anshurana · Answer

After reading the sentence I noticed :
 Parallelism issue and a split between less and fewer

It should   As many as  
   A,C,E OUT

Also units are always fewer because its a  COUNTABLE NOUN 
Less is used with uncountable Noun.

From B and D.
B has 2 errors 
1. Use of Less
2.Past perfect tense ,if dates are mentioned we should not use past perfect tense.
 "HAD" should be used for deeper past ... Here HAD is used for 1930's and not for 1920s , its a wrong usage of HAD.

For Above reason B is out

IMO D

SSM700plus · Answer

multifamily housing units . "Units" is countable. So, Fewer is right. Less is incorrect.

A, B & C is eliminated.

As we compare D & E, 
in D, as ..X ...as Y is Right Usage.
in E, as ..X....than Y. is unidomatic.

A)  less than  half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than  Eliminate

B)  less than  half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s as  Eliminate

C) there were less than  half as many multifamily housing units produced in the 1990s than  Eliminate

D)  fewer than  half  as  many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s  as   Right

E) fewer than half  as  many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s  than   Eliminate

nothing345 · Answer

After narrowing the answer choices down to A and D, D seems better as we can count the number of house so we say fewer, Meaning is also concise and clear.

Mandeep1357 · Answer

In the United States,  less than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than  in each of the previous two decades.

A) less than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s than

B) less than half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s as

C) there were less than half as many multifamily housing units produced in the 1990s than

D) fewer than half as many multifamily housing units were produced in the 1990s as

E) fewer than half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s than

In A, C and E, pair "as many than" is incorrect....Right pair is "as many as"....Eliminate A, C and E

In B, "less than" is used...."less than" is used for uncountable nouns......"housing units" are countable....Eliminate B

Hence, D is the correct answer

thangvietnam · Answer

"fewer" is used for something which can be counted properly
fewer than 5 persons will come.

I have spent many hours on this job
less than 10 hours is spent on this job

in the first sentence, we can properly count the hours. in the second, we can not count the time because less than 10 hours can not be counted.

LoneSurvivor · Answer

"As many as" is correct idiom. B and D remains. B is wrong because of the usage of "had" hence D.

aarkay87 · Answer

POE:

A: Incorrect use of 'less' for countable objects housing units, AND incorrect idiom form (as many...than...) 
B: Incorrect use of 'less' for countable objects housing units, AND Past perfect tense not required
C: Incorrect use of 'less' for countable objects housing units, AND incorrect idiom form (as many...than...)
D: Correct
E: incorrect idiom form (as many...than...) AND Simple past tense is sufficient

shauryahanda · Answer

GMATNinja ,  VeritasKarishma  
and other respected moderators

I would just like to ask a question in this

I marked the ans D and found the error as many ... than in E
But even after reading all the explanations given above, I am unable to get the right explanation for why Past perfect tense is wrong

And would the usage of Past perfect tense be right in case of

fewer than half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s  as in 2000s  ?

carouselambra · Answer

Hi shauryahanda Let me help you out till the experts respond ofcourse

Rule #1 of using Past perfect tense is : a. It should be a part of an earlier event that occurred and was followed by another event. b. Both the events should be related. Example : I had eaten my food before she sat on the table. Event 1 (had eaten) happened before Event 2 (sat on the table). The use of past perfect tense makes sense here. Hence, your opinion on tweaking (E) will still be incorrect because of the the reasons stated above. "Fewer than half as many multifamily housing units had been produced in the 1990s as in 2000s" Where is event 2? Where is the sequence? Hope this was of some help!

Cheers!

GMATGuruNY · Answer

Case 1:  At 7pm, John  prepared  dinner. 
Here, the use of the simple present tense --  prepared  -- implies the following:
When the clock struck 7:00, the action in blue was performed.

Case 2:  At 7pm, John  had prepared  dinner. 
Here, the use of the past perfect tense --  had prepared  -- implies the following:
When the clock struck 7:00, the action in blue HAD ALREADY BEEN COMPLETED.
in other words, John was NO LONGER preparing dinner when the clock struck 7:00.

Case 2 is rare.
In most cases, we don't use a perfect tense to refer to a defined time such as  at 7pm .

Here, the use of the past perfect seems to imply that -- in the 1990s -- the action in blue had already been completed.
Not the intended sequence.
To convey that the units were produced not BEFORE the 1990s but IN the 1990s, we must use the simple present tense, as in the OA:
 Half as many units were produced in the 1990s as in each of the previous two decades.

KarishmaB · Answer

"Past perfect" implies that the action was complete before another action in the past or another point in time in the past.

Maria had never cooked pasta before last night. (before a point in time)
I visited the doctor because I had swallowed a penny. (before visiting the doctor)

In our original question, we want to say that say 100 housing units were produced in the 1990s. 
We are talking about the time in the past during which the action happened - in the 1990s. So we will use simple past.

If instead, we wanted to use a point in time, we could have said:
By 2000, 100 housing units had been produced.

This is correct too.

Rickooreo · Answer

EMPOWERgmatVerbal

Aren't we comparing  production  (number of) multifamily housing units in 1990 vs  production  in previous two decades ?
Since we cannot count production it will be less and not fewer

In the United States, less than half as many multifamily housing units

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

In the United States, less than half as many multifamily housing units

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