Thanks AjiteshArun for your inputs
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aragonn generis GMATNinja hazelnut
Can we reject B and C on the basis of parallelism ?

But in Laos is not parallel to Laos so we can reject B and C
Please correct me if I am wrong.

AjiteshArun Skywalker18
Can you please brief on the parallelism issue ?

We'll ignore the in Laos bit while checking the structure of the portion after but. For example:

That song was initially only somewhat popular, but in the last month, it has gone viral.

Here we're not (in terms of parallelism) looking at (a) that song and (b) in the last month. Instead, we're really looking at (a) that song was initially only somewhat popular and (b) it has gone viral (in the last month).

The comparison problem in option B is that B compares land area to Great Britain (a land area of about the same size as Great Britain is).
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We need to compare Laos Land area to land area of Great Britain
Only C and E are doing the same
C is wordy and uses them for population
whereas E is crisp and uses whom for population

So E is correct

Hello Everyone!

This is a great example question you might find on the GMAT exam! Let's start by taking a quick look at the question, and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

Laos has a land area about the same as Great Britain but only four million in population, where many are members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain valleys of the north.

(A) about the same as Great Britain but only four million in population, where many
(B) of about the same size as Great Britain is, but in Laos there is a population of only four million, and many
(C) that is about the same size as Great Britain's land area, but in Laos with a population of only four million people, many of them
(D) comparable to the size of Great Britain, but only four million in population, and many
(E) comparable to that of Great Britain but a population of only four million people, many of whom

While it looks like there is a lot here that's different about each option, there are some things we can focus on to eliminate wrong options:

1. about the same / about the same size / comparable to the size / comparable to that
2. in population / a population
3. where many / and many / many of them / many of whom

Let's start with #1 on our list. If we look carefully, this has to do with parallelism! We need to make sure each sentence is comparing two items that are parallel in structure, type, number, wording, etc. Here is how each sentence handles the comparison between the land area of Laos and the land area of Great Britain:

(A) about the same as Great Britain but only four million in population, where many
land area of Laos + the entire country of Great Britain = NOT PARALLEL

(B) of about the same size as Great Britain is, but in Laos there is a population of only four million, and many
land area of Laos + the size of Great Britain = NOT PARALLEL

(C) that is about the same size as Great Britain's land area, but in Laos with a population of only four million people, many of them
land area of Laos + land area of Great Britain = PARALLEL

(D) comparable to the size of Great Britain, but only four million in population, and many
land area of Laos + the size of Great Britain = NOT PARALLEL

(E) comparable to that of Great Britain but a population of only four million people, many of whom
land area of Laos + land area of Great Britain = PARALLEL

We can eliminate options A, B, and D because they do not have parallel comparisons between the land areas of both countries!

Now that we have it narrowed down to only 2 options, let's take a closer look at each and determine which is the best option. To make errors easier to catch, let's add in the non-underlined parts of the sentence:

(C) Laos has a land area that is about the same size as Great Britain's land area, but in Laos with a population of only four million people, many of them are members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain valleys of the north.

This is INCORRECT for a couple reasons. First, there is a missing comma between "Laos" and "with" because the phrase "with a population of only four million people" was turned into a non-essential clause that needs to be surrounded by commas. Second, if we treat the phrase "with a population of only four million people" as a non-essential phrase, the pronoun "them" doesn't have a clear antecedent. Who is "them" referring to? It's not clear - and the GMAT requires that all pronouns have absolutely clear antecedents!

(E) Laos has a land area comparable to that of Great Britain but a population of only four million people, many of whom are members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain valleys of the north.

This is CORRECT! It compares the land are of Laos to the land area of Great Britain using parallelism, and the modifier that begins with "many of whom" is clearly referring back to "four million people," which makes sense!

There you have it - option E is the correct choice! If you know some of the tendencies of GMAT test writers, it's a lot easier to spot frequently used grammatical errors!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
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hi guys.

""Laos has a land area comparable to that of Great Britain but a population of only four million people, many of whom are members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain valleys of the north."""

what if we use "who" instead of "many of whom" ... because I cannot recognize "population" which receive an action !?
just do something. can you explain


but in this question =

In June, 1981, six teenagers in the village of Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, claimed to have had visions of the Virgin Mary, who they say has continued to appear to them over the ensuing years.

(A) claimed to have had visions of the Virgin Mary, who = correct AND use who !
(B) claimed to have visions of the Virgin Mary, whom
(C) claimed to have had visions of the Virgin Mary, whom
(D) claimed to have visions of the Virgin Mary, who
(E) had claimed to have had visions of the Virgin Mary, whom
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In A, comma + where is used to modify population. This is incorrect.

In B, Laos has a land area
of about the same size as Great Britain is
We need comparison between two land areas so incorrect

In C, D same error as B

E no errors.

So E it is.

Laos has a land area about the same as Great Britain but only four million in population, where many are members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain valleys of the north.


(A) about the same as Great Britain but only four million in population, where many

(B) of about the same size as Great Britain is, but in Laos there is a population of only four million, and many

(C) that is about the same size as Great Britain's land area, but in Laos with a population of only four million people, many of them

(D) comparable to the size of Great Britain, but only four million in population, and many

(E) comparable to that of Great Britain but a population of only four million people, many of whom

Posted from my mobile device

Official Explanation:

Logical predication; Grammatical construction
The comparison in this sentence is between the land area of Laos and the land area of Great Britain, not between the land area of Laos and Great Britain. The phrase about the population of Laos is most clearly and efficiently expressed in an appositive using a relative pronoun to refer back to people rather than the more abstract population. Using this construction keeps the appropriate emphasis on the two main claims being made about Laos, one describing its land area and the other its sparse population.
A The comparison between land area and Great Britain is incorrect; where is an inappropriate referent to population, which does not designate a place.
B Inappropriate comparison between land area and Great Britain; the there is …construction is wordy and imprecise.
C The reference of them is unclear and the expression is generally awkward.
D The coordinating conjunction and gives undue emphasis to the claim that many of the people in Laos live in inaccessible places.
E Correct. The land area of Laos is correctly compared to that of Great Britain; whom refers appropriately to people.
The correct answer is E.
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[quote="kenli"]Laos has a land area about the same as Great Britain but only four million in population, where many are members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain of the north.


(A) about the same as Great Britain but only four million in population, where many

(B) of about the same size as Great Britain is, but in Laos there is a population of only four million, and many

(C) that is about the same size as Great Britain's land area, but in Laos with a population of only four million people, many of them

(D) comparable to the size of Great Britain, but only four million in population, and many

(E) comparable to that of Great Britain but a population of only four million people, many of whom


in choice C, "land area that is about the same size " is wrong. "land area is about the same size" is wrong while " land area is of the same size" is correct. "land area" can not be "the same size".

Laos has a land area about the same as Great Britain but only four million in population, where many are members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain valleys of the north.


(A) about the same as Great Britain but only four million in population, where many

(B) of about the same size as Great Britain is, but in Laos there is a population of only four million, and many

(C) that is about the same size as Great Britain's land area, but in Laos with a population of only four million people, many of them

(D) comparable to the size of Great Britain, but only four million in population, and many

(E) comparable to that of Great Britain but a population of only four million people, many of whom

Explanation:

A- Incorrect comparison between area & Great Britain.

B- comparing area with size is not logical.Also sentence conveys incomolete information about population( polulation of whom? People?animal?birds?...)

C-Illogical comparison of area with size .Also "As+clause" structure is getting violated here

D- Illogical comparison of area with size .Also "As+clause" structure is getting violated here

E- correct. Proper logical comparison of area of Laos with that of Britain.People are referring to object case hence object form WHOM is used.

Hence E is the correct answer.

Award kudos if you like the explanation.?

Regards,
Atul Pandey

Posted from my mobile device

If we strip it down, it becomes:
Laos has a land area comparable to that of Great Britain but a population of only four million people, [many of whom are members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain valleys of the north.]

I am not able to figure out 2nd part of sentence without any verb . Does not it sound incomplete? . Should it not be :
1. Laos has a land area comparable to that of Great Britain but has a population of only four million people,

If we take literal meaning it could be weird also as:
2. Laos has a land area comparable to that of Great Britain but a population of only four million people - Great Britain that has population of only 4 million people ( as if area that has 4 million people in Great Britain)

Point what i want to emphasize is : GMAT like to have complete and concise meaning without ambiguity. But in option E , it seems something is missing.

Please suggest AndrewN sir.

thanks!

Hello, imSKR. The has of the former part of the sentence carries over to the latter, after the conjunction but. Thus, we understand choice (E) to mean that Laos has a land area comparable to [the land area] of Great Britain but [has] a population of only four million people. Remember that conjunctions, when used without a comma, join two elements in parallel. It is not uncommon to elide or leave out the verb that is understood to apply to the second phrase or clause in the same manner as the first. Watch those conjunctions!

Thank you for calling my attention to the question.

- Andrew

Hi Sir

So if no comma before conjunction then verb would be carried over as you mentioned above.
What if there is comma then usually need to repeat the verb/helping verb? If it is not repeated then it could be an error?

Sorry , I didn't notice such difference before with or without comma before conjunction in correlation with verb carrying forward.
Please confirm.

Thanks!

Yes, the comma makes a big difference. If you see one, it is typically indicating that the sentence consists of two independent clauses. And of course, you cannot have two independent clauses without a proper subject and predicate in the second portion. You should still pay attention to parallelism when a comma is present, but the independent clauses are not quite as tightly governed. Consider the following:

1) Jim has a fever and a sore throat.

2) Jim has a fever, but he still practices the piano every day.

Either sentence is fine. In the first, has carries over into the second item; in the latter sentence, if I wanted to use has again, I would need to replace the verb practices and alter the rest of the predicate accordingly (e.g., but he still has piano practice every day).

- Andrew

Hi,

Can someone help me with option C, I don't get why C is wrong and E is correct.

I marked Choice E as wrong because I thought there needed to be a has after "but". The wording is awkward, but why do you not need a has? Thank you in advance

This is a fairly common construction. Consider an example:

"Tim's children had 17 temper tantrums two nights ago but only 12 tantrums last night, leading Tim to conclude that the medication he was slipping into his children's pancakes was working."

Because the components in red are both objects of the action, "had," there's no need to repeat the verb. We know the writer must mean that the kids had 17 tantrums one night and had 12 tantrums the next night, as there's no other way to interpret the sentence. This construction is perfectly fine.

Same deal in (E). In "Laos has a land area...but a population," the parts in red are again objects of the same verb, "has," so it's not essential to repeat it.

The takeaway: Don't try to memorize the idea that objects can be connected with a conjunction! The point here is that if you'd read (E) with an emphasis on meaning, you would have realized that it made perfect sense and held on to it. If an option is logical, and there's a construction that might be problematic, but you're not 100% sure, try not to use that construction as a decision point! Instead, rely on the issues you're sure about -- concrete grammatical errors and meaning problems.

I hope that helps!
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Hi,
I eliminated C for using 'as' incorrectly(as per my analysis). Can this be a solid reason to eliminate option C? Same goes for option A also!! Is it OK, or am I picking wrong decision point?