Local reporters investigating the labor dispute reported that only hal

Question

Local reporters investigating the labor dispute reported that only half of the workers in the plant were covered by the union health plan;  at least as much as a hundred and more others had not any  health insurance whatsoever.

(A) at least as much as a hundred and more others had not any

(B) at least as much as more than a hundred others had no

(C) more than a hundred others had no

(D) much more than a hundred others had no

(E) more than a hundred others did not have

pqhai · Accepted Answer

Hi nt2010

"had no" in C is NOT past perfect tense.  This is simple past tense . 
Simple past tense form of "have no" is "had no".

In American English ( not British English ), you can say:
I  DO NOT HAVE  any money.
--OR--
I  HAVE NO  money.

Both of them are correct. You can refer to  GmatClub grammar book - page 85 - Negation Part I.

As you did, I eliminated A, B, D because the usage of "much" is not correct. Between C and E, I would say there are not grammar problems with both C and E, but I picked C because it's more concise than E.

Hence, C is correct.

Hope it helps.

nt2010 · Answer

A, B and D are out because of much.

Between C and E, I would go with E. I don't see any reason for past perfect since the sentence does not require any sequencing of events. The report is showing who all are covered under insurance and who all are not. The former reference uses simple past and the later can also use simple past.

IMO answer is E

akhu · Answer

Hi pqhai ,

Thanks for quick reply, but my basic question is :  had no / didn't have  .

Are we rejecting E only because it is not concise ?

pqhai · Answer

Hi prinkashar

If your question is "which one is correct between "had no" and "didn't have", I would say both are correct.

According to Manhattan GMAT, if you have  run out of grammar or meaning issues  to apply, and you are down to two choices, then  choose the more concise option. Otherwise, do not think about concision .

C & E have no grammar or meaning issues, so C is better (I do not mean E is wrong). However, I think the possibility that this kind of question (just about concision) appears in GMAT is quite rare.

Hope it helps.

dave785 · Answer

It's very clearly C.

eliminate all the answers with "much" in them.

Then, Make the verb tense in the answer parallel to "were covered" which is past tense. "had no" is also past tense, but "did not have" isn't.

niteshgmat · Answer

C for me.

I eliminated E for an entirely different reason.
If you put E into the sentence, then it becomes:-
 more than a hundred others did not have  health insurance  whatsoever 
The presence of "whatsoever" in the above sentence means that we must use either "any" so that the sentence becomes:-

more than a hundred others did not have   any  health insurance whatsoever
or else use the construct present in (C)

prasun9 · Answer

A, B & D can be eliminated because of the use of "much more" which is wrong while referring to countable nouns.

Between C & E the difference is in the use of Simple Past tense "had" in C and Simple Present tense "have" in E.
According to GMAT the Tense used in a sentence must be consistent, unless of course the events take place at different instances.

In the non-underlined portion
Local reporters investigating the labor dispute  reported  that only half of the workers in the plant  were covered  by the union health plan;   - Simple Past  
There is no reason to switch to Simple Present tense in the underlined portion. The half of the workers  had  no insurance at the same time when the other half  were covered . So a simple present is required here.
Hence C is the best option

Local reporters investigating the labor dispute  reported  that only half of the workers in the plant  were covered  by the union health plan;  more than a hundred others  had  no  health insurance whatsoever.

chesstitans · Answer

"had no...whatsoever" will appear in the actual exam?
Pls help, thanks.

sayantanc2k · Answer

The usage is valid. "Whatsoever" here is used as an adverb to mean "at all".... "more than a hundred others had no health insurance  whatsoever  (=  at all )."

Bunuel · Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

There are a few problems in the original sentence. First of all, as much as a hundred is incorrect; the idiom as many as should be used to describe a number of objects (as many as ten speakers but as much as the debt of...). Eliminate (A) and (B). (D) changes the phrasing but is still wrong because much more distorts the meaning of the original sentence. Finally, (C) is better than (E) because had no health insurance whatsoever makes more sense and is more idiomatic than did not have health insurance whatsoever. Notice that both (C) and (E) also simplify the structure of the original at least as much as a hundred and more others by replacing it with more than a hundred others. The change is acceptable because it does not alter the meaning of the original, excessively wordy expression. If there were more than a hundred people, then it's unnecessary to also say that there were at least one hundred people; that's obvious. (C) it is.

An 800 test taker makes sure that the terms describing numbers or quantities are idiomatic.

Adnani · Answer

I found not a single reason to eliminate E

Posted from my mobile device

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Adnani ,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, Option E has no flaw that makes it worthy of elimination; it is just a bit less direct and a bit wordier than C.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

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