Men are at greater risk of developing any of asthma, diabetes,

Men are at greater risk of developing any of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, four chronic physical health problems, than women, harmful to quality of life and longevity unless treated on time.

So, there is greater risk among men than among women to catch a flu

A) of developing any of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, four chronic physical health problems, than women, harmful ( "any of" is rebundunt i think doesnt make sense)



B) for the development of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder — four chronic physical health problems — than women, harmful CORRECT (this option corretly compares men to women, also there is usage of dashes, for smoothless reading experience, so as reader`s eyes dont re-read same sentence twice for example in option A there are no dashes so its kinda confusing)



C) that one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder — will be harmful to them more than women (pronoun ambiguity "them" refers to men or to "health problems" plus usage "more than" is not needed, because sentence starts with "greater than")


D) that asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, chronic physical health problems, developed to be more harmful than women ( same issue as in C, plus incorrect usage of past participle "developed"



E) than are women of developing one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary disorder — which are harmful ( incorrect comparison. compares "men" to verb "are" should be "than woman are' and not "than are woman"


IMO B

Men are at greater risk of developing any of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, four chronic physical health problems, than women, harmful to quality of life and longevity unless treated on time.

Meaning analysis: this sentence implies that men have high possibility to get some chronic physical health problems than have woman, and those problems are harmful to health

Error analysis: question tests comparison, modifier and meaning.
X at greater risk than Y. We need verb “are” before “woman” to maintain correct logical comparison, Men are at greater risk of developing any of asthma, than are woman,
“harmful” illogically modifies “woman”, but it has to modify “health problems”

A) of developing any of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, four chronic physical health problems, than women, harmful

B) for the development of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder — four chronic physical health problems — than women, harmful (comparison error, same modifier error “harmful” illogically to “woman”)

C) that one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder — will be harmful to them more than women (comparison error, “that” is incorrect here, non-underlined portion of the sentence has no clear meaning, there is no need for future tense, because author states a fact)

D) that asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, chronic physical health problems, developed to be more harmful than women (comparison error, “that” is incorrect here, same modifier error “harmful” illogically to “woman”)

E) than are women of developing one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary disorder — which are harmful (this choice maintains correct parallel comparison, usage of “and” instead of “or” in the original sentence is acceptable because it doesn’t distort intended meaning, which unambiguously refer to health problems)

Answer choice E is correct

(please correct if you see any mistakes or gaps in my explanation, thank you)

IMO E

A) of developing any of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, four chronic physical health problems, than women, harmful---> incorrect, comparison is between man and woman of the disease (as per meaning); However in this option compares incorrectly + meaning issues

B) for the development of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder — four chronic physical health problems — than women, harmful-incorrect, comparison is wrong; this option compares incorrectly + meaning issues

C) that one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder — will be harmful to them more than women ---> inocrrect, seems to present a definite answer, however original choice indicates a probability of any of 1 disease

D) that asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, chronic physical health problems, developed to be more harmful than women---> Incorrect, meaning and comparison issues

E) than are women of developing one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary disorder — which are harmful---> correct

In comparison, the first thing to look for is what is compared.

Here, men are more likely than women to develop certain disease.
IMO- only E places the modifiers correctly.
Rest all option modifies women with harmful to quality of life and longevity unless treated on time.
This is not the intended meaning of the question.

Men are at greater risk of developing any of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, four chronic physical health problems, than women, harmful to quality of life and longevity unless treated on time.

A) of developing any of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, four chronic physical health problems, than women, harmful

B) for the development of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder — four chronic physical health problems — than women, harmful

C) that one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder — will be harmful to them more than women

D) that asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, chronic physical health problems, developed to be more harmful than women

E) than are women of developing one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary disorder — which are harmful[/quote]

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

My annotations are in blue typeface.

According to examPAL , this question is best answered using a Logical Approach because there's a double meaning that we can easily correct.

• Logical: There must not be any double meaning. The sentence must be clear and logical.

• [One way to make sure that "logical predication" is sound: Remember that a] modifier (or a modifying clause)
that describes a noun (/pronoun) must be [as close as possible] to that noun (/pronoun)

• Double meaning that is easily corrected, starting with (A)
". . . women, harmful to the qualify of life"?!**
The health problems are harmful.
"than women" should come earlier:
"Men are at greater risk than are women [of developing . . .]"

• Answer E is correct


*Putting a question mark and exclamation point together
after the example was a smart move. You will
never need to know what that coupling means for the GMAT:
"Huh? That statement is outrageous!" "That's crazy!" "WTH?"

COMMENTS

IronMaiden97 , welcome!

As is often the case with many OEs, official GMAT guide included, this explanation
could be clearer. (That said, the explanation uses a shorthand reference to a proprietary
method, so we have to fill in the analysis.)

This problem presents a lot of issues and various ways to solve.

Darshi04 wrote

Meaning Analysis
Men are at greater risk (than women are at risk) of developing any of 4 chronic physical health problems.
These problems are asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder.
These health problems are harmful to quality of life and longevity unless treated on time.

• Comparisons: as IronMaiden97 notes, "the first thing to look for is what is compared."

@GKomuko explains, "X at greater risk than Y"

All of the posters identified the issue: men and women are being compared.
More specifically, men's risk of developing harmful ABC is compared to women's risk.

-- Comparison markers: greater . . . than
-- RHS of comparison?
-- LHS of comparison?

What should come after THAN, on the "right hand side" of the comparison?
In this instance, the LHS is easier: what comes BEFORE "than"

Strip and "parcel" the original sentence; bracket items in question, then rearrange

Men are at greater risk of developing any of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder, four chronic physical health problems, than women, harmful to quality of life and longevity unless treated on time.

Men are at greater risk (of developing 4 bad things) [THAN] [women,] things that are harmful (to quality of life)

LHS: Men are at greater risk
RHS: [than] WOMEN (ARE)

Focusing solely on the placement of the comparison elements:

A) incorrectly states that men are at greater risk of developing health problems than men are at risk of developing women.
That statement is both nonsensical and a powder keg.
[Men's risk of developing] health problems cannot be compared to [men's risk of developing] women

B) is hard to follow, but B
incorrectly compares either the specific health problems or just health problems to women, as in A

C) that one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disorder — will be harmful to them more than women [will be harmful to them/men]

In this version, it is impossible to tell what is going on.
Men have a higher risk of being harmed by health problems than men have of being harmed by women?
Whatever is the case, the construction does not compare men's risk of health problems to women's risk of health problems

D) Like (C), Option D fails to use the correct structure: X have a greater risk than Y

E) than are women of developing one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary disorder — which are harmful

Men are at greater risk than are women of developing [one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary disorder] ABC — [which are harmful to quality of life and longevity unless treated on time.] ELIMINATE. The which-clause is a non-essential modifier.

Men are at greater risk than are women of developing ABC.

Ellipsis

Ellipsis in comparison may be the single hardest topic on the GMAT.
My advice? Read correct examples, as many as you can.
Even the best native-English-speaking writers often have a hard time with this kind of structure.
(E) just happens to be the obvious choice because the other four answers are incorrect

Ellipsis omits or leaves out words that should be obvious.
When ellipsis or elliptical construction is used, sometimes the subject and verb get switched.

Items to keep in mind:

• GMAT writers rarely switch subject/verb order, but the instances in which writers
do switch subject and verb order are usually:

1) Subordinate clauses, e.g., a which clause:
Correct: Latin is the language from which many other languages have developed.
Also correct (and very challenging): Latin is the language from which HAVE DEVELOPED many other languages.

2) Main clauses that begin with prepositions
Beneath the canopy of trees still stands an old cabin, painted white.
Flipped: An old cabin, painted white, still stands beneath the canopy of trees.

3) Comparisons with ellipsis: if we have a verb that is repeated (in which the repeated verb
is almost always a helping or auxiliary verb),
the verb can be placed before or after the subject

Correct: Dogs are usually more attached to their owners than cats are.
Correct: Dogs are usually more attached to their owners than are cats.

Without seeing the two constructions side by side,
how do we know whether the second construction is correct?
This rule is hard for almost everyone.

-- Flip the subject and verb whose construction seems strange.

Men are at greater risk than are women of developing ABC.
Flipped, correct: Men are at greater risk than women are of developing ABC.

-- Or rearrange AND flip
If that construction still bothers you, see whether you can take a whole piece of the sentence
as I did here by writing "of developing ABC," and move that piece, too.

Men are at greater risk OF developing ABC than women are [at risk of developing ABC].

That sentence is correct. It is a bit awkward because we have a long prepositional phrase
"at greater risk of developing ABC" between the subjects that are being compared.

And if that sentence is correct, so is this one:
Men are at greater risk of developing ABC than are women.
Then move the two subjects being compared closer together, a move that results in E:
Men are at greater risk than are women of developing ABC.

HERE is an official question
that uses ellipsis in the same way as (E) does.

HERE is a good post on ellipsis and helping verbs that contains examples of inverted structure.

There are a lot of good answers, an excellent answer (a little off on the comparison) by GKomoku (who gets a smiley face because I have to designate something as "second place")
And a best answer by Darshi04 (who gets kudos)

Nice work!

generis thank you very much for detailed explanation, although i still have doubts, because if i compare the example below to the question above, each correct answer goes crazy on its own though both question have the same issue I think in terms of comparison

-- Flip

Men are at greater risk than are women of developing ABC.
Flipped, correct: Men are at greater risk than women are of developing ABC.

then in the example below (https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-his-eager ... l#p2168052)

following such rule C could be correct in the example below.



In his eagerness to find a city worthy of Priam, the German archaeologist Schliemann cut through Troy and uncovered a civilization a thousand years older as was the city Homer's heroes knew.



(A) older as was the city Homer's heroes knew

(B) more ancient than the city known to Homer's heroes

(C) older than was the city known to Homer's heroes ----> (FLIP - is it like hocus pocus ? ) older than the city was known to Homer`s heros ( ) ) (And I eliminated C cause it compared "civilization" to the verb "was")

(D) more ancient of a city than Homer's heroes knew

(E) older of a city than was the one known to Homer's heroes


help please

dave13 The basic answer to your question is that it's often fine to add a clarifying verb to a comparison, and it sometimes helps to put the verb before the subject. In some cases, that will seem silly or awkward:

I have more friends than has my sister.
This is no good. We're much better off with "I have more friends than my sister has," or just "I have more friends than my sister." The comparison is clear enough without the "has," and putting "has" before "sister" is just confusing.

But what about this?

I'm not as excited to see the new Star Wars movie as the hordes of fans who have been camped outside the theater for days, wearing expensive recreations of costumes from the original films are.

Can you see how weird it is to have the verb "are" tacked on to the end of that very long modifier for "fans"? Look how much clearer the sentence is when we move that verb:

I'm not as excited to see the new Star Wars movie as are the hordes of fans who have been camped outside the theater for days, wearing expensive recreations of costumes from the original films.

Check out this official Q for another interesting use of verb-first before a lengthy noun phrase: https://gmatclub.com/forum/what-was-as- ... 85107.html

DmitryFarber many thanks for taking time to explain. Happy New Year 2019 !

generis

May I check if the below 2 sentences are correct without adding "are"?

Men are at greater risk than women of developing ABC.
Men are at greater risk of developing ABC than women

I dont think there is any change in the intended meaning, can we use ellipsis to eliminate "are" as well?

duybachhpvn Agreed--you don't need to add a second "are" to those. There's no potential for confusion.

Hi duybachhpvn , dmitryfarber gave you the answer,
I want
(1) to underscore that I think you are using "intended meaning" as "not ambiguous," as dmitryfarber points out, rather than "intended meaning" in the sense of "what option A intends" (option A does not determine intended meaning);
(2) to add for others' sake that I used the "men/women/ABC" example of "flipping"
to illustrate a typical GMAT subject/verb inversion,
not to carry ellipsis as far as possible. You carried the ellipsis further than I did.
Nice work! +1

@DmitryFarber-Please help my understanding
In option E , I think there is S/V issue.
one of four chronic physical health problems
which are
E) than are women of developing one of four chronic physical health problems — asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary disorder — which are harmful

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