NEW HERE? LEARN MORE
closeclose
Last visit was: 24 Apr 2024, 06:35 It is currently 24 Apr 2024, 06:35
Decision Tracker
My Rewards
New posts
New comers' posts

Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel

More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20

SORT BY:
Date
Kudos
 1   2   3   4   5   
Tags:
Find Similar Topics 
Show Tags
Hide Tags
avatar
likar
Manager
Manager
Joined: 09 Feb 2006
Posts: 61
Own Kudos [?]: 497 [370]
Given Kudos: 0
Location: Prague, CZ
Send PM
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 25 May 2022, 01:44
12
Kudos
358
Bookmarks
00:00
A
B
C
D
E

Difficulty:

45% (medium)

Question Stats:

63% (01:26) correct 37% (01:46) wrong based on 5989 sessions
Hide Show timer Statistics
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.


(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.

(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.

(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
ShowHide Answer
Official Answer
A

Originally posted by likar on 11 Jul 2006, 08:49.
Last edited by Bunuel on 25 May 2022, 01:44, edited 9 times in total.
Renamed the topic and edited the question.
Most Helpful Reply
User avatar
L
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Posts: 6917
Own Kudos [?]: 63652 [156]
Given Kudos: 1773
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170

GRE 2: Q170 V170
Send PM
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   24 Apr 2018, 01:20
98
Kudos
56
Bookmarks
Expert Reply
For some reason, a large percentage of my students hate this question with the fury of a thousand suns. But you’ll love it… right?

Quote:
(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

I don’t really see any problems with (A). The “which” jumps out at me, but that seems fine, since “which holds 20% of the world’s fresh water” logically modifies “Siberia’s Lake Baikal.” That last modifier seems fine, too: “more than all the North American Great Lakes combined” describes “20% of the world’s fresh water.”

So I guess we’ll keep (A), and hope that the other four answer choices have problems.

Quote:
(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.

I’m not sure that anything is WRONG with (B), but there are three or four things that are spectacularly crappy about (B). (Craptacular? That’s not a word, but it should be.)

For starters, “with 20% of the world’s fresh water” is a lousy way to modify “Siberia’s Lake Baikal.” The preposition “with” generally suggests accompaniment of some sort (“I eat burritos with green chile” or “I went to the movies with my daughter”), and I can’t understand why we would use “with” in this context. Plus, it’s a long way from the thing it modifies. Again, I can’t prove that it’s WRONG, but it’s not great.

I also can’t make sense of the middle modifier, “that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.” For starters, I can’t figure out why we’re using a modifier beginning with “that” immediately after a comma. More importantly, the comparison doesn’t work: it’s basically saying that 20% of the world’s fresh water is more than the Great Lakes. You could say that the amount of water in Lake Baikal is greater than the amount of water in the Great Lakes, but it isn’t awesome to say that the amount of water is greater than the lakes themselves.

Finally, there’s no reason to write “…Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it” when we could use a more active construction (“more than 300 rivers drain into Lake Baikal”). The version in (B) isn’t WRONG, exactly, but it’s pretty craptacular compared to (A).

So we can ditch (B).

Quote:
(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.

The most straightforward problem with (B) is that the subject is basically repeated twice: “Siberia’s Lake Baikal, (blah blah modifier), it holds…” That’s definitely not cool.

For bonus points, the modifier beginning with “with” still doesn’t seem quite right (see the explanation to (B) for more on that issue), and the comparison isn’t quite right, either: “Lake Baikal… holds more of the world’s fresh water than all that of the… Great Lakes…” “That” presumably refers to water, so that gives us “Lake Baikal… holds more of the world’s fresh water than [all the water of] the… Great Lakes.” And that’s wildly unnecessary: it’s better just to say that Lake Baikal holds more water than the Great Lakes.

But even if you ignore that last paragraph, the “Lake Baikal… it holds…” thing is a huge problem. So (C) is out.

Quote:
(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

The “which” jumps out at me first. The phrase “which is more than… the Great Lakes…” seems to modify “20% of the world’s fresh water”, and that doesn’t quite work: it’s illogical to say that a quantity of water is “more than… the Great Lakes.” It might be more than the water in the Great Lakes, but not “more than” the Great Lakes themselves.

Plus, “while” is essentially a synonym for “although” in this case, and that doesn’t make sense: “[Although] more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia’s Lake Baikal…[is large].” “Although” suggests some sort of contrast, and there’s definitely no contrast between those two phrases.

So (D) is out.

Quote:
(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.

That opening modifier, “more than all the… Great Lakes combined”, still isn’t great: it’s literally suggesting that Lake Baikal is “more than the Great Lakes”, and that doesn’t make sense. Maybe the amount of water in Lake Baikal is more than the amount in all of the Great Lakes, but Lake Baikal itself isn’t “more than” the Great Lakes.

I’m also not crazy about the use of “with” as a modifier in (E). For more on this issue, see the explanation for (B) above.

(E) isn’t a complete disaster, but (A) does a better job of conveying the meaning of the sentence, so (A) is our answer.
User avatar
G
mikemcgarry
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Posts: 4448
Own Kudos [?]: 28569 [28]
Given Kudos: 130
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   20 Sep 2013, 10:43
14
Kudos
14
Bookmarks
Expert Reply
imhimanshu wrote:
Hello Experts,
Can someone please explain what the modifier "more than all the North American Great Lakes combined" is modifying? Is it modifying previous modifier or is it modifying the main clause. Of late, I have been seeing such constructions, and really want to understand how such constructions work.

Thanks
Himanshu

Dear Himanshu,
I'm responding to your pm, and I am happy to help. :-)

More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

One way to think about it is: exactly what is "more than all the North American Great Lakes combined"? The Great Lakes, as lakes, are fresh water, so we are comparing them to another quantity of fresh water --- "20 percent of the world's fresh water", a noun phrase that is the object of the the noun-modifying phrase beginning with "more than all ..." Not surprisingly, the modifier touches the noun, in accordance with the Modifier Touch Rule. See this blog for more on that rule:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/modifiers- ... orrection/
While there are exceptions to the Modifier Touch Rule, that's an exactly place to start to look for the noun modified.

Keep in mind that modifiers are a part of what the GMAT calls "Logical Predication" on the the SC ----- in other words, to make sense of whether modifiers are used correctly and what they are modifying, you have to look beyond the grammar of a sentence to the logic & meaning, which are more primary. See this blog for more on that:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/logical-pr ... orrection/

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
General Discussion
User avatar
babyif19
Manager
Manager
Joined: 20 Oct 2009
Posts: 69
Own Kudos [?]: 126 [19]
Given Kudos: 0
Concentration: General
Schools:MIT LGO (Admitted), Harvard (Admitted))
 Q50  V41
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   11 Dec 2009, 00:47
13
Kudos
6
Bookmarks
I was debating major time between A and E. However, E has the phrase with more than 300 rivers draining into it....GMAt does not prefer the structure in the form of " with ....+Verbing"

Also Lake B can not be more than all the North American Great lakes combined....It is the water in Lake B.
User avatar
skamal7
Manager
Manager
Joined: 02 Sep 2012
Posts: 161
Own Kudos [?]: 568 [11]
Given Kudos: 99
Location: United States
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Finance
GMAT Date: 07-25-2013
GPA: 3.83
WE:Architecture (Computer Hardware)
Send PM
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   08 May 2013, 04:24
11
Kudos
Hi Folks,
Meaning is very important in 600 +level SC questions

First in every SC question understand the meaning of the option A

In option A -clearly states Baikal ' fresh water is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined. here the meaning is logical

In option E- More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, modifies lake baikal but it should modify the baikal's fresh water.Option A does that clearly .Hence E wrong

Hope it helps
avatar
fozzzy
Director
Director
Joined: 29 Nov 2012
Posts: 580
Own Kudos [?]: 6040 [0]
Given Kudos: 543
Send PM
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   08 Jul 2013, 03:18
Can someone provide a detailed analysis on this one! Thanks...
User avatar
Zarrolou
Director
Director
Joined: 02 Sep 2012
Status:Far, far away!
Posts: 859
Own Kudos [?]: 4890 [7]
Given Kudos: 219
Location: Italy
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   08 Jul 2013, 03:32
6
Kudos
1
Bookmarks
fozzzy wrote:
Can someone provide a detailed analysis on this one! Thanks...


(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal(, with more than 300 rivers draining into it,) it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.
Option C is something like: "Siberia's Lake Baikal IT holds". The pronoun is not correct. Aslo "20 percent" is misplaced.

The problem with D is "while": it means -at the same time - or shows a contrast => in both cases it not correct in the sentence (none of the two things happens here).
(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined (initial modifier), Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
E says that "Siberia's Lake Baikal is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined" => misplaced modifier

(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.
B says that "20% of the world's fresh water is more than all US lakes"

A is correct
User avatar
imhimanshu
Manager
Manager
Joined: 07 Sep 2010
Posts: 222
Own Kudos [?]: 5228 [2]
Given Kudos: 136
Send PM
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   19 Sep 2013, 09:33
2
Kudos
jimmyjamesdonkey wrote:
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
.

Hello Experts,
Can someone please explain what the modifier "more than all the North American Great Lakes combined" is modifying? Is it modifying previous modifier or is it modifying the main clause. Of late, I have been seeing such constructions, and really want to understand how such constructions work.

Thanks
Himanshu
User avatar
Chiranjeevee
Intern
Intern
Joined: 28 Jan 2013
Posts: 23
Own Kudos [?]: 40 [0]
Given Kudos: 20
Send PM
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   13 Dec 2013, 10:31
mikemcgarry wrote:
imhimanshu wrote:
Hello Experts,
Can someone please explain what the modifier "more than all the North American Great Lakes combined" is modifying? Is it modifying previous modifier or is it modifying the main clause. Of late, I have been seeing such constructions, and really want to understand how such constructions work.

Thanks
Himanshu

Dear Himanshu,
I'm responding to your pm, and I am happy to help. :-)

More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

One way to think about it is: exactly what is "more than all the North American Great Lakes combined"? The Great Lakes, as lakes, are fresh water, so we are comparing them to another quantity of fresh water --- "20 percent of the world's fresh water", a noun phrase that is the object of the the noun-modifying phrase beginning with "more than all ..." Not surprisingly, the modifier touches the noun, in accordance with the Modifier Touch Rule. See this blog for more on that rule:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/modifiers- ... orrection/
While there are exceptions to the Modifier Touch Rule, that's an exactly place to start to look for the noun modified.

Keep in mind that modifiers are a part of what the GMAT calls "Logical Predication" on the the SC ----- in other words, to make sense of whether modifiers are used correctly and what they are modifying, you have to look beyond the grammar of a sentence to the logic & meaning, which are more primary. See this blog for more on that:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/logical-pr ... orrection/

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)



Can u please clarify, What is the main verb in option A? Thanks
User avatar
G
mikemcgarry
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Posts: 4448
Own Kudos [?]: 28569 [10]
Given Kudos: 130
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   13 Dec 2013, 16:18
8
Kudos
2
Bookmarks
Expert Reply
Chiranjeevee wrote:
Can u please clarify, What is the main verb in option A? Thanks

Dear Chiranjeevee,
I'm happy to help. :-)

Here is version (A):
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
The main subject is "more than 300 rivers", and the main verb is "drain". Everything before the comma is the independent clause of the sentence. After that are just modifiers.
Does this make sense?
Mike :-)
User avatar
TGC
Director
Director
Joined: 03 Aug 2012
Posts: 587
Own Kudos [?]: 3155 [0]
Given Kudos: 322
Concentration: General Management, General Management
Schools: ISB '16 NUS '17 NTU '17 XLRI SMU '17 IIM Lucknow IPMX'16 (A)
GMAT 1: 630 Q47 V29
GMAT 2: 680 Q50 V32
GPA: 3.7
WE:Information Technology (Investment Banking)
Send PM
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2014, 09:12
Going with the 'cut the fluff' does the sentence makes sense?

More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

Can anyone enlighten me?
User avatar
G
mikemcgarry
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Posts: 4448
Own Kudos [?]: 28569 [12]
Given Kudos: 130
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   06 Jul 2014, 12:50
9
Kudos
3
Bookmarks
Expert Reply
TGC wrote:
Going with the 'cut the fluff' does the sentence makes sense?

More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Dear TGC,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

Simply put, you cut the wrong fluff. The structure of this sentence is:
[independent clause][modifier #1[modifier #2]
and "modifier #2" modifies the words "20 percent" in modifier #1. If we eliminate modifier #1, it doesn't make sense, because what modifier #2 is modifying isn't there!

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
User avatar
G
mikemcgarry
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Posts: 4448
Own Kudos [?]: 28569 [16]
Given Kudos: 130
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   07 Jul 2014, 11:42
12
Kudos
4
Bookmarks
Expert Reply
janxavier wrote:
Can someone plz tell me why E i wrng ?

Dear janxavier,
I'm happy to respond. In the original ...
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
... the phrase "more than all the North American Great Lakes combined" is a comparison to "which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water." Lake Baikal holds 20%, and this more than the Great Lakes hold. Very clear.

Now, look at (E):
More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
Here, the modifier "More than all the North American Great Lakes combined" appears at the beginning, and modifiers at the beginning of the sentence typically modify the subject, so here it would modify Lake Baikal. This is an illogical comparison. Think about just this comparison.
Siberia's Lake Baikal is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
More what? We get some sense of what the sentence is trying to say, but it is not said with precision. In fact, Lake Baikal holds more fresh water than the Great Lakes, but that is not clear from this comparison. The comparison is illogical and incorrect.

Does this make sense?
Mike :-)
User avatar
B
qwerty12321
Manager
Manager
Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 94
Own Kudos [?]: 136 [0]
Given Kudos: 24
Schools: YLP '18
Send PM
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   20 Jul 2014, 04:29
Can someone explain me why (B) is incorrect?

Thanks
User avatar
B
PiyushK
Director
Director
Joined: 22 Mar 2013
Status:Everyone is a leader. Just stop listening to others.
Posts: 611
Own Kudos [?]: 4594 [4]
Given Kudos: 235
Location: India
GPA: 3.51
WE:Information Technology (Computer Software)
Send PM
Reviews Badge
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   20 Jul 2014, 05:03
4
Kudos
qwerty12321 wrote:
Can someone explain me why (B) is incorrect?

Thanks



(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.

I rejected B, after observing ", that" -- comma should not precede that (essential modifier)
Further even if we accept the use of that, comparison is not proper. fresh water is being compared with north American lakes.
Also meaning wise, I think "SLB has 300 rivers" implies that rivers belongs to SLB and they also drain into it.
User avatar
sri30kanth
Intern
Intern
Joined: 28 May 2014
Posts: 39
Own Kudos [?]: 5 [0]
Given Kudos: 31
Schools: NTU '16
GMAT 1: 620 Q49 V27
Send PM
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   02 Sep 2014, 09:42
Mike,

Thanks a lot for your explanations. But can you please tell what's wrong with E?
User avatar
G
mikemcgarry
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Posts: 4448
Own Kudos [?]: 28569 [0]
Given Kudos: 130
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   02 Sep 2014, 10:28
Expert Reply
sri30kanth wrote:
Mike,

Thanks a lot for your explanations. But can you please tell what's wrong with E?

Dear sri30kanth,
My friend, choice (E) is an illogical comparison, and illogical comparisons are always wrong on the GMAT. Please read my previous post in this thread carefully.
Mike :-)
User avatar
him1985
Manager
Manager
Joined: 20 Jan 2014
Posts: 110
Own Kudos [?]: 193 [3]
Given Kudos: 120
Location: India
Concentration: Technology, Marketing
Schools: ISB '17 (A) UC Davis '18 (A$) Krannert '18 (A) Simon '18 (A) Merage (WA)
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   29 Sep 2014, 09:50
2
Kudos
1
Bookmarks
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

Lets analyze the sentence:

Clause 1 : More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal,
Clause 2: which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined

Which correctly modifying Baikal and more is correctly modifying water. This is correct sentence. Subject - Verb agreement is accounted for. Hence there is no problem in A


(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it. - Presence of That is awkward. That is modifying water because that is essential modifier and Baikal has more than 300 River is not the intended meaning.

(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent. Very awkward sentence. It has no referent. More of and that of is wrong.

(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined. : Two clause separated by comma only. Use of while is wrong. Draining of rivers has not to do anything with volume of water.

(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water. - Lake can not be more than all the North American Great Lakes combined. Wrong use of Modifier. This is tough choice to reject . This choice confused me a lot.
User avatar
khanym
Intern
Intern
Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Posts: 8
Own Kudos [?]: 17 [3]
Given Kudos: 41
Location: United States
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   28 Feb 2016, 10:06
1
Kudos
2
Bookmarks
jimmyjamesdonkey wrote:
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.

(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.

(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.

Please Pay attention to the following Posting Rules.
1) Always post the question in relevant forum. e.g. This question should be posted in SC sub-forum and should not be in General Verbal Forum.
2) Always underline the relevant part of SC question sentence.
3) Always post the question along with OA and if possible mark the appropriate tags.
Thank You.


b]The whole sentence is underlined, indicating modifier or logical predication issue. Keep an eye for intended meaning.
Sentence Structure:
[Clause 1 - Main Clause]
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal,
[Clause 2 - Sub Clause]
which holds 20% of the world's fresh waster, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined. [/b]


(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
Subject-verb agrees in both clauses; the pronoun 'which' clearly refers to lake Baikal. Modifier "more than..." says fresh water in Lake Baikal is more than all the North Americana Great Lakes combined.

(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.
"that is more than" does not have a clear referent -> 20% of the world's fresh water is more than all North American Lakes combined?
"Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that..." -> Lake Baikal has rivers? The intended meaning Rivers drain into Lake Baikal.

(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.
"Siberi'a Lake Baikal,bla bla bla, it holds more" missing a Verb for Lake Baikal

(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
"20 percent of the world's fresh water, which" means 20% of the worlds fresh water is more than Great combined. Not the intended meaning.
Also, "while more than 300 rivers" indicates contrast or simultaneous action. It is true that rivers drain into Lake Baikal and Lake Baikal holds 20% of world's fresh water. Two different information. No need for contrast or simultaneous action word such as 'while'

(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal -> Lake Baikal is more than all NA Great Lakes combined? Not the intended meaning.
User avatar
Divyadisha
Current Student
Joined: 18 Oct 2014
Posts: 680
Own Kudos [?]: 1763 [3]
Given Kudos: 69
Location: United States
GMAT 1: 660 Q49 V31
GPA: 3.98
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink] New post   30 Jun 2016, 06:29
3
Kudos
qwerty12321 wrote:
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.

(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.

(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.


(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined. Correct choice. 'which' refers to 'lake baikal' and 'more than all the North American Great Lakes combined' correctly modifies ' water'

(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it. 'that' proceeded by ','

(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent. No verb for 'Siberia's Lake Baikal'

(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined. 'While' is not required.

(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water. 'More than all the North American Great Lakes combined' must modify 'water and not 'Siberia's Lake Baikal'
GMAT Club Bot
gmatclubot
Re: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 [#permalink]
30 Jun 2016, 06:29
 1   2   3   4   5   
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
6917 posts
GMATNinjaTwo
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
238 posts

Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group | Emoji artwork provided by EmojiOne
Main navigation
GMAT Resources
Partners
MBA Resources
www.gmac.com|www.mba.com | | GMAT Club Rules | Terms and Conditions