No funds obtained through the Education Surcharge on gasoline can

Hi gvvsnraju@12!

Carolyn from Magoosh here -- I can step in for Mike

Choices A and C are very similar:

A) No funds obtained through the Education Surcharge on gasoline can be utilized for any other purpose, unless the amount far exceeds those (amounts) that are necessary to fully satisfy all the education programs.

C) No funds obtained through the Education Surcharge on gasoline can be utilized for any other purpose, unless the amount far exceeds those (amounts) necessary to fully satisfy all the education programs.

In both of these, "those" is correctly in parallel with "the amount". The only difference between the two options here is the extra "that are" following "those" in option A. The "that are" makes choice A clearer, and therefore a better option, than choice C. It specifies which "amounts" we're talking about -- it tells us that "those (amounts)" are the amounts that are necessary to satisfy the education programs. While the meaning still comes through in choice C, it isn't as explicit. So A is the better choice

Hope that helps!
-Carolyn

Hi, Isn't A little wordy compared to C. I often read that we should avoid wordy options, so why not here. Why didn't we choose C? Will there be such questions in real exam?

Hi Carolyn,
Shouldn’t ‘those’ refer to ‘funds’, as funds is the only plural antecedent where as ‘the amount’ is singular? If not, how could one clearly identify the correct antecedent in such situation?

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Hi, can someone explain why A is better than c. and how can i avoid making similar mistakes in the exam.

Is that rule by which we eliminated C always true? Can we face a similar dilemma in the official test?

Sorry but none of it makes sense. It is perfectly clear that we are talking about the amounts, so the word "that" does not add anything to it. Is this a common rule or something we should be worried about no the exam? is concision not more important for the exam? expert opinion would be great.

Also, can the word those address something singular? I thought that the word those addressed funds. Those is plural, so logically we should search for something plural in the previous part of the sentence.

This is my biggest fear and point of frustration.
It feels like the correct answer is based solely on the discretion of the question's author.
As sometimes options such as these(A in this case) are discarded for the very same reason for which option A is accepted this time.

As you mentioned that the meaning comes through in choice C as well, then, why should we not discard option A on the grounds of being "wordy" and choose option C on the grounds of being concise?
Or is there any fundamental rule that I should take care of? Any help would be appreciated.

Hello arya251294,

We hope this finds you well.

As the GMAT favors a formal, business-like tone, conciseness is uniformly considered a merit on the exam, meaning between two otherwise error-free options, the less wordy and more direct one is considered superior.

However, you must remember that such stylistic issues are of the lowest priority on GMAT; they should only be taken into account if you have to decide between two entirely correct answer choices.

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

So in this context, what is exactly the difference between option A and option C?
Is option C not enough?
What is the need for "that"?

Hello arya251294,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, in this particular case, we believe the fault may be with the question, as it seems to be from an unspecified source.

On the GMAT, C would indeed be considered better than A.

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

super thanks for your prompt replies.