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JonShukhrat
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 28 Oct 2020, 04:26
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ChiranjeevSingh
Here's the official explanation for this question:

Option A: The grammatical subject one is singular, and therefore not in agreement with the plural are. The word years is unnecessary. English typically does not include the word years in references to age except when the years is followed by old or of age. And as worded, the sentence seems to absurdly compare the proportion of babies born to mothers thirty or older with the proportion of babies born in 1975. The construction one of … is unidiomatic when used to express a proportion. One of four babies appears to refer to one member of a specific group of four babies instead of expressing a proportion.

Option B: The phrase whose age is is unnecessarily wordy and results in the adjective older awkwardly modifying age rather than mother. The words who were are also unnecessary. As worded, the sentence seems to absurdly compare just one of only six babies born in 1975 to the current proportion of babies born to mothers thirty or older, or perhaps to just one of only four babies being born now.


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Hi CJ,

The first highlight must be a typo. You probably wanted to write something along the lines of that in B.
Many thanks for sharing your solutions, by the way. They are much appreciated.
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 28 Oct 2020, 04:34
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JonShukhrat
ChiranjeevSingh
Here's the official explanation for this question:

Option A: The grammatical subject one is singular, and therefore not in agreement with the plural are. The word years is unnecessary. English typically does not include the word years in references to age except when the years is followed by old or of age. And as worded, the sentence seems to absurdly compare the proportion of babies born to mothers thirty or older with the proportion of babies born in 1975. The construction one of … is unidiomatic when used to express a proportion. One of four babies appears to refer to one member of a specific group of four babies instead of expressing a proportion.

Option B: The phrase whose age is is unnecessarily wordy and results in the adjective older awkwardly modifying age rather than mother. The words who were are also unnecessary. As worded, the sentence seems to absurdly compare just one of only six babies born in 1975 to the current proportion of babies born to mothers thirty or older, or perhaps to just one of only four babies being born now.



Hi CJ,

The first highlight must be a typo. You probably wanted to write something along the lines of that in B.
Many thanks for sharing your solutions, by the way. They are much appreciated.
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It's not a typo. This is what is written in the official explanation. Also, this is not my solution. I'm just sharing the official explanation since nobody else has shared it :) I believe these explanations are helpful to an extent.
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 28 Oct 2020, 04:55
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ChiranjeevSingh

It's not a typo. This is what is written in the official explanation. Also, this is not my solution. I'm just sharing the official explanation since nobody else has shared it :) I believe these explanations are helpful to an extent.
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That’s so generous of you.
I mean, the OE itself says that “one of four” in A doesn’t express a proportion, but refers to one member of a specific group. However, at the same time it says: “as worded, the sentence seems to absurdly compare the proportion of babies...” - the first highlight.
In other words, OE says that “one of four” is not a proportion, but later it itself calls this phrase a proportion. Hence, the confusion.
B is free of such confusion.
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 28 Oct 2020, 08:32
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compare with vs compare to:
Compare with: used for Comparision between same categories. for example here babies compare with babies
Compare To: used for comparision between different categories.

So here, B,C and E out.
A is out because "one of four babies" singular, So "are" is S-V error.

Correct answer: D
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more Updated on: 30 Nov 2020, 07:46
Originally posted by thangvietnam on 29 Oct 2020, 02:38.
Last edited by thangvietnam on 30 Nov 2020, 07:46, edited 2 times in total.
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Praetorian
One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born in 1975.


(A) of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born

(B) of four babies is now born to a mother whose age is thirty of older, compared to just one of six babies who were born

(C) baby in four are now born to mothers aged thirty or older, compared to just one in six

(D) baby in four is now born to a mother aged thirty or older, compared with just one in six

(E) baby in four is now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared to just one in six
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on basis of singular/plural, we can go to choice D. but we can learn about comparison/ellipsis from this problem.

rule 1: the cut off part of the second clause must be the same as the corresponding part of the first clause.
rule 2: the remaining part of the second clause must have the same grammatical role as the corresponding part of the first clause..
rule 3: if you do not cut off all the same part in the second clause, the remaining part of the second clause CAN NOT have the same grammatical role as any part in the first clause. THIS ERROR IS TYPICAL ON GMAT.

choice A and B present the error rule 3 explains. "born" in choice A should be cut off but it is retained. this retaining make the remaining part of the second clause "born in 1975" parallel with no part in the first clause.

in choice D, all of " born to.....or older" is cut off. this is good and makes "in 1975" is adverb and parallel with "now'. the comparison become correct.
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 28 Nov 2020, 07:49
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born in 1975.


(A) of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born

- One is singular; we need 'is'

(B) of four babies is now born to a mother whose age is thirty of older, compared to just one of six babies who were born

-- 'whose age is thirty or older' is wordy

(C) baby in four are now born to mothers aged thirty or older, compared to just one in six

- One is singular; we need 'is'

(D) baby in four is now born to a mother aged thirty or older, compared with just one in six

-- Looks good. Keep.

(E) baby in four is now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared to just one in six

-- One baby is born to one mother.

Answer is D.
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 02 Feb 2021, 03:04
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In E, why thirty years or more is wrong?
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 02 Feb 2021, 06:52
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pk6969
In E, why thirty years or more is wrong?
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I would not reject E on the basis of thirty years or more.

As mentioned in the posts above option E has an issue with the usage of mothers.
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 04 Feb 2021, 07:10
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CrackVerbalGMAT
Quote:
One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born in 1975.


(A) of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born

(B) of four babies is now born to a mother whose age is thirty of older, compared to just one of six babies who were born

(C) baby in four are now born to mothers aged thirty or older, compared to just one in six

(D) baby in four is now born to a mother aged thirty or older, compared with just one in six

(E) baby in four is now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared to just one in six

The right answer here is D. The most common explanation given is the difference between 'compared with' and 'compared to' and while this is correct, lets see if we can solve this question without having to resort to this admittedly complex rule.

Firstly, whether we use "One of four/six babies" or "One baby in four/six", the idea is still a singular one. Immediately this eliminates A, C ("are now born"), as well as B ("who were born").

Secondly, a baby can only be born to a mother, not a category of "mothers aged thirty....". Hence, we can eliminate E as well.

We're now just left with D, the correct answer.

Remember that there are usually multiple routes to the right answer, and if you keep your wits about you, you will be able to find one of them!

- Matoo
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Hello CrackVerbalGMAT,
I have a question regarding answer choice B, specifically what troubles me is the following as well as B ("who were born") doesn't who refer to babies?
For instance in this official question "Biologists believe that they have found one of the substances that tell individual genes...", that modifies substances. So isn't the same thing happening in this question? Doesn't who modify babies?
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 06 Sep 2021, 02:43
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UNSTOPPABLE12
CrackVerbalGMAT
Quote:
One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born in 1975.


(A) of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born

(B) of four babies is now born to a mother whose age is thirty of older, compared to just one of six babies who were born

(C) baby in four are now born to mothers aged thirty or older, compared to just one in six

(D) baby in four is now born to a mother aged thirty or older, compared with just one in six

(E) baby in four is now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared to just one in six

The right answer here is D. The most common explanation given is the difference between 'compared with' and 'compared to' and while this is correct, lets see if we can solve this question without having to resort to this admittedly complex rule.

Firstly, whether we use "One of four/six babies" or "One baby in four/six", the idea is still a singular one. Immediately this eliminates A, C ("are now born"), as well as B ("who were born").

Secondly, a baby can only be born to a mother, not a category of "mothers aged thirty....". Hence, we can eliminate E as well.

We're now just left with D, the correct answer.

Remember that there are usually multiple routes to the right answer, and if you keep your wits about you, you will be able to find one of them!

- Matoo


Hello CrackVerbalGMAT,
I have a question regarding answer choice B, specifically what troubles me is the following as well as B ("who were born") doesn't who refer to babies?
For instance in this official question "Biologists believe that they have found one of the substances that tell individual genes...", that modifies substances. So isn't the same thing happening in this question? Doesn't who modify babies?
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HI! I think in B, we are losing the comparison. You are right in saying that who can modify babies but understand the comparison here. "One of four babies is now born to_______, compare to just one of six babies who were____. Here we have one of six babies as the second entity of comparison with a modifier who. It doesn't make sense then. we need to say that in 1975 one is six babies were born. D clearly shows the comparison. I hope you get it.
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 08 Sep 2021, 04:23
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lakersgo
Compare with
Compare to

I think I saw this in Kaplan verbal workbook....can anyone shed light over here?
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Compare To Versus Compare With is never tested on GMAT
You’ll find some other definite errors to eliminate on of the options

Posted from my mobile device
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 09 Nov 2021, 00:56
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Praetorian
One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born in 1975.

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(A) of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared with just one of six born
are isn't the right usage as only one baby is born therefore out


(B) of four babies is now born to a mother whose age is thirty of older, compared to just one of six babies who were born
whose age is redudant since we already know that the reference is towards mother therefore out

(C) baby in four are now born to mothers aged thirty or older, compared to just one in six
Similar reasoning as A

(D) baby in four is now born to a mother aged thirty or older, compared with just one in six
THe meaning and idiom is perfect therefore let us hang on to it

(E) baby in four is now born to mothers aged thirty years or more, compared to just one in six
or more isn't the right usage therefore out

Therefore IMO D
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One of four babies are now born to mothers aged thirty years or more 23 Jan 2024, 05:44
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