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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 20 Jul 2021, 05:41
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies—less than those killed by bee stings.


(A) movies—less than those

(B) movies—fewer than have been

(C) movies, which is less than those

(D) movies, a number lower than the people

(E) movies, fewer than the ones

Few - used for countable nouns
Less- used for uncountable nouns
As we are comparing the number of people killed, we have to use the comparative form- “fewer”
Eliminate A, C, and D.

E- It is incorrect to use “the ones” as we are not talking about any specific people. We are comparing the number of people killed by the great shark and the number of people killed by bee stings. The use of dash makes the distinction clear. Eliminate E.
Option B is correct.

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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 05 Jan 2022, 13:31
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Hi mikemcgarry, GMATNinja

Would the below answer be correct if it were like the one mentioned below and if not , why ?
f) movies—fewer than those

700slave
Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies—less than those killed by bee stings.


(A) movies—less than those

(B) movies—fewer than have been

(C) movies, which is less than those

(D) movies, a number lower than the people

(E) movies, fewer than the ones


Source : GMATPrep Default Exam Pack

Show Spoiler
https://www.nature.com/articles/29441

Sharks! Predators of the Sea
by Piero Angela and Alberto Angela

Running Press, $19.98

Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies -- fewer than the number killed by bee stings. In Sharks! Predators of the Sea (Running Press, $19.98), Piero Angela and Alberto Angela, aided by 160 full-colour photographs by Alberto Luca Recchi, explore the truths and myths about these ancient predators and reveal why it is more a case of the biter bit, as man's culinary cravings threaten these creatures' survival.
Show more
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 06 Jan 2022, 07:07
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Hi mikemcgarry, GMATNinja

Would the below answer be correct if it were like the one mentioned below and if not , why ?
f) movies—fewer than those

700slave
Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies—less than those killed by bee stings.


(A) movies—less than those

(B) movies—fewer than have been

(C) movies, which is less than those

(D) movies, a number lower than the people

(E) movies, fewer than the ones


Source : GMATPrep Default Exam Pack

Show Spoiler
https://www.nature.com/articles/29441

Sharks! Predators of the Sea
by Piero Angela and Alberto Angela

Running Press, $19.98

Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies -- fewer than the number killed by bee stings. In Sharks! Predators of the Sea (Running Press, $19.98), Piero Angela and Alberto Angela, aided by 160 full-colour photographs by Alberto Luca Recchi, explore the truths and myths about these ancient predators and reveal why it is more a case of the biter bit, as man's culinary cravings threaten these creatures' survival.
Show more

Hello kunalc20,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, yes; the hypothetical answer choice you have constructed would be correct.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 08 Jan 2022, 08:58
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kunalc20
Hi mikemcgarry, GMATNinja

Would the below answer be correct if it were like the one mentioned below and if not , why ?
f) movies—fewer than those

700slave
Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies—less than those killed by bee stings.


(A) movies—less than those

(B) movies—fewer than have been

(C) movies, which is less than those

(D) movies, a number lower than the people

(E) movies, fewer than the ones


Source : GMATPrep Default Exam Pack

Show Spoiler
https://www.nature.com/articles/29441

Sharks! Predators of the Sea
by Piero Angela and Alberto Angela

Running Press, $19.98

Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies -- fewer than the number killed by bee stings. In Sharks! Predators of the Sea (Running Press, $19.98), Piero Angela and Alberto Angela, aided by 160 full-colour photographs by Alberto Luca Recchi, explore the truths and myths about these ancient predators and reveal why it is more a case of the biter bit, as man's culinary cravings threaten these creatures' survival.
Show more
This is where we like to remind students that GMAT SC is about finding the best choice out of the five available choices, not looking at individual sentences and deciding whether they are wrong or right in a bubble.

Your new choice solves the "less" problem that we saw in choice (A). Does that make it right? It's hard to say. You could argue that it shares the same flaw as (E), making it sound like we are comparing a number of people to people themselves (as described in this post and in several others in the thread).

Luckily, choice (F) doesn't exist, and the GMAT isn't asking us to make that call. As long as you understand why (B) is the BEST choice of the five we're given, you've done your job.

I hope that helps!
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 11 Feb 2022, 08:38
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GMAT OG 2020 ,QUES: SC15382(QUE NO 761,PAGE NO. 817)
Explanation for option D ," The dash would be correct to set off the parenthetical expression only if 'including' had been immediately preceded by a dash."
Since the OG clearly states that a clause or a phrase staring with a dash should only be ended with a dash , similarly comma clause or phrase starting with a comma should be ending with a comma.SO option B should be wrong!
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 11 Feb 2022, 12:31
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Bhaktiiphone
GMAT OG 2020 ,QUES: SC15382(QUE NO 761,PAGE NO. 817)
Explanation for option D ," The dash would be correct to set off the parenthetical expression only if 'including' had been immediately preceded by a dash."
Since the OG clearly states that a clause or a phrase staring with a dash should only be ended with a dash , similarly comma clause or phrase starting with a comma should be ending with a comma.SO option B should be wrong!
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Hello, Bhaktiiphone. First off, for reference, I will link to that other question and reproduce it below.

Quote:
Recent interdisciplinary studies advance the argument that emotions, including those deemed personal or private is a social phenomenon, though one inseparable from bodily response.

(A) private is a social phenomenon, though one inseparable

(B) private, are social phenomena that are inseparable

(C) private are a social phenomenon but are not those inseparable

(D) private—are social phenomena but not separable

(E) also as private emotions, are social phenomena not inseparable
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Context is everything when it comes to the use of the em dash (—), and it can be used in the following grammatical situations:

  • As a standalone punctuation mark that serves in a similar capacity as a colon or semicolon
  • In tandem in place of double commas

The reason answer choice (D) is incorrect in the above question is that you cannot mix and match a comma and an em dash: there should be either two commas or two em dashes.

In the sentence at the top of the thread, we are not dealing with a parenthetical aside, and nothing is interrupting the main clause that would warrant double punctuation (commas, parentheses, or em dashes). Rather, a point is being emphasized about a figure, namely that only seven people have been killed by the great white shark, and the contrast to the number of people killed by bee stings could just as easily be set up by a colon:

Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies: fewer than have been killed by bee stings.

In short, the author of the sentence has opted for an em dash in place of a colon, nothing more. For further reference on em dashes, I would recommend this guide by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Happy reading, and good luck with your studies.

- Andrew
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 30 Apr 2022, 11:28
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ExpertsGlobal5 KarishmaB - Can you pls explain the sentence structure of the option B?

Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies - fewer than have been killed by bee stings.
Subject is people and have been killed is the verb

Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark ==> Independent clause
the man-eater of the movies is noun + noun modifier for white shark

fewer than have been killed by bee stings ==> Dependent clause

thank you !
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 01 May 2022, 05:24
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ExpertsGlobal5 KarishmaB - Can you pls explain the sentence structure of the option B?

Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies - fewer than have been killed by bee stings.
Subject is people and have been killed is the verb

Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark ==> Independent clause
the man-eater of the movies is noun + noun modifier for white shark

fewer than have been killed by bee stings ==> Dependent clause

thank you !
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Hello anshul0130,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, your analysis of the sentence structure is perfectly correct.

Kudos.
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 02 May 2022, 00:03
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anshul0130
ExpertsGlobal5 KarishmaB - Can you pls explain the sentence structure of the option B?

Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies - fewer than have been killed by bee stings.
Subject is people and have been killed is the verb

Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark ==> Independent clause
the man-eater of the movies is noun + noun modifier for white shark

fewer than have been killed by bee stings ==> Dependent clause

thank you !
Show more

anshul0130
"the man-eater of the movies" is an appositive phrase. It renames the great white shark.
"fewer than have been killed by bee stings" is a parenthentical which are quite versatile in their structure - they can be words, phrases or clauses. We use commas, dashes or brackets around them. A parenthetical gives us some additional information not essential to the structure of the sentence.
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 09 Oct 2022, 00:44
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i] Here. is 'seven' an adjective and the main subject is people? so are we comparing people or number ?

ii] The number of people killed in disasters is greater/more than the number of people killed in road accidents.

greater or more? is there a rule? I am finding it hard to understand why a number can not be more than the other number but it can only be greater than the other number?

please review the options below:


(B) movies???fewer than have been

-fewer than (the people who) have been killed (right to assume like this?)

-fewer than (the number of people who) have been killed (right to assume like this?)

-fewer than (those) have been killed ( do we need a relative pronoun 'that or who?)

(E) movies, fewer than the ones killed in

what the problem with 'ones' . I tried hard to understand from previous posts but still not crystal clear.

can I assume the sentence as below:

''fewer (people have been killed by shark) than ones killed by bee stings''

is there a problem in using simple past (killed) in 2nd part. I don't see it though.
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 09 Oct 2022, 03:08
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i] Here. is 'seven' an adjective and the main subject is people? so are we comparing people or number ?

ii] The number of people killed in disasters is greater/more than the number of people killed in road accidents.

greater or more? is there a rule? I am finding it hard to understand why a number can not be more than the other number but it can only be greater than the other number?

please review the options below:


(B) movies???fewer than have been

-fewer than (the people who) have been killed (right to assume like this?)

-fewer than (the number of people who) have been killed (right to assume like this?)

-fewer than (those) have been killed ( do we need a relative pronoun 'that or who?)

(E) movies, fewer than the ones killed in

what the problem with 'ones' . I tried hard to understand from previous posts but still not crystal clear.

can I assume the sentence as below:

''fewer (people have been killed by shark) than ones killed by bee stings''

is there a problem in using simple past (killed) in 2nd part. I don't see it though.
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Hello himanshu0123,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the main subject is indeed "people" and we are comparing people in terms of numbers.

Further, individual numbers, as in "one", "two", "three", etc. are not countable nouns, meaning they must be referred to as "greater" or "lesser", not "more" or "less".

Additionally, a relative pronoun would indeed be needed in the construction "fewer than (those) have been killed".

Additionally, in Option E, the use of "ones" leads to pronoun ambiguity; there are two plural nouns that "ones" could refer to, "people" and "movies".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 12 Jan 2023, 16:19
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My question for A) is that there isn't a pronoun before "have been". Can this be grammatically correct? It should be "fewer than those who have been" or "fewer than the number" or "fewer than the people who have been"...I just think that among all those options, A is weirdest because it does not have the necessary pronoun there.

Can someone address this question? Thank you!
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 13 Jan 2023, 06:31
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My question for A) is that there isn't a pronoun before "have been". Can this be grammatically correct? It should be "fewer than those who have been" or "fewer than the number" or "fewer than the people who have been"...I just think that among all those options, A is weirdest because it does not have the necessary pronoun there.

Can someone address this question? Thank you!
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Hello ellenckh,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, no; the presence of a subject for "fewer" to act upon is implicit here; the sentence formed by Option B is perfectly grammatical.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 26 Feb 2023, 03:40
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Hi experts,

The correct sentence is 'Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies???fewer than have been killed by bee stings'. I understand that 'fewer than have been killed by bee stings' is a modifier that modifies the subject, 7 people. But then we have: 7 people is fewer than (people) have been killed by bee, and because the elipsed (people) is not a number, how can comparison between number (7) and people is correct?
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 26 Feb 2023, 06:52
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Hi experts,

The correct sentence is 'Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies???fewer than have been killed by bee stings'. I understand that 'fewer than have been killed by bee stings' is a modifier that modifies the subject, 7 people. But then we have: 7 people is fewer than (people) have been killed by bee, and because the elipsed (people) is not a number, how can comparison between number (7) and people is correct?
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Hello tinbq,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the comparison here is not between "7" and "people"; it is between "7 people" and "people"; the use of "people" after "fewer" is implied.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 26 Feb 2023, 11:02
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tinbq
Hi experts,

The correct sentence is 'Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies???fewer than have been killed by bee stings'. I understand that 'fewer than have been killed by bee stings' is a modifier that modifies the subject, 7 people. But then we have: 7 people is fewer than (people) have been killed by bee, and because the elipsed (people) is not a number, how can comparison between number (7) and people is correct?

Hello tinbq,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the comparison here is not between "7" and "people"; it is between "7 people" and "people"; the use of "people" after "fewer" is implied.

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

Thank you for your explanation. However, I still feel awkward to compare people to people like this.
7 people who have been killed by the great white shark is fewer than people who have been killed by bee stings.

In my opinion, the comparison should be between number and number: 7 people who have been killed by the great white shark is fewer than the number of people who have been killed by bee stings.
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 27 Feb 2023, 00:00
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I'd recommend not making a habit of building a preferred construction. The point of SC is not to determine the best way to express the idea and then find an answer that matches it. The point is generally to find the answer that manages to express the idea without making any outright errors. Often, the credited answer is a somewhat awkward or unusual way to express the idea; that's how the test creates difficulty. If all the right answers were elegant and clear, the test wouldn't be hard enough. The trick to getting these right consistently is to get really good at recognizing what we can't do.
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 28 Feb 2023, 08:25
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Hi experts,

The correct sentence is 'Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the movies???fewer than have been killed by bee stings'. I understand that 'fewer than have been killed by bee stings' is a modifier that modifies the subject, 7 people. But then we have: 7 people is fewer than (people) have been killed by bee, and because the elipsed (people) is not a number, how can comparison between number (7) and people is correct?

Hello [url=https://gmatclub.com:443/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&un=tinbq%5D%5Bb%5Dtinbq%5B/b%5D%5B/url%5D,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the comparison here is not between "7" and "people"; it is between "7 people" and "people"; the use of "people" after "fewer" is implied.

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

Quote:
Hi,

Thank you for your explanation. However, I still feel awkward to compare people to people like this.
7 people who have been killed by the great white shark is fewer than people who have been killed by bee stings.

In my opinion, the comparison should be between number and number: 7 people who have been killed by the great white shark is fewer than the number of people [i]who have been killed by bee stings.
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I'll echo Dmitry's wise words here: there isn't much value in producing our own constructions. Sometimes it can even be harmful. If you're looking for your idealized version of a sentence, odds are good that you'll eliminate a different construction that's perfectly fine!

I'll add that your understanding of the comparison is correct from a purely logical standpoint. If I write, "On Monday, dozens of people were angered by Tim's reckless driving, fewer than were angered on Tuesday," I'm comparing the number of people angered by Tim's driving on Monday to the number of people angered by Tim's driving on Tuesday. Perfectly logical.

The thing to note is that you were able to understand the comparison even though I didn't repeat the noun phrase, "number of people."

That's all that's going on here. You're right that we're comparing the number of people killed by great white sharks to the number of people killed by bee stings. But just like the sentence about Tim's terrible driving, there's no need to repeat the phrase, "number of people." Context makes it clear in this case.

I hope that helps!
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 03 May 2023, 06:52
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Hey ellenckh & tinbq

I recorded a complete solution to this question a few days back. I've touched upon each of the concerns you've raised in your respective queries and more.

Here is the link to that YouTube Video.

Hope this helps.

Happy Learning! :)

Abhishek
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Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white sha 09 Jul 2023, 08:43
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Isnt B a run on i dont see any reason why two clauses are not connected by FANBOYS
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