According to the American Heart Association, the average male has to c

Question

According to the American Heart Association, the average male  has to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order  to significantly reduce the rate of heart disease.

A. has to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order
B. has to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently
C. have to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than they do currently, in order
D. would have to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order
E. would have to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he is currently

winterschool · Answer

According to the American Heart Association, the average male has to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order to significantly reduce the rate of heart disease.

A.  has  to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order
B.  has  to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently
C.  have  to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than they do currently, in order
D.  would have to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order 
E. would have to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than  he is currently

POE -

prediction cant be present continuous tense - would require

A, B & C -eliminate

D & E -

E - .....he is currently what?

so my answer - D

sonalgmat123 · Answer

According to the American Heart Association, the average male has to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order to significantly reduce the rate of heart disease.

It should be A , would have can't be used here as they are mostly used for conditional statement / hypothetical situations .

Structure of B is "he does currently to reduce " .. changes the meaning

A. has to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order
B. has to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently
C. have to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than they do currently, in order
D. would have to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order
E. would have to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he is currently

siddharthkapoor · Answer

1. Why is "less" used instead of "fewer". Isn't the noun "trans-fats" countable?

2. Why is the usage of "has" is incorrect?

3. In option B, is there an error because in it just "to" is used instead of "in order to"?

AndrewN · Answer

These are some good questions,  siddharthkapoor . I will respond in-line below.

No,  trans-fats  is not used in a countable way in the sentence above. You can count  grams  of trans-fats, but in the context of the sentence, we are simply being informed about a type of fat rather than a quantity. Think of the word as  fat  on its own:  consume 20 percent less  fat   is appropriate;  consume 20 percent fewer fat  is not, unless we were to add a countable noun after our current noun, as in  fat calories  (thereby turning  fat  into an adjective).

The problem with  has  is that it does not touch upon the conditional if-then relationship that the latter two-thirds of the sentence shifts into. This is why you should pay attention to the non-underlined portion of the sentence as well as what you may need to fix. That is,  in order to significantly reduce  indicates a hypothetical outcome to the  if  condition presented in the middle portion: if the average male  were to  consume 20 percent less trans-fats  than he does currently .  Has to  is more definitive, like the advice a doctor might give directly to a patient (" You have to... or else... ").

No,  to  is simply a shortened version of  in order to  and serves in the same capacity. One is an adverb on its own, the other an adverbial phrase.

I hope that helps clarify your concerns. If you have further questions, feel free to ask. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

siddharthkapoor · Answer

AndrewN , thank you so much for clearing my doubts. I appreciate your help.

In general, my concepts on making the choice between "less" and "fewer" are still not clear, even though I have read quite a few lessons on this subject. Could you please help me out?

AndrewN · Answer

Sure,  siddharthkapoor . I could rehash the whole countable/uncountable point, but the truth is, the rules are not entirely consistent. I think you would benefit from reading  this Grammar Girl  article on the subject. If you have further questions after that, I would be glad to offer my thoughts.

Happy reading.

- Andrew

svasan05 · Answer

According to the American Heart Association, the average male  has to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order  to significantly reduce the rate of heart disease.

A. has to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order  The sentence talks about a hypothetical situation of reducing the rate of heart disease and hence we need to use "would have to" rather than "has to". Eliminate.

B. has to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently  Same error as (A). Eliminate.

C. have to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than they do currently, in order  Same error as (A) and (B). Additionally, usage of plural "have" for singular subject "male" is incorrect. Eliminate.

D. would have to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he does currently, in order  Correct answer.

E. would have to consume 20 percent less trans-fats than he is currently  "he  is " is incorrect, the correct usage is "he  does " - the sentence is not in continuous tense. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

According to the American Heart Association, the average male has to c

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

According to the American Heart Association, the average male has to c

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards