In Hungary, as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion

GMATNinja How is this answer right, from what I know about GMAT Verbal, 'proportion' is counted as a singular noun but here in the correct answer, it is used as plural with a plural verb 'work'.

Am i missing something?

Gagan

Hi Guys,

First of all, it is unlikely that this is a real GMAT question. A real question would not have used "portion of women;" the correct answer would use "number of women". "Portion" or "amount" can be used for non-count or singular nouns ("portion of the population," "amount of money," BUT "number of people").

So let's leave the subject-verb agreement issue aside and focus on the other aspects of the sentence that you've correctly identified:


In Hungary,as in much of eastern Europe,an overwhelming propotion of women work,many of which are in middle management and light industry.

A. as in much of eastern Europe,an overwhelming propotion of women work,many of which are

To refere to people, use "who" or "whom", never "which" or "that".

B. as with much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming propotion of women works, many

Notice that the prepositional phrase, "with much of Eastern Europe," does not accurately describe anything here. There is nothing in the sentence that can be described as being "with Europe."

TIP: The GMAT SC from time to time likes to user "with..." to create an inaccurate modifier.

INCORRECT: The student with the highest grade was rewarded.
CORRECT: The student who received the highest grade was rewarded.

C. as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming propotion of women work,many of them

First, the comparison of the two prepositional phrases ("in Hungary" and "in ... Europe") is logical and properly uses the word "as".

Second, "many of them in in middle management and light industry," is a structure called an absolute phrase.

The absoluate phrase is just a noun+description (NO VERB!) This is not a clause and not a modifier, but rather just a form of additional info.

Ex. Sue drove down the street, the wind (noun) in her hair (description).

So "many of them (women) in the ..." is just a way of adding info to the already complete clause, "an overwhelming propostion/number of women work/s".

D. like much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming propotion of women works,and many are

NOTE: "Like" can be used to compare only two nouns, not two descriptions or clauses.

So "like... Europe" would have worked if the sentence had begun with "Hungary," not "In Hungary."

E. like much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming propotion of women works,many are

Same problem as D.

Also, "many are in..." is a full independent clause (subject + verb that could be a sentence on its own). Two independent clauses cannot be attached with just a comma!

INCORRECT: I am hungry, I will eat.
CORRECT: I am hungry [; / ,and / ,so...] I will eat.

Check out Lesson 6 for more on comparisons and Lessons 9 and 10 for count and non-count nouns at gmaxonline!

Best,
Sarai

middle management AND light industry

Are two comparable parallel elements separated by parallelism marker AND?

GMATNinja AndrewN

Hi,

GMAC is correct in this Q too and PROPORTION acts in similar way as NUMBER..
proportion preceded by 'the' makes it singular AS THE is literally talking of the ratio/fraction-
The proportion of women working from home IS higher than that of men.

Whereas 'A proportion' talks of the NOUN itself and not fraction..
A higher proportion of women VOTE in elections nowadays.

Hey Chetanu,

I solved a similar official question where "A variety of mechanisms" was considered singular. Due to this question i got the question above wrong in Official GMAT mock test. Can you please clarify this doubt of mine? Below is the question i was referring to.

Bunuel

Bunuel wrote:
Cold blooded animals, such as snakes, lizards, and salamanders, have developed a variety of mechanisms which keep their body temperatures at a comfortable level.

A. which keep
B. to keep
C. that keep
D. which kept
E. in order to keep


OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



Answer: B.

The word “which” should be used only for a non-essential clause; in this sentence, the clause after “which” is essential to the meaning of the sentence. That means choices A and D are wrong. Choice C has a plural verb, “keep,” although the subject is the singular “variety.” Choice E uses the unidiomatic “developed…in order to…” when “developed…to” is better.
_________________

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that as in much of Eastern Europe, in Hungary, an overwhelming proportion of women work, and many of them work in middle management and light industry.

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Meaning + Pronouns + Grammatical Construction

• The pronoun “which” cannot be used to refer to a human being.
• A comparison can only be made between similar elements.
• A comma cannot join two independent clauses; such usage leads to the error of comma splice; to correct this error, the comma must be replaced with a semicolon or comma followed by a conjunction such as "and", "but" etc.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses "which" to refer to "women"; please remember, the pronoun “which” cannot be used to refer to a human being.

B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "women" with the singular verb "works". Further, Option B alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "with much of Eastern Europe"; the use of "with" leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that as in much of Eastern Europe, in Hungary, an overwhelming proportion of women work.

C: Correct. This answer correctly refers to the plural noun "women" with the plural verb "work". Moreover, Option C correctly refers to "women" with an appropriate pronoun "that", which can be used to refer to humans. Further, Option B correctly compares the prepositional phrase "In Hungary" with the prepositional phrase "in much of Eastern Europe", conveying the intended meaning - that as in much of Eastern Europe, in Hungary, an overwhelming proportion of women work. Additionally, the answer choice formed by Option C uses the phrase "many of them in middle management and light industry", conveying the intended meaning - that many women in Hungary work in middle management and light industry. Besides Option C correctly uses a comma to join the independent clause "In Hungary...an overwhelming proportion of women work" with the dependent clause "many of them in middle management and light industry"

D: This answer choice incorrectly uses "which" to refer to "women"; please remember, the pronoun “which” cannot be used to refer to a human being. Further, the sentence formed by Option D alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "and many are middle management and light industry"; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that many women in Hungary are middle management and light industry themselves; the intended meaning is that many women in Hungary work in middle management and light industry. This answer choice incorrectly compares the prepositional phrase "In Hungary" to the noun phrase "much of Eastern Europe"; please remember, a comparison can only be made between similar elements.

E: This answer choice incorrectly compares the prepositional phrase "In Hungary" to the noun phrase "much of Eastern Europe"; please remember, a comparison can only be made between similar elements. Further, Option E incorrectly uses a comma to join the independent clause "In Hungary...an overwhelming proportion of women work" with the independent clause "many are in middle management and light industry"; please remember, a comma cannot join two independent clauses; such usage leads to the error of comma splice; to correct this error, the comma must be replaced with semicolon or comma followed by a conjunction such as "and", "but" etc.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Comma Splices" and "Run-ons" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~6 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

In Hungary, as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many of which are in middle management and light industry.


(A) as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many of which are in

(B) as with much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women works, many in

(C) as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many of them in

(D) like much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women works, and many are

(E) like much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many are in


Great explanation ExpertsGlobal5, a bit confused with C & E in terms of comma usage, as in C it mentioned is correct but not in E when they are both same of using , to join two independant clause. Have I missed something? Could you helpf clairfy? Thanks

Hello Kimberly77,

Hope you are doing well. I will be glad to help you with this one.

In Choice C, the structure after the comma is not the same as the structure in Choice E. In Choice E, what follows the comma is an independent clause - many are in middle management and light industry. The SV pair is highlighted here. Therefore, Choice E has a structure error.

In Choice C, the comma is NOT preceded by a clause because there is NO verb in this part of the sentence. The structure many of them in middle management and light industry is a Noun Modifier that modifies the noun "women". Therefore, this structure is correct because a modifier can be connected to the rest of the sentence by a comma.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha