In 2002 lack of resources reduced the agricultural production of the

Question

In 2002 lack of resources reduced the agricultural production of the country of Zabaria to about 20 million tons,  nearly 40 percent less than those of the 2001  harvest.

A. nearly 40 percent less than those of the 2001
B. nearly 40 percent less than the 2001
C. nearly 40 percent
D. nearly 40 percent fewer than the 2001
E. nearly 40 percent less than that of the 2001

daagh · Answer

What was less than what? It was the agricultural production that turned forty percent less in 2002 from that of 2001.

The second point is ‘production’ is a collective noun that is singular. So now we have to use ‘less than’.

Thirdly, the production has to be compared with another production and not a year.

A. nearly 40 percent less than those of the 2001 ----  ‘those of’ – production is singular; hence it should be ‘that of’  
B. nearly 40 percent less than the 2001 ---  production compared with a year; wrong  
C. nearly 40 percent – means that the overall production was only 40 percent rather than 40 percent less.  
D. nearly 40 percent fewer than the 2001 –  fewer than is wrong for mass noun  
E. nearly 40 percent less than that of the 2001---  correct choice

Abhishek009 · Answer

Find the things compared - Here  agricultural production of country Zabaria in 2002  is  compared with   the agricultural production of country Zabaria in 2001

Only option (E) compares production of country Zabaria in 2002 to that of production of country Zabaria in 2001

Hence option (E) is the correct answer !!

I found a very useful book from this forum , uploading it here once again for clearing all the concepts relatedd to comparison on GMAT SC , hope you find it useful

axay · Answer

in option "b", production of 2002 is compared with the harvest of 2001. so can kindly tell suggest me Y option b is wrong?

varun4s · Answer

In 2002 lack of resources reduced the agricultural production of the country of Zabaria to about 20 million tons,  nearly 40 percent less than those of the 2001  harvest.

A. nearly 40 percent less than  those  of the 2001  (Production is singular. Therefore usage of those is wrong) 
B. nearly 40 percent less than  the 2001   (Wrong comparison of production with year) 
C. nearly  40 percen t  (No Comparison) 
D. nearly 40 percent  fewer  than the 2001  (Fewer is used for numbers) 
E. nearly 40 percent less than that of the 2001  (Correct)

Kudos please if you like my explanation!

sayantanc2k · Answer

Option B implies that the 2002 production was less than the  year 2001 , not the  production of the year 2001 .

manhasnoname · Answer

Hi  sayantanc2k ,

Option B implies 2002 production is less than 2001   harvest  . Please note "harvest" in the non underlined portion of the sentence.

Option E implies 2002 production is less than  production  of the 2001   harvest  . What does  production of harvest  means?

Hence, (B) is correct.

Tan2017 · Answer

Hi, 
Can you please elaborate on "‘production’ is a collective noun that is singular. So now we have to use ‘less than’. "

So the rule would be "less for collective singular" and "fewer for countable nouns" ? Just wanted to clarify this gap in understanding for future application!

Nightmare007 · Answer

I don't know why Experts  daagh  and  souvik101990  are missing the word Harvest - Harvest is nothing but production .
In B .
 It is clearly comparing production to    2001 harvest.   .

So please can you tell me why B is wrong. ?

daagh · Answer

Nightmare: I fully agree with you. I did miss the word 'harvest'. The problem was because this is a poor carbon copy of a similar OG question cited herein.(OG 13 Q9).
In 1979 lack of rain reduced India's rice production to about 41 million tons, nearly 25 percent  less than those of the 1978 harvest.
 
(A) less than those of the 1978 harvest
(B) less than the 1978 harvest
(C) less than 1978
(D) fewer than 1978
(E) fewer than that of India's 1978 harvest

The official choice is B. Please note the word harvest is underlined in the official prompt. 
The second more important problem is that the original poster in this forum had forgotten to underline the error part such that the word harvest was obscured in memory.

I fully acknowledge that harvest in this context is synonymous with production. (Although not so in actual reality. You see, what all is produced may not be harvested. Because there will be always some loss due to pests, floods, and other natural phenomena such s process loss in the form of shedding etc. However, this distinction is irrelevant to us. 
 
In this context, in the given choice E, it is not clear what the relative pronoun 'that' is standing for. It is redundant. I will concur that B is the best choice.

Nightmare007 · Answer

Thank you sir, I did not mean to offend you. am a big fan of yours so it became a habit of me to read your explanations which are more accurate and easy to understand.

saurabhSuman · Answer

Thanks  daagh  for helping resolve the confusion.

Inten21 · Answer

THE CORRECT ANSWER CHOICE HERE IS  B 
Because it clearly compares the production to the 2001 HARVEST. Note that the HArvest word is not underlined.

E  is incorrect here for the same reason. Many people missed out on the non-underlined word 'Harvest.'
Note that the usage of 'that' in option E is unclear.

Is there a way to change the Official Answer to B here. Many people will feel disheartened when they choose the right answer but it displays as wrong here.

brs1cob · Answer

So B is the correct answer.

can anyone update the correct answer?

gmatFalcon · Answer

In 2002 lack of resources reduced the agricultural production of the country of Zabaria to about 20 million tons,  nearly 40 percent less than those of the 2001  harvest.

A. nearly 40 percent less than those of the 2001
B. nearly 40 percent less than the 2001
C. nearly 40 percent
D. nearly 40 percent fewer than the 2001
E. nearly 40 percent less than that of the 2001

s8kadian · Answer

In 2002 lack of resources reduced the agricultural production of the country of Zabaria to about 20 million tons,  nearly 40 percent less than those of the 2001  harvest.

A. nearly 40 percent less than  those of  the 2001
B. nearly 40 percent less than the 2001 --  Correct 
C. nearly 40 percent -- ( of what )
D. nearly 40 percent  fewer  than the 2001
E. nearly 40 percent less than  that of  the 2001

sobby · Answer

Comparison in wrong in B ...Quantity is compared to year (2001)
E is correct .

KS15 · Answer

E cant be the answer here. What do we mean by 40% less than 'that of the 2001 harvest? Is it 40% less than agriculrual production of 2001 harvest?That is redundant-B has to be the right answer.

s8kadian · Answer

???

Please read the sentence again --- n dont miss the word harvest at the end or the question stem In 2002 lack of resources reduced the agricultural production of the country of Zabaria to about 20 million tons, nearly 40 percent less than the 2001 harvest.

VerbalBot · Answer

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In 2002 lack of resources reduced the agricultural production of the

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