gmatassassin88 wrote:
burnttwinky wrote:
Providing initial evidence that airports are a larger source of pollution than they were once believed to be, environmentalists in Chicago report that the total amount of pollutant emitted annually by vehicles at O'Hare International Airport is twice
as much as that which is being emitted annually by all motor vehicles in the Chicago metropolitan area.
(A) as much as that which is being emitted annually by all
(B) as much annually as is emitted by the
(C) as much compared to what is annually emitted by all
(D) that emitted annually by all
(E) that emitted annually compared to the
Similar Question from OG :
[LINK]Can someone explain why you would say "twice that" instead of answer C? Is it just become it's more concise? Can we say twice as much? Or is that considered wordy?
GMATNinjaplease explain why option A is incorrect.
To see why (A) is problematic, it's helpful to consider the roles "that" and "which" can play in various contexts.
First, "that" can function as a stand-in for a noun, or a demonstrative pronoun, if you like the jargon.
"Tim's anger management issue is far more severe than that of his neighbor, who attends weekly Buddhist retreats and frequently wonders whether Tim is doomed to a life of stress-related health problems."
Here "that" is a stand-in for the noun-phrase "anger management issue." We're comparing Tim's issue to his neighbor's issue. Makes sense.
But "that" can also function as a modifier (or a relative pronoun, for the jargon-obsessed).
"The pigeon that Tim shot with a bottle a rocket is in intensive care, but is expected to make a full recovery."
This time, "that" is describing the pigeon, allowing us to differentiate between the pigeon Tim shot, and the more fortunate pigeons who have escaped his dangerous wrath.
Now take another glance at the relevant portion of (A):
Quote:
The total amount of pollutant emitted annually by vehicles at O'Hare International Airport is twice as much as that which is being emitted annually by all motor vehicles.
The first thing I notice is that the phrase "that which" is incredibly confusing. If you read it a few times, you can probably figure out that "that" is functioning as a stand-in for the noun phrase, "amount pollutant" and "which" is describing the pollutant, but it's certainly not an ideal construction. Another problem is that when "which" is used as a modifier in this way, it'll typically follow a comma to indicate that the additional information is incidental. While I don't love the idea of using comma placement as a decision point, it's another strike against (A).
Last, the phrase "being emitted annually," doesn't make a ton of sense. If something is "being emitted" it sounds as though the emission is happening right now, and it's a continuous action. But something that occurs annually is happening over a long period of time, one that stretches years into the past (and presumably into the future), so the timeframe appears to be a mismatch.
If we combine the confusing construction of "that which" with the problematic logic of "being emitted annually," and contrast this with (D), which gets rid of both problems while being clearer and more concise, it's pretty evident that (D) is the superior option.
Quote:
Secondly, in the non-underline portion i.e- 'airports are a larger source of pollution than they were once believed to be'- what is the difference in meaning if 'TO BE' is removed from the latter part of the sentence i.e 'airports are a larger source of pollution than they were once believed'.Please help why significance of TO BE here
The "to be" seems to clarify the meaning a bit. Consider the sentence:
"Airports are a larger source of pollution than they were once believed [to be]."
This version kind of makes it sound as though airpots were, at one time, believed, as if they'd made a statement and that statement were accepted as true. Clearly, that's illogical. Tacking the "to be" on the end makes it 100% clear that we're talking about an
attribute that others think the airports have.
More importantly, if a portion of a sentence isn't underlined, we shouldn't worry too much about what would happen if we altered it.
I hope that helps!
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