Over 75 percent of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear

I'm not 100 percent clear about what you're asking. Did I "omit the 'Y' element"? If so what did I omit, and what is the effect of doing so?

Or is the "Y" element omitted by the question?

I could use some clarification.

MartyTargetTestPrep

Thank you for your quick reply I am so sorry, as I reread my question, and yes it was not clear!

I was thinking of this type of example in which you can omit the "Y element" -->
Ex: Whereas I drink two quarts of milk a day, my friend drinks three [quarts of milk a day].

So, for the question, I was thinking that you can omit the "of the energy produced in Germany" -->
"Over 75% of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power, while in Germany nuclear power is just over 33% [of the energy produced in Germany.]

But I am guessing this is a stretch because in the "X element" of the sentence we have "produced in France".... it does not say "produced in Germany" Is my understanding correct?

Thanks again Marty and Happy New Year!

Yes, that's one way of looking at the issue.

Also, "nuclear power is 33% of the energy" doesn't even itself make sense. Think about it. Something like "nuclear power is the source of 33% of the energy" or "33% of the energy comes from nuclear power" would make sense, but not "nuclear power is 33% of the energy."

Happy New Year to you too!

My take on this Q is "Comparison". Only (C) clearly compares the nuclear energy produced in both countries. (D) is close but it do not specify how much is actually produced, it only says a part comes from nuclear energy.

Thanks!

Experts view is encouraged.

This is a tricky comparison question. It tells us that over 75% of the energy produced in France is derived from nuclear power while in Germany, just over 33% of the energy produced is derived from nuclear power.
Let’s see which option gives us the best way to say this.

(A) while in Germany it is just over 33 percent

‘it’ refers to the same thing as before. So here, ‘it’ stands for ‘the energy produced in France from nuclear power,’ not 'energy produced from nuclear power.'
But that makes the sentence non-sensical.

(B) compared to Germany, which uses just over 33 percent

Here, we don’t know what the comparison is. We are comparing the amount of energy produced from nuclear power as a percentage of total energy produced in the country. What does ‘Germany uses just over 33%’ mean? There is no comparison of the usage anyway. Hence, this option makes no sense.

(C) whereas nuclear power accounts for just over 33 percent of the energy produced in Germany

We have a clear comparison here.
Over 75 percent of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power
whereas
nuclear power accounts for just over 33 percent of the energy produced in Germany
The comparison is clearly between the percentage of energy that comes from nuclear power in the two countries.

(D) whereas just over 33 percent of the energy comes from nuclear power in Germany

For most part, this option sounds correct. There is one problem though because of which it is inferior to option (C).
We use ‘the energy’ here so we are talking about a specific energy that has been mentioned before in the sentence. But we have talked about ‘the energy produced in France’ before this so it seems to talk about the energy produced in France when it mentions ‘the energy’ in reference to Germany too.
Over 75 percent of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power, whereas just over 33 percent of the energy (energy produced in France) comes from nuclear power in Germany.
This doesn’t make sense so this option is not correct.

(E) compared with the energy from nuclear power in Germany, where it is just over 33 percent

The comparison is again twisted here. We are comparing the two percenatges while it compares the percentage in France with ‘the energy from nuclear power in Germany.’
‘where it is just over 33 percent’ is a modifier for Germany and we don’t even know 33% of what? Hence, this option is a trainwreck.
Answer (C)

Hi, I got the question correct but spent 160 seconds on the question. I was able to eliminate A, B, and E but got stuck for a while between C and D. Also I spent a little more time just to be sure of my answer. What is the ideal amount of time that I should have spent on this question? How do I reduce time in such cases? Should I have marked the answer in a hurry knowing that I had crossed 2 minutes mark?

Probably fair to say that a strict 2-min rule in all cases may be a bit harsh. May depend on the situation. Consider making a note somewhere of why (C) was better than (D). Hopefully, if you see a similar SC in the future, you'll recognize the issue quicker.

-gmatknight

GMATNinja

Charles, you're the only one I trust. Please help me with how the entities being compared align in C. I am clear on why others shouldn't be the answer. But in C, shouldn't "whereas" warrant consistency in the entities being compared? In the original structure below, the subject is "energy" or "energy produced in France"


whereas here in the stated correct answer, the subject is "nuclear power"


Please help me this. I have read all the solutions above and put a lot of thought into it but it doesn't make sense.

Here's the thing: (C) isn't strictly comparing the things themselves. Instead, (C) is comparing the clauses:

1 - Over 75 percent of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power

2 - nuclear power accounts for just over 33 percent of the energy produced in Germany

Each clause describes a fact, and those two facts are clearly in contrast. That makes the "whereas" (and the comparison) perfectly appropriate and logical. And since the other options have bigger issues, (C) is definitely the best choice.

For more on that, check out this post: https://gmatclub.com/forum/qotd-over-75 ... l#p2954212.

I hope that helps a bit!

GMATNinja

(E) compared with the energy from nuclear power in Germany, where it is just over 33 percent

while I understand that option E is wrong due to comparison not being parallel(energy produced in France vs energy from nuclear power in germany) and also because there is no mention of 33 percent of WHAT, I have confusions regarding some of the explanations provided that "it" has no logical antecedent. Also one explanation says that "it" cannot refer to noun phrase.

So my questions are:
1. I knew that it can refer to a noun phrase. Is that incorrect?
2. to me "it" does have a logical antecedent - "energy from nuclear power".
As per this article https://gmatclub.com/forum/pronouns-usage-of-it-they-228203.html#:~:text='it'%20here%20refers%20to%20',the%20correct%20pronoun%20'it'. , Rule #2 – ‘it/they’ refers to noun along with all its Modifiers.- should it refer to the whole noun phrase "energy from nuclear power in Germany" or can it just refer to the selective phrase "energy from nuclear power"?

Any clarifications would be really helpful

Even if we assume that the "it" should include the modifiers, the reader still might wonder whether the pronoun refers to "energy from nuclear power in Germany" OR to "energy produced in France".

Is the pronoun in (E) wrong? Maybe not, but (C) avoids using a confusing pronoun altogether -- and that's one more reason why (C) is the better choice.

I hope that helps!

Over 75 percent of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power, while in Germany it is just over 33 percent.

Option Elimination -

(A) while in Germany it is just over 33 percent - "it" is ambiguous. It can refer to "energy" or "nuclear power."

(B) compared to Germany, which uses just over 33 percent - "Over 75 percent of the energy produced" is compared to "Germany." Wrong.

(C) whereas nuclear power accounts for just over 33 percent of the energy produced in Germany - "whereas" introduces contrast, and we have a full clause afterward. The parallelism of elements is not a deal breaker here as long as it conveys the contrast clearly, which it does. ok.

(D) whereas just over 33 percent of the energy comes from nuclear power in Germany - "the energy" refers to a particular energy which is "the energy produced in France." So the sentence becomes "whereas just over 33 percent of the energy (produced in France) comes from nuclear power in Germany. Wrong.

(E) compared with the energy from nuclear power in Germany, where it is just over 33 percent - the same issue of "it."