Several studies have found that the coronary patients who exercise most actively have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary . (A) have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary (B) have half the chance, or less, of dying of a heart attack than those who are sedentary do (C) have half the chance that they will die of a heart attack, or less, than those who are sedentary do (D) are at least fifty percent less likely to die of a heart attack as those who are sedentary (E) are at least fifty percent less likely than those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/16/science/benefits-and-dangers-of-exercise.html Given the small but real risk of sudden death during vigorous exercise, is such activity advisable for the millions of people already known to have heart disease? Although exercise programs are now being widely used to rehabilitate people who have already suffered one heart attack, the evidence is less clearcut for the ability of regular physical activity to ward off a second attack. The early studies of the San Francisco longshoremen, the British civil servants and others suggested that coronary patients who are most active have half or less the chance of dying of a second heart attack as those who are sedentary . In Dr. Paffenbarger's study of Harvard alumni, those who were most active after their first heart attacks were only two-thirds as likely to die of a second heart attack as those who were least active.

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Several studies have found that the coronary patients who exercise mos

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100mitra

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16 Sep 2021, 03:31

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Correct Option : E

Several studies have found
that the coronary patients who exercise most actively
are at least fifty percent less likely than
those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack

- Intended meaning of sentence is comparison with X to Y
- Correct pronoun refer to its Noun
- Idiom : are at least fifty percent less likely than those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack

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23 Oct 2021, 00:52

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marine

Several studies have found that the coronary patients who exercise most actively have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary.

(A) have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary
This gives us a meaning as though both the sedeentary and the guys who work out have equal probability therefore out

(B) have half the chance, or less, of dying of a heart attack than those who are sedentary do
do in the end is absolutely unnecessary and not conveying the right meaning therefore out

(C) have half the chance that they will die of a heart attack, or less, than those who are sedentary do
Similar reasoning as B

(D) are at least fifty percent less likely to die of a heart attack as those who are sedentary
Similarr reasoning as A

(E) are at least fifty percent less likely than those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack
The meaning and usage is perfect

Therefore IMO E

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23 Oct 2021, 02:30

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Can anyone please explain in detain for reject A? I rejected it because it had less than half the change and as. But I don't think its the correct reason.

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28 Oct 2021, 01:45

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Hi experts,

Would you please help to explain why option A is wrong? I read some comments about sentiment meaning of 'chance' vs 'likely', but they seems not convincing for an OG question. Is there any other error in A? Thank you.

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tinbq

Hello tinbq,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe that we can help resolve your doubts.

In addition to the error you mentioned, Option A incorrectly uses the construction “A as B” rather than the correct, idiomatic construction “less A than B” to compare the chances of dying of a heart attack that the patients who exercise most actively have and the chances of dying of a heart attack that the patients who are sedentary have; please remember, "less A than B" is the correct usage; A and B must be comparable and parallel. Further, Option A uses the needlessly wordy phrase “half or less than half”, leading to awkwardness.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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18 Jan 2022, 13:08

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AndrewN, can you please explain what are the main factors to eliminate B?

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tkorzhan1995

AndrewN, can you please explain what are the main factors to eliminate B?

Hello, tkorzhan1995. How about we look at (B) in the context of the sentence?

Quote:

Several studies have found that the coronary patients who exercise most actively have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary.

(B) have half the chance, or less, of dying of a heart attack than those who are sedentary do

Okay, the first thing that stands out to me is the comparative than. We see this used in greater than, less than, more than, and so on, but have half the chance than? That is flat-out wrong, and I would not bother analyzing the option any further. Still, in the interest of supplying a more robust answer to your query, I am also left scratching my head about the substitute verb do at the end. You want to use such a substitute when the comparison involves two actions—e.g., He drives faster than she does—and here, the verb is have: dying is a noun, the object of the preposition of, and chance is also a noun. So, what exactly is do standing in for? The best I can come up with is the phrase have of dying of a heart attack. That is a lot for a substitute verb to carry. A more logical comparison in this sentence is created between two groups of people, those who exercise (ditch the extra modifiers) and those who are sedentary; as such, a noun-to-noun comparison, minus a verb or substitute, makes sense. Finally, there is a diction issue. As I touched on in an earlier post, have half the chance of is a functional if somewhat off-putting way of expressing are fifty percent less likely, as we see in answer choice (E), or are half as likely. I would call this the least objectionable issue of the three I have outlined, though. Understanding comparisons is far more important, in my view.

Thank you for calling my attention to the question. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

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tkorzhan1995

AndrewN, can you please explain what are the main factors to eliminate B?

Hello tkorzhan1995,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe we can resolve your doubt.

Option B incorrectly uses the construction “A than B” rather than the correct construction “less A than B” to compare the chances of dying of a heart attack that coronary patients who exercise most actively have and the chances of dying of a heart attack that the coronary patients who do not do so have; please remember, "less A than B" is the correct usage; A and B must be comparable and parallel. Further, Option B uses the needlessly wordy phrase “half the chance, or less,”, leading to awkwardness.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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30 Apr 2022, 01:19

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at least or at most is preferred on GMAT rather than "have half or less than half", and that's why Option A, B & C are wrong. Option D is wrong as we need less than and not less as.

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As per solution - B and C are wrong because it wrongly uses "do" in the end, can you please help me understand this

Also, I eliminated B and C because "or less" since it is between two commas is used as non-essential modifier but this leads to wrong meaning
Can

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17 Feb 2023, 23:36

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Quote:

Several studies have found that the coronary patients who exercise most actively have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary.

(A) have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary

(B) have half the chance, or less, of dying of a heart attack than those who are sedentary do

(C) have half the chance that they will die of a heart attack, or less, than those who are sedentary do

(D) are at least fifty percent less likely to die of a heart attack as those who are sedentary

(E) are at least fifty percent less likely than those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack

simplify:

patients who exercise have less chance as those who are sedentary.
or,

active patients have less chance as sedentary patients.

than should be used instead of as -> A & D are out
we are comparing chance -> helping verb not needed ->B & C are out.

E is the answer.

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Is a comma not required after sedentary. I chose option B. Can some o compare B vs E. Thanks

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Harshjha001

doesn't "those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack" sounds weird ?
Shouldn't "than those who are sedentary" and "die of a heart attack " be separated by a comma ?

Can anyone suggest ?

The prepositional phrase 'to die of a heart attack " is okay, but I understand your issue. Option E is not an ideal construct. The comparison should be placed between the two compared entities. Here it is put toward the end. Ideally, it should be XX people are 50% less likely to die of a heart attack than - people who are sedentary.

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Generally, if we're down to "this one needs a comma" as our reason for eliminating, we should look for something else. There aren't that many situations in which the lack of a comma is going to knock out an answer. Let's look at some simpler versions of E:

Women are 50% less likely to die.

This isn't much of a sentence meaning-wise, since we don't have our comparison or a cause of death, but it's fine in terms of grammar. No comma needed yet!

Women are 50% less likely than men to die of a heart attack.

Okay, now we've clarified the comparison, and we know which kind of death we're talking about. (Surely, we all have to die of something, at least until we solve that problem.) Does that mean we need a comma? No--we're just modifying "likely" with "than men." When we add a modifier to a term, there's no rule that says we need to follow this new longer term with a comma. As for the new part at the end, it's just a prepositional phrase modifying the verb "die," so we don't want a comma there.

So what if we make the middle modifier longer still?

Women in their 30s are 50% less likely than men in their 40's to die of a heart attack.

All we've done is write a longer modifier. That doesn't change the underlying structure, so there's still no reason to add a comma. We just have to follow the structure and we're fine. At this point, we have something equivalent to the original answer, and the same logic applies.

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laxieqv

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Several studies have found that the coronary patients who exercise most actively have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary

a) have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary

b) have half the chance, or less, of dying of a heart attack than those who are sedentary do

c) have half the chance that they will die of a heart attack, or less, than those who are sedentary do

d) are at least fifty percent less likely to die of a heart attack as those who are sedentary

e) are at least fifty percent less likely than those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack

This kind of SC tests the concise combination of ...as...as ....and less/more ....than ..... The correct combination is: ...at least/ at most .....less/ more .....than ......
So i'm left with D and E. Between the two, E uses the correct structure: ...less .....than .... so E is correct.

Go for E.

But in the sentence it is written half or less, shouldn't at most be the correct one?

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Deep32470

Watch your direction. A is describing the chance of dying itself, while E is describing the REDUCTION in likelihood, so they go opposite ways. For instance, if the normal chance is 10%, and my chance is 4%, I have LESS than half the chance of someone else. But the reduction is AT LEAST 50%. 10-->4 is a 60% reduction.

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