Shrinking faster than any other nation’s, the projected decline of Jap

Question

Shrinking faster than any other nation’s, the projected decline of Japan’s population is  17 percent during the next half century.

(A) Shrinking faster than any other nation’s, the projected decline of Japan’s population is

(B) Shrinking faster than any other nation, Japan’s population has a projected decline of

(C) The population of Japan is shrinking faster than that of any other nation and is projected to decline by

(D) The Japanese population is shrinking faster than any other nation, and it has a projected decline at

(E) Japan’s population is shrinking faster than that of any other nation, with a projected decline at

hgp2k · Accepted Answer

B)  Shrinking faster than any other nation , Japan’s population has a projected decline of -  It sounds like some other nation is sinking and not the population of that nation. Also, this wrongly compares some other sinking nation with population of Japan. So is B wrong

Questions? Let me know.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Comparisons + Idioms

• A comparison must always be made between similar elements.
• When "decline" is used as a noun "decline + of" is the correct idiomatic construction, and when "decline" is used as a verb "decline + by" is the correct idiomatic construction.

A:  This answer choice incorrectly compares "any other nation’s (population)" to "the projected decline of Japan’s population"; remember, a comparison must always be made between similar elements.

B:  This answer choice incorrectly compares "any other nation" to "Japan’s population"; remember, a comparison must always be made between similar elements.

C:   Correct.  This answer choice correctly compares "The population of Japan" with "that of any other nation". Further, Option C correctly uses the idiomatic construction "decline (verb) + by".

D:  This answer choice incorrectly compares "The Japanese population" to "any other nation"; remember, a comparison must always be made between similar elements. Further, Option D incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "decline (noun) + at"; remember, when "decline" is used as a noun "decline + of" is the correct idiomatic construction, and when "decline" is used as a verb "decline + by" is the correct idiomatic construction.

E:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "decline (noun) + at"; remember, when "decline" is used as a noun "decline + of" is the correct idiomatic construction, and when "decline" is used as a verb "decline + by" is the correct idiomatic construction.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Casinoking · Answer

"C". In "E" -projected  decline at  is wrong construction

gmattokyo · Answer

Yes IMO C too.
"projected decline at" sounds incorrect. Had it been "the decline projected at..."

hgp2k · Answer

C is correct.

E has idiomatic issue: "decline at" is wrong. Also another major issue is lack of parallelism: 
 Japan’s population  is shrinking faster than that of  any other nation , with a projected decline at

Portion marked in Red is not parallel. First is a possessive noun, and second is not. So although the comparison is not an issue, parallelism is not maintained. So E is wrong.

Questions??? Let me know.

pierrealexandre77 · Answer

to get B correct you should have

Shrinking faster than  THE POPULATION OF  any other nation

hgp2k · Answer

A: Shrinking faster than any other nation’s, the projected decline of Japan’s population is - It sounds like the projected decline is shrinking, which makes no sense. So A is wrong.

mydreammba · Answer

In C it compares population of jaapan to other nation which is wrong

In E japan's population is compared to oother nation which is also wrong

The option B looks correct to me,

Hope this helps,any corrections are appreciated

Phoenix72 · Answer

IMO- C,

In C the 'The population of Japan' is correctly compared to the population of other countries by the use of 'than that of any other nation'.

pqhai · Answer

C is correct.
E is wrong because we always compare: 
 "X is shrinking faster than that of Y"  is not parallel. The correct one should be:  The population of X is shrinking faster than that of Y .

nt2010 · Answer

Good point. missed the above point and focused on idiom decline at . Possessives are some times sneaky :-(

thangvietname · Answer

e is wrong because "decline" is not clear. we do not know what decline.

pluto82 · Answer

See Ron's explanation here ..

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/thursdays-with-ron/

April 28, 2016: SC: More Sentences with "AND"

See the video from  53:00  to  01:04:00  below

https://vimeo.com/164829575

- Two ideas connected here are ..
 1. Right now, the population is shrinking fast. ---- Happening NOW
 2. For the next 50 years, it is projected to shrink by 17%. ----- Projection of future
 
- For connecting two separate ideas... modifier "__ING, " does not make sense ... we need to use "AND" - Option (A)(B)(E) are out !!

- Option (A) - The modifier "Shrinking ..." modifies "The projected decline" - Wrong
- Option (B) - The modifier "Shrinking ..." modifies "Japan's Populations" - OK but.. using modifier for connecting two ideas is wrong.. use "AND" instead
 - The comparison "Shrinking faster than any other nation..." any other NATION ?? - Wrong Meaning (Shrinking Nation...)
- Option (D) (E) - The comparison "Shrinking faster than any other nation..." any other NATION ?? - Wrong Meaning (Shrinking Nation...)

Answer (C)

Theory ...

Example: 
WRONG: Coming home from school, the wind blew me off my bike.
CORRECT: Coming home from school, I was blow off my bike by the wind.

======================
__ING + Comma
======================
swimming in the ocean, Dan saw a shark
 1. verb+ing + comma : tells the the main action verb (eg: saw) happend during comma+ing (swmming)
 here Dan was swimming in the ocean before he saw a shark.
 2. verb+ing + comma : tells it is less important to the message than the main verb
 3. The immediatly following subject must be the person/thing who does the __ING action

alwaysnewbie · Answer

Error in entities compared is the key. Populations should be compared. Highlighted words are being compared.

A. Shrinking faster than any other  nation’s , the projected  decline  of Japan’s population is  - nation's population vs decline 
B. Shrinking faster than any other  nation ,  Japan’s population  has a projected decline of  - nation (notice not nation's) vs japan's population 
C. The  population  of Japan is shrinking faster than  that  of any other nation and is projected to decline by  - population vs population 
D. The  Japanese population  is shrinking faster than any other  nation , and it has a projected decline at  - japan's population vs nation (notice not nation's) 
E.  Japan’s population  is shrinking faster than that of any other  nation , with a projected decline at  - japan's population vs nation (notice not nation's)

Thanks

thangvietname · Answer

look at e
with+noun can modify main clause to show how the main clause is done
i write with a pen.
this is not the case in e. population can not shink by the method of decline.
with+noun can modify main clause to show context, or detail of main clause
japan population is shrinking , with the world population increasing. 
this is also not the case in e. there can not be any meaning relation of this kind.

e is incorrect. 
of course, "decline at" is not idiomatic. but in the context of test day, minor grammar is hard to realize. it is hard to realize this error.

anje29 · Answer

Hi,
In option E your reasoning is wrong. You missed 'that of any other nation' , which is referring to population. Option E is wrong because of 'decline at' , which is unidiomatic usage.

edlc313 · Answer

Shrinking faster than any other nation’s, the projected decline of Japan’s population is  17 percent during the next half century.

(A) Shrinking faster than any other nation’s, the projected decline of Japan’s population is

This answer choice literally says, "Shrinking faster than any other nation's projected decline, the projected decline of Japan's population..."
This is almost saying that the projected decline of Japan is shrinking faster. Well let's stop to think about this; is the projected decline actually shrinking? No! A is out.
 
(B) Shrinking faster than any other nation, Japan’s population has a projected decline of

Japan's population is shrinking faster than any other nation. This is saying that Japan's population is shrinking quicker than other nations are shrinking. Are nations just becoming smaller and smaller? Not quite, we need to compare the populations of both groups. B is out.

(C) The population of Japan is shrinking faster than that of any other nation and is projected to decline by

"The population of Japan is shrinking faster than that of any other nation..." While I prefer it to say "Japan's population", this comparison between 'Japans population' and 'that of any other nation' is a fair comparison, and both verbs that refer to the subject agree. There seem to be no mistakes. Let's move on.

(D) The Japanese population is shrinking faster than any other nation, and it has a projected decline at

Same problem as B. This is literally saying that the population in Japan is shrinking faster than a nation actually does. Is Australia shrinking, or is the population of Australia shrinking?

(E) Japan’s population is shrinking faster than that of any other nation, with a projected decline at

I almost thought it was E. Most of you will probably think "at" is wrong here, but I don't agree. "XYZ's stock price is projected to decline at 5% annually during the next half-century." Well, that sentence totally makes sense and has a very similar construction as answer choice E. What makes answer choice E wrong is that the subordinate clause, "with a projected decline at," actually gives us a vague meaning. Let's read it closely. "Japan's population is shrinking, with a projected decline at XYZ." What do they mean 'with a projected decline?' Do they mean that the population of Japan and the projected decline together are holding hands, both shrinking at 17%? Or perhaps, maybe 'with a projected decline at 17%..." modifies that of any other nation. Is it completely absurd to say that E is right? Not at all, but C is a clearer answer.

kornn · Answer

Dear  DmitryFarber   AjiteshArun   MartyTargetTestPrep   GMATGuruNY ,

Why is E. wrong?

I think "with" modifier can act as an adverbial modifier describing the preceding clause like this OA below:
 
Why CAN'T "with a projected decline" describe how fast or the rate the population is and will be shrinking?

DmitryFarber · Answer

varotkorn  "With" can form an adverbial modifier, but that doesn't mean it makes sense in every case. There's no sense in which Japan's population (or the shrinking thereof) can be said to be "with" a projected decline. This projection isn't a feature or accompaniment of the country or the decline. Furthermore, "a decline  at  17%" doesn't work. If anything, this would mean that when some figure hits 17%, there would then be a decline. That doesn't fit what the sentence is trying to say.

Shrinking faster than any other nation’s, the projected decline of Jap

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Shrinking faster than any other nation’s, the projected decline of Jap

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