Since 1975 so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons

Question

Since 1975  so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons who were once 75 percent of the population are now only accounting for half of it .

(A) so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons who were once 75 percent of the population are now only accounting for half of it

(B) many people have been moving to Utah, so Mormons once 75 percent of the population are now accounting for only half

(C) that many people have been moving to Utah, such that the Mormons that were once 75 percent of the population are now accounting for only half of it

(D) many people have been moving to Utah such that the Mormons, who once represented 75 percent of the population, now only account for half

(E) so many people have been moving to Utah that the Mormons, who once represented 75 percent of the population, now account for only half

https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,973508-3,00.html

The West Mixing Business And Faith 
Most states are struggling with economic hard times, but Utah -- and the Mormons -- are riding high
 By Sally B. Donnelly/Salt Lake City 
Monday, July 29, 1991

The new Utah is most evident in Salt Lake County (pop. 728,000). Since 1975,  so many people have moved in that Mormons, once 75% of the population, now account for only half . Eighteen months ago, the city relaxed its prohibition on alcohol, and bars and restaurants are thriving. The local gay community has become large enough and vocal enough to have mounted a colorful antidiscrimination protest at the Salt Lake County fairgrounds in June. Some of America's best ski areas are 20 minutes away from high-rise office buildings. A $500 million downtown redevelopment project has revived the city's arts community. Even intellectual life got a charge last month when the University of Utah named Arthur Smith as the first non-Mormon president in its 141-year history. "Salt Lake City is what people think Denver should be," says mayoral candidate Corradini.

pqhai · Accepted Answer

To elaborate on the usage of "such that":

A simple rule is:
 "Such that"  tells you  HOW  a thing is to be done ("such that" = such a way that)
 "So that"  tells you  WHY  a thing is to be done

Back to this question:

D. many people have been moving to Utah such that the Mormons, who once represented 75 percent of the population, now only account for half 
 Wrong.  D does not convey the  result  of "the moving". In fact, D says that many people have been moving   such a way that  the Mormons now only account for half. ==> D  indicates the way   that many people have been moving  HOW people have been moving ]. Hence, D does not make sense.

E. so many people have been moving to Utah that the Mormons, who once represented 75 percent of the population, now account for only half
 Correct.  "so that" tells you the result. Because so X, that Y......

Hope it helps.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Note that plain usage of "such that" is considered unidiomatic.

We need to say something like "such + Noun/Adjective + that" for its usage to be correct. 
For example - "the crime has risen to such levels that ..."

Let us look at the answer options.

Option A - Incorrect.
"so many people have been moving to Utah  such that " - Usage of such that is incorrect.

"such that Mormons  who  were once 75 percent of the population" - Usage of restrictive clause suggests that we are referring to  ONLY  those Mormons who accounted for 75% percent of the population. Implies that there were other Mormons who did not account for 75% of the population. Illogical.

"Mormons who were once 75 percent of the population  are now only accounting  for half of it" - Inappropriate usage of present continuous. To talk about facts/general truths we use the simple present.

Option B - Incorrect.
"Mormons    once 75 percent  of the population  are now accounting " - usage of restrictive modifier changes the meaning of the sentence.

Usage of present continuous tense is inappropriate.

Also note that the intended meaning is " so  many people have been moving to Utah  that  Mormons, who were once 75 percent of the population, now only account for half" - this suggests something unusual or dramatic.

However, in this option that effect is lost - "many people have been moving to Utah". This no longer conveys the intended meaning.

Option C - 
" that  many people have been moving to Utah" - the usage is incorrect.
" such that  the Mormons that were once 75 percent" - Plain "such that" is unidiomatic.

"such that the Mormons  that  were once 75 percent" - We do not use "that" to refer to people. Moreover, this suggests that we are referring ONLY to those who were once 75%, not to other Mormons there.
"... are now accounting for only half of it" - We need simple present.

Option D - 
" many people  have been moving to Utah" - this distorts the intended meaning by suggesting that the movement was not dramatic/remarkable situation.
" such that  the Mormons"
Usage of "such that" is unidiomatic.

vishwaprakash · Answer

Since 1975 so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons who were once 75 percent of the population are now only accounting for half of it.

Split 1# : “Only accounting for half” Vs “Accounting for only half”
Only should modify Half not account or accounting. Only accounting implies, Mormons could have done something great but they only account. So option A and D are incorrect.
Split 2 # : “Are now accounting” Vs “now account”
Present progressive is not required. Sentence presents a general fact, I think Simple present is much better choice than Simple progressive.
Option A, B, C – Incorrect 
Split 3 : “Were 75 % population” Vs” represented 75% of population”
One cannot be 75% of population, but it can represent 75% of population. Indians Represent 30 % of Canadian population. We cannot say Indians are 30% of Canadian population. Later is not proper.
So “were 75 % of population” is incorrect
Option A,C incorrect

A. so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons who were once 75 percent of the population are now only accounting for half of it - 
Incorrect – Split1, 2 , 3
B. many people have been moving to Utah, so Mormons once 75 percent of the population are now accounting for only half
Incorrect – Split 2
C. that many people have been moving to Utah, such that the Mormons that were once 75 percent of the population are now accounting for only half of it Incorrect
Incorrect - split 2,3
D. many people have been moving to Utah such that the Mormons, who once represented 75 percent of the population, now only account for half Incorrect
Incorrect – split 2
E. so many people have been moving to Utah that the Mormons, who once represented 75 percent of the population, now account for only half - Correct

GMATNinja · Answer

Mdacosta, there's some pretty persistent voices out there saying that you can "ignore the fluff" or "ignore the middleman" between two commas. That's an oversimplification, and not something that you'd want to apply too broadly to GMAT questions.

Don't get me wrong: it can be useful to strip out some modifiers to help you see the sentence structure more clearly. Subject-verb agreement is the most obvious example:

A bag of peaches, which are delicious fruit grown in the hills of southern Georgia and on the western slope of Colorado, cost more at Whole Foods than at Safeway.

Obviously, it's much easier to spot the error ("A bag... cost" is incorrect) if you "ignore the fluff" ("of peaches" and that whole mess inside the commas).

Thing is, you don't want to permanently and completely ignore that stuff. Absolutely anything in the sentence can impact the meaning, or provide a referent for a pronoun. In the GMATPrep example about Mormons in Utah, the sentence makes perfect sense if you're reading the whole thing, including the stuff inside the commas -- but if you ignore that modifier completely, you'll end up with the wrong answer.

So yes, "ignore the middleman" temporarily to help you understand structure or subject-verb agreement, but don't completely ignore anything when it comes to the meaning of the sentence.

I hope this helps!

alphaseeker · Answer

I don't think the 75% of the population is the subject of the choices of A, B and C. The subject of those choices is Mormons.

A. so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons who were once 75 percent of
the population are now only accounting for half of  it  >> pronoun error, is it 75% of Utah or population
B. many people have been moving to Utah, so Mormons once 75 percent of the population are
now  accounting for  only half >> accounting for = responsible for, object caused something >> changes the meaning
C. that many people have been moving to Utah, such that the Mormons that were once 75 
percent of the population are now accounting for only half of  it  >> same error in choice A
D. many people have been moving to Utah such that the Mormons, who once represented 75
percent of the population, now  only  account for half >> only is misplaced >> changes the meaning
E. so many people have been moving to Utah that the Mormons, who once represented 75
percent of the population, now account for only half >> meaning intact, no error.

Abhishek009 · Answer

The sentence tests usage of 2 correct idiomatic expressions

1. So X that Y { Answers the question why } 
 2. Account for {gives a satisfactory record of something}

A. so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons who were once 75 percent of the population are now only  accounting for  half of it
B. many people have been moving to Utah,  so Mormons once 75 percent of the population are now accounting for  only half 
C. that many people have been moving to Utah, such that the Mormons that were once 75 percent of the population are now  accounting for  only half of it
D. many people have been moving to Utah  such that the Mormons,  who once represented 75 percent of the population, now only account for half
E.  so many people have been moving to Utah that the Mormons , who once represented 75 percent of the population, now  account for  only half
  
So IMHO (E)

abhimahna · Answer

Since 1975  so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons who were once 75 percent of the population are now only accounting for half of it

A. so many people have been moving to Utah  such that  Mormons who were once 75 percent of the population are now only accounting for half of it
 B. many people have been moving to Utah, so Mormons once 75 percent of the population are now accounting for only half   Change in meaning 
C.  that  many people have been moving to Utah,  such that  the Mormons that were once 75 percent of the population are now accounting for only half of it
D. many people have been moving to Utah such that the Mormons, who once represented 75 percent of the population, now  only account  for half -->  Only is incorrectly modifying Account. 
E. so many people have been moving to Utah that the Mormons, who once represented 75 percent of the population, now account for only half

fauji · Answer

HI Experts,

Please help me with option E, esp. the part "...only half". Although  GMATNinja  mentioned in one of the comments about data between commas can't be ignored straightaway, how to go ahead in such case. ".. only half" of what?. Any similar examples or posts to have better understanding?

Thanks in advance.

shobhitkh · Answer

In OA E, can we not argue that sentence is incomplete. Half of what....??

generis · Answer

fauji  and  shobhitkh  , you asked, half of what?

Answer: Half of the population  . 
I'm not sure what else the answer could be.
We've just been told that a certain group was 75% of the population, but now that group accounts for only half (50%). Of . . . . the population.

Nothing is wrong with the OA.  
*****
Nouns can be "dropped." 
Omitting words is called ellipsis.

HERE  is a post by Mike McGarry on ellipsis. His examples may help.

When ellipsis is used, the "missing" words are implied.

********
In this question, a fully written out sentence would have been:
. . . Mormons, who once represented 75%  of the population , now account for only half  of the population .

Those two prepositional phrases are parallel. The second one can be dropped, leaving us with

E) . . . . Mormons, who once represented 75% of the population, now represent only half  .

********* 
Omitting words is very common. 
Omitting nouns is probably the most straightforward of all omissions.

I bought four cookies and she bought two    .

HERE  is an official sentence that 
involves a lot of discussion of ellipsis (omitting words).

Here  is a thread on ellipsis and substitution. Mike McGarry's links are good.

I can''t think offhand of any other official example that are similar to this one.

If you start with the thread that I listed last, it should get you started.
I hope that helps.

LoneSurvivor · Answer

I agree E is the only choice which remains . But I am quite skeptical about the usage of "half" it is not clear "half of what". Many official answer choices have been marked off just by this logic

GMATNinja · Answer

As I wrote in  this post  (among many others), just because a construction works in one correct answer choice doesn't mean that construction is always correct. And just because a construction is in an incorrect answer choice doesn't mean that it's always wrong.

In this case, we have to ask ourselves whether it's fundamentally unclear to say just "half" instead of "half of it." In this case, I don't think so: in (E), it's hard to interpret "half" to mean anything other than "half of the population."

More broadly, your goal isn't to label each sentence as "wrong" or "right". Instead, the goal is to pick the best choice out of the five available options. If you can eliminate A through D, you've done your job.

I hope this helps!

Hoozan · Answer

Since 1975  so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons who were once 75 percent of the population are now only accounting for half of it.

Meaning Analysis:  Mormons (a group of people) accounted for 75% of the population in Utah. But now they only account for half of this population. Why? Because since 1975 many people have been shifting to Utah.

Sentence Structure:  
Since 1975  ("since" is used as a time indicator. Check note #1) 
so many people  ("so many" is generally used to convey a negative expression. Check note #2) 
have been moving  (present perfect continuous tense is correct since we have used "since" as a time indicator) 
to Utah  (more information about where these people are moving to) 
such that  (as a result) 
Mormons  (subject) 
who were once 75 percent of the population  (relative pronoun modifier modifying the subject/noun "Mormons") 
are now  (verb) 
only accounting for half of  (here "only" is modifying "accounting for") 
it  (referring to "population")

The first thing that jumps of to me is the usage of "Such that". We generally use "Such... that" in a way to present a result and the placement of it matters.  What follows after "that" is generally the result/outcome of what follows after "such" E.g. "The boy asked  such  a foolish question  that  everybody laughed at him." Here "everybody laughed" is the outcome of the boy asking a "foolish question". Keeping this in mind I am not quite happy with the usage in this sentence. Check out  CrackVerbalGMAT 
post above for further information.

"Accounting for" is used to give a sense of responsibility and this changes the indented meaning. It is not the Mormons but the shift of people to Utah that is responsible for the drop of Mormon population. E.g. Financial Reporting Trends: Accounting for the Pandemic" -  wsj

I would also prefer to have "once 75 percent of the population" in a COMMA PAIR. But this is just a preference. If you want you can hold on to (B) until you get a better option.

The dependent clause "that many people have been moving to Utah" is the subject that has no verb. This is a deterministic error. We again see the usage of "Such that" which is incorrectly used out here. Moreover, I don't think we can use "that" to refer to the "Mormons" I guess "who" would be be better.  GMATNinja   VeritasKarishma   egmat   abhimahna  please could you correct me on this relative pronoun usage.

Notice that "only" now modifies "half" and not "account" and that is perfectly fine. I actually would prefer this modification.

Usage of "such that"

Correct. Notice the usage of "so... that". What follows after "so" is the cause while what follows after "that" is the effect.

Note 
#1 When "since" and "within" are used as time indicators we generally use "present perfect tense" (~eGMAT)
E.g. Since 2007, I have been baking cakes.

#2 "so...as" is generally used to convey a negative meaning/comparison. 
E.g. He is not so smart as you.

In the official GMAT SC we see that "so many people" moved that the population of the Mormons dropped. This is giving a since of something negative happening.

Correct Choice:  ( E)

SolankiDas · Answer

Option E- Doesn't The clause within the comma makes it a non-essential modifier?

But this part should have been a essential modifier?

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  SolankiDas , our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  Essential and non-essential modifiers , their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  SolankiDas ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, "who once represented 75 percent of the population" is not information that is vital to the core meaning of the sentence - that so many people have been moving to Utah that the Mormons now only make up half the population - rather, this phrase is just extra information that places further emphasis on the core meaning.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

mansianand1234 · Answer

whats wrong with ''who were once 75 percent of the population'' as RPC or restrictive clause

How the meaning is different from using a appositive phrase as in B]

a123bansal · Answer

Hi Experts  GMATNinja

Can you please explain each option of this question?

I don't agree that "such that" is wrong. I have seen multiple articles on WSJ that are using "such that" without having any noun or noun phrase between "such that".

Thanks for your time.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  mansianand1234 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, in Option A, the "who" phrase is not offset by commas, as a result, it takes on the role of an essential modifier, illogically conveying that   those specific Mormons   who were once 75 percent of Utah's population, now only make up half of it.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Since 1975 so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons

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Since 1975 so many people have been moving to Utah such that Mormons

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